Carl Nassib and his boyfriend are lighting up Instagram.
The Las Vegas Raiders lineman confirmed last month on a teammate’s podcast that he’s seeing somebody. On Wednesday, Nassib posted what we believe to be his first photo of the two together on his account.
You gotta hit up Nassib’s IG story to see the cuteness. Luckily, we’ve taken a screenshot.
This picture should be framed. (Nassib’s boyfriend has a couple pictures of the two together on his grid if you want to see more.)
Nassib spoke about his relationship in an October interview with tight end Darren Waller.
“I just wanted to be someone’s number one priority, and I couldn’t have that,” he said. “So that was the one thing where I was like, ‘Man, I really f—king want that.’ But I got that now, so it’s good.”
On the podcast, Nassib opened up about coming out and what life has been like since. Even though Nassib made history, he said he’s still uncomfortable giving advice to others. As an example, he referenced his boyfriend, who wasn’t out to anybody when they first met.
“When I met my boyfriend, he wasn’t even out to his family,” Nassib said. “He was asking me for advice and I was like, ‘Dude, I’m just supportive. F—. I don’t know.’”
Nassib’s conversation with Waller was illuminating and marks the first time he spoke at length about his life as the only out gay active NFL player. While we’ve written about the lack of a media circus that surrounds Nassib, he said it’s still been a challenge — and this was before Jon Gruden’s homophobic emails leaked.
“The answer you would probably expect is, ‘Oh my God this weight was lifted off my shoulders.’ [But] It is a little more stressful, I will say,” Nassib remarked. “Being the only out gay guy in the NFL is a little stressful. It’s gotten so much easier since camp. I remember the first three days of camp, I went out to practice, and just felt like I was suffocating, and the whole field was spinning.”
That’s one of the reasons why it’s so awesome to see Nassib and his beau showing themselves off. It’s not easy being the only one. As he said, “What other f— gay dude has to come out to his entire f— business?”
It’s hard to argue with that point. Up until June 21, Nassib said he was living an “amazing life” where he was out to close friends and family and carried on without scrutiny. Coming out publicly was a selfless act. But as Nassib acknowledges, it was “something that needed to be done.”
Representation is the most powerful tool we have when it comes to fighting stereotypes. It took one week for Nasib to abolish the ridiculous “distraction myth,” showing teams can win with out gay players (the Raiders are 5-3 and tied for first in the AFC West). As it turns out, the straight head coach was a much bigger distraction than the gay player.
In the immediate wake of the Gruden story, Nassib took a personal day, and may have felt more alone than when he was in the closet. Nassib just wants to live his life and play football. Suddenly, he was at the center of the biggest story in football, through no fault of his own.
But Nassib is back on the field, and on IG, his boyfriend is now by his side.
“Oh, I met an awesome guy,” Nassib told Waller. “He’s the best.”
And he’s not afraid to show him to the world.
