Who is Carl Nassib and what’s ‘The Trevor Project?’
The NFL’s first openly gay active player is more dedicated than ever, to shining a light on the mental health issues that the LGBTQ community faces.
In a sport as rough and tumble as American Football, the stereotypes surrounding homosexuality can seem out of place at the least, but that doesn’t bother one man who’s the league’s first openly gay active player.
Raiders’ Carl Nassib forms partnership with ‘The Trevor Project’
According to his Instagram post on Sunday, Carl Nassib, the NFL’s first active openly gay player has formed a charitable partnership with ‘The Trevor Project.’ Nassib announced the move in a post from his official Instagram account while commemorating Pride Month. It is understood that he will donate some $100,000 to the organization. “We’re so grateful to Carl for his public commitment to supporting LGBTQ youth mental health,” said Trevor Project CEO Amit Paley. “Carl has inspired others to live their own truth, donate to The Trevor Project’s life-saving mission, and to accept and support the LGBTQ people in their lives.”
What’s ‘The Trevor Project?’
Dedicated to suicide prevention and mental health awareness for LGBTQ youth, The Trevor Project is a nonprofit organization. Why is it important? According to the 2022 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health, 45% of LGBTQ youth seriously considered attempting suicide over the course of the last year.
With that in mind Nassib’s partnership with the organization comes at a critical moment, following his announcement that he himself is gay just over a year ago. With that announcement Nassib made history by becoming the first active player to ‘come out’ as gay. Incidentally, both the NFL and the Las Vegas Raiders for whom Nassib plays, agreed to match his $100,000 donation. “For someone like me, who has been so lucky and cherishes every day, it brings me incredible sadness to think that our LGBTQ youth are at such an elevated risk for suicide.” said Nassib in his coming-out post last June. “I feel an immense responsibility to help in any way I can — and you can too.” The Trevor Project offers free 24/7 crisis services operated by highly trained crisis counselors. According to Wong, the crisis line serviced over 200,000 LGBTQ+ youth in the last year alone.
What’s the effect of Carl Nassib’s move?
To punctuate the point behind Nassib’s brave move, it should be noted that the Trevor Project’s website experienced a tripling of its traffic after his announcement. Many of those visitors were of course first time visitors, but it speaks directly to the idea that people are interested and in turn want to know more. “It was a really cool way to engage people who might not have known about us before,” said Kevin Wong, Vice President of Communications at The Trevor Project.
“We have to remember the impact of something like that. If they don’t know about us, or if they maybe haven’t really thought about supporting the LGBTQ people in our lives. Maybe they think twice about that. Maybe they’re better equipped to handle conversation around mental health or suicide and preventing suicide in their friends and family circles. ...From our very first conversations with Carl, and every conversation since, he has never once wanted any of the attention on him,” said Wong. “He wants to shine a spotlight on the Trevor Project. That’s such a pure thing.”