President Joe Biden Praises Carl Nassib, Kumi Yokoyama for Coming Out

President Joe Biden on Wednesday applauded Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib and Washington Spirit forward Kumi Yokoyama for coming out as part of the LGBTQ+ community:

Nassib became the first active NFL player to come out as gay Monday in an Instagram post. Michael Sam previously came out as gay before being drafted in 2014 but did not make an NFL regular-season roster.

"I just want to take a quick moment to say that I'm gay," Nassib said. "I've been meaning to do this for a while now, but I finally feel comfortable enough to get it off my chest.

"I really have the best life. I got the best family, friends and job a guy could ask for. I'm a pretty private person, so I hope you guys know that I'm really not doing this for attention. I just think that representation and visibility are so important."

Nassib has played 73 NFL games with the Cleveland Browns, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Raiders.

Yokoyama, who also plays for the Japanese women's national team, came out Sunday as a transgender man who uses the singular "they" pronoun.

"Coming out wasn't something I was enthusiastic about, but if I think about my life going forward, it would be harder to live closeted, so I found the courage to come out," Yokoyama said in a video on former national team teammate Yuki Nagasato's YouTube channel.

June is Pride Month, which celebrates LGBTQ+ communities.​ ​In the 1990s, Biden as a senator voted against federal recognition of same-sex marriage, but in 2012 as vice president he spoke in support of marriage equality. This year, his administration has championed passage of the Equality Act and announced that ​Title IX would protect trans students.

The announcements by Nassib and Yokoyama have garnered widespread public support within their respective leagues.