The NFL player for the Dolphins was discovered to be gay by…
A study suggests that one team in the NFL fostered an intolerable locker room culture that drove a player to the verge of suicide, just days after the league declared it was prepared to create history by accepting its first openly homosexual player.
According to independent investigator Ted Wells, who submitted his report to the league on Friday, three Miami Dolphins players bullied teammate Jonathan Martin along with another player and an unidentified assistant trainer using “racial slurs and other racially derogatory language,” “homophobic name-calling, and improper physical touching.”
The disclosures follow 2013 All-American hopeful Michael Sam’s Sunday announcement that he is gay, positioning him to become the first openly gay athlete in any of the major American team sports. The hardest league in college football, the Southeastern Conference, had Sam ranked as its best defensive
Days after the NFL said it was ready to make history by welcoming its first openly gay player, a report indicates that one team in the league promoted an intolerant locker room culture that harassed a player to the brink of suicide.
Three Miami Dolphins players used “racial slurs and other racially derogatory language” as well as “homophobic name-calling and improper physical touching” to bully teammate Jonathan Martin as well as another player and an assistant trainer, both unnamed, according to independent investigator Ted Wells, who filed his report to the league on Friday.
The revelations come after prospect Michael Sam, a 2013 All-American, announced on Sunday that he is gay, putting him on course to be the first openly gay athlete in any of the major American team sports. Sam was voted by coaches as the top defensive player in the Southeastern Conference, college football’s toughest league.
Wells’ report provides an unflattering snapshot of a locker room culture where off-color remarks about sexual preference and race are commonplace. Even so, the harassment Martin and the others received startled even veteran NFL players.
“I’ve been in some bad locker rooms, but they weren’t dysfunctional in that they were demeaning to people,” said former NFL lineman Ed Cunningham, who played for Arizona and Seattle in the 1990s. “We had fights, but they were based on something that was done dirty on the playing field, or because someone thought they were going to get cut and were jealous. . . . To hear about that type of [Dolphins] locker room was shocking to me.”
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