Carson Palmer has been in the NFL for a decade and played for the Bengals, Raiders and now the Cardinals, and he says he has never seen any reason to believe that an openly gay player would run into discrimination on an NFL team.
Asked in an interview with Andrew Siciliano on NFL Network about openly gay NBA player Jason Collins, Palmer said that from everything he has ever seen in the NFL, he believes a gay player would be welcomed.
“In our locker room I think he would be accepted very easily,” Palmer said. “I’ve been around the league a long time and you play with a lot of guys from a lot of different backgrounds, and that’s just the world we live in. I don’t think there would be any issues in this locker room. I think guys would accept him. All the locker rooms I’ve been in, in fact, since I’ve been in the NFL, I think he would be accepted very easily.”
Palmer said he believes Collins’ decision to come out this week will make it more likely for an NFL player to come out.
“He’s opened the door and obviously made it easier for guys to follow in his footsteps,” Palmer said.
And words of wisdom like those from Palmer make it easier for a gay player to know he’d be accepted.