Michael Irvin Goes Shirtless For OUT Magazine
Former Dallas Cowboys player Michael Irvin (who also appeared in Adam Sandler‘s The Longest Yard) takes a defiant stand for marriage equality this month as OUT magazine’s cover star.
“I don’t see how any African-American, with any inkling of history, can say that you don’t have the right to live your life how you want to live your life,” Irvin says on the topic of same sex marriage, according to the magazine. “No one should be telling you who you should love, no one should be telling you who you should be spending the rest of your life with. When we start talking about equality, and everybody being treated equally, I don’t want to know an African-American who will say everybody doesn’t deserve equality.”
The coverage is also a tribute to the legacy of his late brother, whom Irvin discovered was homosexual after reportedly finding him dressed in women’s clothing back in the 1970s. He attributes his initial denial of his brother’s sexual preference to his own issues with the opposite sex, particularly his former womanizing ways.
“Through it all we realized maybe some of the issues I’ve had with so many women, just bringing women around so everybody can see, maybe that’s the residual of the fear I had that if my brother is wearing ladies’ clothes, am I going to be doing that? Is it genetic?” Irvin tells the magazine. “I’m certainly not making excuses for my bad decisions. But I had to dive inside of me to find out why am I making these decisions, and that came up.”
Irvin says that he would support any athlete who wants to come out.
“If anyone comes out in those top four major sports, I will absolutely support him. When a guy steps up and says, ‘This is who I am,’ I guarantee you I’ll give him 100 percent support.”
