Being a Gay Football Captain

Brian Sims opens up about coming out to his teammates in college

One of Philly’s own Brian Sims was featured in The Huffington Post recently for his experiences coming out in college as a gay football captain. Sims, an attorney who’s currently running for the state house, talks frankly with “I’m From Driftwood” about what it was like telling his teammates he was gay – and how they stood up for him.

“My quarterback and I … I think we were walking back to the car to get beer out of the trunk,” he remembers. “And out of nowhere, the guy turns around and goes, ‘Yo, Sims. You gay?’ And it completely caught me off guard, and I really quickly said, ‘Yeah, man, thanks for asking.’ And we both sort of stood there. It was one of those things where it felt like five minutes; it was probably five seconds. And he says, ‘Cool, man, thanks for telling me.’ And we just sort of kept on walking like it hadn’t happened. And we got to the car, picked up some beer, walked back.”

Sims and his team went onto win an NCAA championship. If winning continues to be in his future, he could become the first openly gay legislator in Pennsylvania. We always knew this guy would go far – that’s why he’s proudly featured in our  “New Who’s Who.”

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