Katie Sowers, hired to be a full-time assistant coach by the NFL's San Francisco 49ers, is just the second female hired in that role for the NFL and the first, male or female, who is openly LGBT.
Sowers played pro football in the Women’s Football Alliance and worked as an intern for the Atlanta Falcons’ scouting department. She interned with the 49ers over the summer and was then hired for the fall.
The Falcons organization knew about her orientation, and still treated her well, she said.
“I could not have asked for a more open-minded and accepting group of people to work with,” Sowers said, CBS Sports reported. “I never once felt judged and I was treated just like anyone would want to be treated.”
She said she believed an openly gay male coach would be accepted in the NFL, and added that she wants to be a role model for women who want to work in the NFL.
Sowers is the first openly gay coach in the U.S. in any men’s professional sport.
She spoke about her orientation in Outsports on Tuesday, saying, “No matter what you do in life, one of the most important things is to be true to who you are. There are so many people who identify as LGBT in the NFL, as in any business, that do not feel comfortable being public about their sexual orientation.”
Twitter users both applauded Sowers as a trailblazer and weren't bothered that she's LGBT.
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