The thing about writing about the first gay man to play in the NFL, or the first Black man to play professional baseball, or the first person of any group to do anything, is that there's rarely just one "first." Before Jackie Robinson, there was Satchel Paige. Paige was no less great than Robinson (he may in fact have been the greatest pitcher of all time), but he was kept from prominence by exclusionary and prejudiced bylaws and de facto segregation. So we celebrate the first, but there's a silent acknowledgment that a whole rich history came before.