Just in time for Pride Month, on June 21, 2021 Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib became the first active NFL player to come out as homosexual, in a very casual and matter-of-fact Instagram post. “I just wanted to take a quick moment to say that I’m gay,” stated Nassib, in what sounded almost like an afterthought, a testimony perhaps to the non-event such disclosures have become in recent years. “I’ve been meaning to do this for a while now, but I finally feel comfortable enough to get it off my chest,” continued Nassib. “I really have the best life. I got the best family, friends and job a guy can ask for. I’m a pretty private person, so I hope you guys know that I’m really not doing this for attention. I just think that representation and visibility are so important.”
And so they are. As more and more gays, lesbians and transgender individuals exit the closet and publicly express their identity, the freer we all become to be ourselves.
Nassib went on to thank his teammates and NFL management for their acceptance and support in his decision to come out, and has pledged to donate $100,000 to The Trevor Project, an organization dedicated to crisis intervention and suicide prevention among LGBTQ youth.
Now in his fifth year with the NFL, Nassib was a 2015 unanimous All-American and Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year in recognition of his outstanding record with sacks. That sounds like a sex inuendo joke in retrospect, but the sacks for which he was publicly lauded involved ten tackles of quarterbacks in six games during his senior year at Penn State University. Nassib was picked by the Cleveland Browns in the third round of the 2016 NFL draft, and went on to log impressive stats with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before signing a three-year, $25 million contract with Las Vegas in 2020.
Carl Nassib (12 April 1993, no time available) is a born athlete, with an exact square from the Sun at 23 Aries to Mars, ruler of sports and competition, at 23 Cancer. A T-Square with Neptune and Uranus at 21 and 22 Capricorn suggests some degree of controversy, independence or eccentricity (all Uranus) and an element of his character which is kept hidden (Neptune). In itself, Mars opposed Uranus indicates sexual kink, something nonconformist, potentially shocking or viewed as unacceptable. Had he been born a few decades earlier, Nassib would have had to continue to hide his sexuality or face ostracism in the pro sports community, but in the current culture his path to openness has been smoothed by countless others.
Even Nassib’s career path can be tracked with asteroids. First picked up by the Cleveland Browns, inaugurating his NFL career, asteroid Brown opposes the Sun from 27 Libra, filling in a Grand Cross with Mars and Neptune/Uranus. Brown with the Sun shows that name as a defining feature in Nassb’s life; linked with Mars, it portrays his first identity in the NFL. Asteroid Cleveland at 29 Sagittarius is at station (turning direct April 25 at that degree), making it an embedded factor and granting it enhanced importance in his biography. Moreover, Cleveland also cojoins asteroid Carla (feminine version of Carl, for which there is no exact match) at 25 Sag, also at station.
A grouping of Venus at 5 Aries with Mercury at 26 Pisces and asteroid Veritas (Latin for “truth”) at 0 Aries between them speaks volumes for Nassib’s need to speak (Mercury) honestly (Veritas) about his romantic attractions (Venus), while an opposition to Jupiter at 8 Libra suggests he will do so in a very public way, as a celebrity. Asteroid Sappho, named for the ancient Greek lesbian poet and a celestial marker of homosexual inclinations, T-Squares this polarity from 13 Capricorn, and was activated by an exact Lunar Eclipse on July 5 of last year, softening the ground for Nassib’s disclosure.
Nassib’s gay bona fides are well established. In addition to the Mars/Uranus opposition and Sappho squared Venus, the Sun participates in an out-of-Sign Grand Cross with asteroids Antinous at 0 Taurus, Eros at 1 Aquarius, Ganymed at 1 Scorpio and Nasi, closest to Nassib, at 1 Leo. Antinous is named for the lover of Second Century Roman Emperor Hadrian, for whom he drowned himself in the Nile to save his beloved; Eros represents erotic passion generally, as well as whatever we have a passion for in life, but was also the acknowledged patron of homosexual love in ancient Greece; and Ganymed is named for Zeus’ underage cupbearer and boy-toy lover. Having three gay indicators linked closely to the Sun and a PNA (Personal-Named Asteroid) leaves little doubt of Nassib’s proclivities.
When Nassib made these part of the public record on 21 June 2021, the transit Sun at 0 Cancer was exactly squared natal Veritas, prompting him to reveal (Sun) his truth (Veritas). Transit Veritas exactly conjoined transit Chironat 12 Aries (still within orb of relationship-oriented natal Venus at 5 Aries), suggesting that this was a healing moment for Nassib, but also verifying his status as a maverick as well as a guide or mentor (all Chirotic traits).
Transit Venus at 23 Cancer was an exact match for natal Mars, opposing transit Pluto at 26 Capricorn and T-Squared transit asteroid Carol (for Carl), which was stationary at 26 Libra. Carol had turned direct two days prior, marking a literal “turning point” for Nassib; its exact square to Pluto indicates a transformational moment and reflects the potential for scandal, adding a sexual taboo element, related to Nassib’s loves and affections (Venus), based in his inherent sexual attractions (Mars).
A pairing of transit Ganymed at 2 Leo with Mars at 6 feeds into the natal Gay Grand Cross and itself speaks to the issue of homosexuality (Ganymed) in pro sports (Mars), highly personalized by conjunction with natal Nasi. Transit Antinous at 18 Gemini conjoined Mercury at 16 Gemini shows gay issues to be in the news for the period generally (and how wondrous that these two have been holding hands for virtually the entirety of Pride Month, with its focus on gay history and culture).
Transit Sappho at 26 Aquarius conjoined Jupiter at 2 Pisces suggests a gay (Sappho) celebrity (Jupiter), while Sappho’s conjunction with natal Saturn at 27 Aquarius makes it official, and raises the specter of how this affects Nassib’s career long-term. The sextile from Sappho to transit Eros at 25 Sagittarius, exactly conjoined Nassib’s natal asteroid Carla (also for Carl), once again directly links Nassib to the event and reiterates the gay theme. A Yod, or Finger of Destiny, is formed with Sappho and Eros both inconjunct transit Venus and natal Mars at 23 Cancer on the Apex, suggesting a fated moment (Yod) for Nassib to reveal his homosexuality (Sappho, Eros) and love (Venus) for men (Mars).
A handful of former NFL players have outed themselves after retirement, but Carl Nassib is the first to do so as an active player, in this most masculine of professional sports. Statistics suggest he has a lot of company in his sexual preference; let’s hope more athletes choose to follow his example.
Alex Miller is a professional writer and astrologer, whose website AlexAsteroidAstrology.com offers a trove of info on the role of asteroids in personal and mundane astrology. He is the author of The Black Hole Book (available on Amazon.com) and The Urban Wicca, former editor of “The Galactic Calendar,” and past president of The Philadelphia Astrological Society. His pioneering work with Black Holes in astrological interpretation began in 1991, when his progressed Sun unwittingly fell into one. Alex’s books and writings are available on his website. Alex can also be reached for comment or services at .
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