Gay Ex - Giant
Alleges Bowl Discrimination
By AP from the
NYTimes on the Web, February 10, 2006
NEW YORK -- Former Giants
lineman Roy Simmons and celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred want an investigation
into whether Simmons was denied access to the Super Bowl media center because he
is gay and HIV positive.
Simmons and Allred held a news conference outside NFL headquarters Thursday
before delivering a letter to the league asking it to look into why Simmons
wasn't granted a media pass.
Simmons requested a credential for the center Feb. 2, three days before the
Super Bowl. He also asked for two tickets for the game, which the
Pittsburgh Steelers won 21-10 over the Seattle Seahawks, and a party.
He said he was told there were no more credentials available. But Allred,
whose clients have included Scott Peterson's former mistress, Amber Frey, said
the NFL indicated that it would give others passes after Simmons asked for one.
Simmons, who also played for the Washington Redskins, said he stood outside the
media center in Detroit and watched many past and present football players go in
and out.
''I was once part of the inner circle -- now I'm standing on the outside looking
in,'' said Simmons, who also wasn't given passes to the game or the party.
In a letter addressed to NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue, Allred listed
questions she said the NFL should answer, including whether Simmons' request was
denied because he no longer fit the image of an NFL player or whether the NFL
''is inherently homophobic and prefers that a gay football player remain in the
closet.''
The NFL said in a statement that people throughout the league are inundated with
last-minute requests for Super Bowl game tickets, party invitations and press
credentials. An NFL spokesman said some requests are handled by the league
and others go through the public relations staff at the media center.
''It is impossible for all of these requests to be met, and there were many
people, apart from Mr. Simmons, who were disappointed,'' the statement said.
It said that ''far from being hostile to Mr. Simmons, the last word back to him
from our office was to contact us after the Super Bowl about the possibility of
speaking to our rookies at their annual June symposium.''
Simmons said he never asked for credentials in the past and wanted access to the
media center this year to talk about the importance of HIV testing.
Simmons, who played for the Giants from 1979-81 and Redskins in 1983, disclosed
that he is gay in 1992. He was the first former NFL player to come out as
HIV positive 10 years later. He now works as a supervisor at a halfway
house in Long Island.
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