Former NFL player Matt Willig on marriage, Catholicism & a gay teammate
Oct 3rd, 2012
by Cyd Zeigler jr.
Matt Willig wasn’t like the other folks roaming around the NOH8 campaign studio on a warm afternoon when we met last June. A C-list pop diva was entertaining the crew with her antics. Photographer Adam Bouska, hardly the size of an offensive lineman, was readying his camera as his partner Jeff Parshley delicately placed a small temporary tattoo on the cheek of a mom holding her Chihuaua.
Willig towered over them all. Standing at 6-foot-8, his weight last listed by the National Football League was 315 – And it’s all muscle. When I slipped on his Super Bowl ring, two of my fingers fit easily where his index finger was snug. My hand disappeared in our handshake.
A smattering of professional athletes had appeared in the NOH8 campaign before him, but none have the physical stature of Willig. After years of soul-searching, and tempering his Catholic upbringing with his love for his gay friends, on this day Willig was finally ready to take the plunge and appear in the NOH8 campaign. He was ready to support same-sex marriage.
“It wasn’t really something I had a strong opinion about either way,” Willig said of being torn in two directions on the issue for many years. “And then I thought, why don’t I? And I had to figure out why. I just wanted to make sure I did it because I wanted to do it and it was right for me.”
http://outsports.com/jocktalkblog/2012/10/03/former-nfl-player-matt-willig-supports-same-sex-marriage-talks-about-his-catholicism/
