NFL Sex Questions: League Investigating Teams Asking Players About Sexual Orientation

The NFL is investigating a report that "at least one team scouting the combine" was asking prospective football players about their sexuality, the league announced Wednesday, according to ESPN. Senior at the University of Colorado, tight end Nick Kasa, revealed during a radio interview that a team scouting the combine had asked him numerous questions about his sexual orientation. 

The annual NFL Scouting Combine is an opportunity for prospective NFL players to showcase their skills prior to the April draft. In addition to testing physical and mental prowess, players also sit down for interviews with teams scouting for players. Kasa says it was during one of these interviews when he was questioned about his sexual preferences. 

"[Teams] ask you like, 'Do you have a girlfriend?' 'Are you married?' 'Do you like girls?' " said Kasa said in the radio interview, according to The Washington Post. "Those kinds of things, and you know it was just kind of weird. But they would ask you with a straight face, and it's a pretty weird experience altogether."

The NFL quickly responded with a statement, saying "teams are expected to follow applicable federal, state and local employment laws."

"It is league policy to neither consider nor inquire about sexual orientation in the hiring process. In addition, there are specific protections in our collective bargaining agreement with the players that prohibit discrimination against any player, including on the basis of sexual orientation," the NFL said. "We will look into the report on the questioning of Nick Kasa at the scouting combine. Any team or employee that inquires about impermissible subjects or makes an employment decision based on such factors is subject to league discipline."

The NFL isn't exactly known for its progressive acceptance of homosexuality; in the league's long storied history there has never been an openly gay player, and strikingly few former players have come out after retiring. Recently, though, sexual orientation and its relationship to football have increasingly been in the spotlight.

San Francisco 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver rankled many across the country earlier this year when he made homophobic comments in a radio interview, saying he would never welcome a gay player into the locker room.

Speaking with "shock jock" Artie Lange, Culliver insisted gay players wouldn't be welcome on the team. "I don't do the gay guys man," said Culliver, absolutely not trying to over compensate for something. "I don't do that. No, we don't got no gay people on the team, they gotta get up out of here if they do."

"Can't be with that sweet stuff. Nah...can't be...in the locker room man. Nah," he said.

When Lange asked Culliver whether homosexual athletes would need to keep their sexuality a secret in football, he responded: "Yeah, come out 10 years later after that."

DeMaurice Smith, NFL Players Association executive director, commented on the NFL's vow to further investigate the practice of teams asking prospective players about their sexual orientations. 

"I know that the NFL agrees that these types of questions violate the law, our CBA and player rights," said Smith. "I hope that they will seek out information as to what teams have engaged in this type of discrimination and we should then discuss appropriate discipline."