Ryan Russell is the first openly LGBTQ player in the NFL, and the only male athlete in the four major professional sports leagues to self-identify as LGBTQ. A defensive end, Russell played football for Purdue University, the Dallas Cowboys (2015) and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2016-17). He is currently a free agent, and plays off-season and on the practice squad of the Buffalo Bills. Russell is also a writer and published poet. His first book of poetry, Prison or Passion (2019), captures the struggles of being a young boy without a father, and the strength that comes from building one’s own definition of manhood.