Headline undersells how he did this during the 90’s during the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell era. Was not nearly as socially or politically acceptable then as it is now in the US to do that
And he didn’t just protect one kid. The football coach, the manliest man in the entire school, was the faculty sponsor for the Gay Straight Alliance club that welcomed everyone. In the 1990s.
Meanwhile the high school football coach in my high school (2000s) used school funds to buy his team of bigots booze and received a sternly worded "please don’t do that" letter as punishment. Guy was a raging homophobe.
Seriously. In the late 90s and early aughts it was common to hear teenage boys and young men throwing around words like f_g and using “gay” in a derogatory way. This was common even in liberal areas and among groups that weren’t outwardly homophobic. We have come a long way in a relatively short period of time.
You’re underselling just how homophobic we were back then.
In the 1990 General Social Survey, only 12% said that gay sex wasn’t wrong.
In 1988 (closest year to the 90s the question was asked) only 3% of Americans “Strongly agreed” the gay people should have the right to marry.
Also, in 1992, 19% of non-black respondents believed there should be a law against interracial marriage, which is super disturbing.
