NFL free agent Ryan Russell announced to the world on Thursday that he was bisexual through an interview with ESPN. Russell was able to come out when he felt like he was most ready and with the platform he wanted, but that almost wasn't the case.

In the interview with ESPN, Russell relayed a harrowing story about a blogger who approached him after his rookie season with the Dallas Cowboys in 2015 and threatened to out him.

According to Russell, a well-known blogger messaged him and had figured out that he and another man were an item based on similar posts on social media.

“After my first season, a well-known blogger messaged me. He had come across an Instagram story of a man I was dating that included a quick snippet of me in the background. Even though the man and I were never in a post together, the dates, times and similar locations were enough evidence for the blogger to deduce that we were an item.”

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Russell begged the blogger to not put the story out there and finally, the blogger agreed, but with one word of advice, next time be a little more cautious.

“Let that sink into your brain: Even though openly LGBTQ people are thriving in every area of public life — politics, entertainment, the top corporations in America — they are so invisible in pro sports that a gossip blogger is doing a favor for a bisexual football player by not disclosing that he happens to date men.”

It's sad that in today's world people have to still be afraid because of their sexuality. For Russell, he was brave to stand up to that blogger who wanted to out him, and even more brave to tell his story to the world.