Former pro soccer player Robbie Rogers was recently on the red carpet for the GMCLA Voice Awards in Los Angeles, and it seems he's been having other meetings while there. According to USA Today, Rogers has signed an agreement to formally join the Los Angeles Galaxy, making the 26-year-old the first openly gay active footballer in Major League Soccer.
After coming out publicly as gay, Rogers said he was retiring from the sport, and he later explained that he was going to focus on a fashion line, and that he had been "besieged with large offers of money for interviews and contracts, as well as moving emails from thousands of people who have thanked him or asked how they might uncover the truth about themselves."
Rogers has apparently been training with the Galaxy this month, but had yet to confirm that he would formally re-enter the sport. He told USA Today he was inspired to step back onto the pitch after speaking to a group of young people at the Nike Be True LGBT Youth Forum in Portland last month.
"I seriously felt like a coward," Rogers told USA Today Sports. "These kids are standing up for themselves and changing the world, and I'm 25, I have a platform and a voice to be a role model. How much of a coward was I to not step up to the plate?"
Rogers announced that he was gay and retiring from the sport on his website in February, saying that he was ready to "discover myself away from football." Rogers played in the MLS in the U.S. for five seasons, where he started 18 games and scored two goals. He then went on to play for the English Premier League's Leeds United until he was released in January.
Of course, let's not forget that Galaxy was the team Beckham was playing for until very recently.
