Cultural Diversity Roster

Tuaolo has had a successful football career for thirteen years. He played football at Oregon State University. He was named Pac-10 Conference First Team twice; was a finalist for the Lombardi Award and the Outland Trophy; and in 1989 he won the Morris Trophy, which is awarded to the best defensive lineman in the Pac-10. Tuaolo then played in the National Football League for nine years, for the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, Jacksonville Jaguars, Atlanta Falcons, and Carolina Panthers. He was the first Rookie in Packer history to start all sixteen games in a season, and he reached the Super Bowl with the Atlanta Falcons.

After retiring from the NFL, Tuaolo came out as gay in 2002 on HBO’s Real Sports, and began a career of advocating for the LGBT community. He has worked with different sports organizations, including the NFL and the Gay and Lesbian Athletics Foundation, to combat homophobia. He makes and has made appearances on television programs such as The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Tyra Banks Show, Good Morning America, and The Ellen Show to address homophobia generally and in sports. He has helped reject a homophobic state marriage bill by testifying before the legislature, and he continues to speak at colleges and corporations about explicit and implicit homophobia in order to create a better environment for students, members, and employees.

In 2017, Tuaolo founded Hate is Wrong, a non-profit corporation whose mission is to foster diversity in sports and anti-bullying among youth. Hate is Wrong provides inclusion-based education and throws anti-bullying family luaus in school districts, allowing families to come together, enjoy a free meal, and learn how to spot and prevent bullying. As the non-profit’s CEO and Chair of the Board of Directors, Tuaolo hosted the first-ever Super Bowl Inclusion Party to bring the football and LGBT communities closer together while raising funds for local diversity and anti-bullying organizations. Sponsored by great corporations like the NFL, Adidas, and iHeart Radio, the Super Bowl Inclusion Party will be a yearly inclusion-based fundraising event held during Super Bowl week in the city hosting the Super Bowl.

Tuaolo has been in front of the camera and/or audience most of his life, from acting to NFL games, music videos and performances, and top television programs. In 2015, he filmed a pilot for Westlake, a proposed television series about a group of friends in Minneapolis dealing with unique challenges, including agoraphobia and being gay in the NFL.

During his time at the NFL, Tuaolo sang the National Anthem in full pads before his own games. He has since performed the anthem at similar sporting events, including NFL, MLB, NHL, and NBA games, and at the opening ceremonies of the Gay Games VII and Super Bowl 2018. In 2017, he made it to top 20 on Season 13 of NBC’s The Voice. Tuaolo writes, records, and releases his own music with Music Plant Records, such as his most popular song, “Stronger.” He has also collaborated with other artists, such as Lari White.

Tuaolo and his work have been featured on countless media outlets, including National Public Radio, ABC News, Sports Illustrated, Huffington Post, People Magazine, Outsports, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Good Morning America, The Ellen Show, and Forbes Magazine.