The longtime trainer of the San Francisco 49ers has publicly come out in an interview with ESPN The Magazine, in which he talks about the good, bad and ugly of his experiences as a gay man working in professional sports. Lindsy McLean, the team’s respected head trainer of 24 years, retired in 2003. He says his sexual orientation was an open secret within the organization and with most of the media covering the team, starting as far back as 1982 when he took his partner of 20 years, George Paiva, to the team’s Christmas party. In fact, when the 49ers became the first NFL team to offer benefits to domestic partners in 1997, McLean signed up Paiva, for the first time declaring to the team’s administration that Paiva was his life partner.

In the interview with ESPN The Magazine, the 65-year-old McLean said he was at times subjected to verbal harassment by various players, but at the hands of one he was terrorized. McLean declined to name the player, but details incidents in which the player frequently would grab McLean from behind, push him against a locker and simulate rape.

Even after transferring to another team, the player allegedly repeated the harassment, following a game against the 49ers — in the presence of 49ers staffers, sponsors, coaches and family members.

“I thought he’d get his jollies and stop,” McLean told ESPN. “But he never did. The guy is huge. What was I going to do? ... I was disappointed no one ever intervened. I wasn’t worried so much about myself. I felt badly for my staff. The guys obviously felt awkward and embarrassed for me.”

The article details other instances of verbal abuse and intimidation suffered by McLean, and it describes his reaction following well-publicized homophobic remarks made by 49ers running back Garrison Hearst during the 2002 season.

Hearst was quoted in The Fresno Bee saying, “Aww, hell no! I don’t want any faggots on my team. I know this might not be what people want to hear, but that’s a punk. I don’t want any faggots in this locker room.” Hearst’s remarks were made in reaction to former defensive lineman Esera Tuaolo coming out as gay.

McLean says he told owner John York he was willing to publicly acknowledge he was gay if York felt it would help the team get through the Hearst controversy. McLean was an instrumental figure in Hearst’s recovery from a severe ankle injury that sidelined him for the 1999 and 2000 seasons. York was supportive of McLean but told him that to come out would “be beyond the call of duty.”

Interviewed for the McLean article, Hearst told ESPN, “His personal habit is his personal habit. It don’t matter to me.”

Bill Walsh, the legendary coach who took the 49ers to three Super Bowl wins and who is now the team’s consultant, hired McLean in 1979. Walsh confided to McLean that his son, Steve Walsh, died of AIDS in 2002. It was a revelation that shocked McLean. Walsh told ESPN he never knew about the abuse the trainer faced from the team.

“I’m sure bad things like that happened,” Walsh is quoted as saying. “There’s no way I would have known these things because he was so private. If he’d come to me, he knows all hell would have broken loose. I suppose that’s why he never told me.”

McLean has said that he does not want to become a spokesperson for gay issues and is contemplating retiring to Palm Springs. He remains connected to the 49ers; the team called him an instrumental part of establishing the “49ers Courage House,” a facility established this fall that provides care for abused children.