LGBT

There was AT LEAST one gay player on every single NFL team Deion Sanders played on during his career ... so says Prime Time himself.

Deion was on the "Arsenio Hall" show last night when the topic turned to Michael Sam -- the first openly gay NFL prospect.

"He's not the first gay guy in the NFL," Sanders said ... "He's the first one to come out."

"Every team I played on ... I think I played on 5 different teams ... there was someone gay in the locker room."

Deion says he and his teammates always knew who the gay players were and only judged that person based on football ability.

A "CSI" honcho who's being sued for alleged outrageous homophobic antics -- including drawing penises on the workstation of a man he thought was gay -- now says it's BS, because some of his best friends are homosexuals.

A set painter -- who says he's straight -- claims his supervisor, Jeremiah Redclay, went on a 5-year campaign of terror, calling him a f***** and other choice words, and plastering his workstation with crude drawings of gay sex.

Now Redclay's lawyer tells TMZ ... "CSI" execs FIRED Redclay over the allegations, but Redclay denies he did anything homophobic.

The lawyer says Redclay is totally down with gays ... he even has a close family member who's a member of the tribe, adding his client believes sexual orientation is simply irrelevant.

The lawyer believes the set painter got laid off and created a bunch of phony allegations so he could get his job back. Fact is ... "CSI" hired the set painter back after the allegations surfaced.

PGA golfer Steve Elkington is getting hammered on Twitter right now ... after making a joke about Michael Sam throwing a purse at the NFL combine.

The 51-year-old Australian -- who won the PGA championship in '95 -- wrote, "ESPN reporting Michael Sam is leading the handbag throw at NFL combine ... No one else expected to throw today."

Moments after the tweet, the backlash began ... with Steve's followers going off on the golfer. Here's a sample:

-- "You are TRYING TO MAKE SURE YOUR PUBLICIST keeps his job aren't you?? Good luck motherf*ker. See your apology at 11 on ESPN."

-- "BREAKING: Irrelevant golfer makes awful joke"

-- "Homophobia is hilarious (to a sh*tty old white dude)."

-- "let me get this straight - a golfer is making jokes about a football player's manliness?"

There's more ... but you get the point.

A gay-bashing supervisor at "CSI" tormented a crew member with homophobic slurs and crude drawings of penises ... because he THOUGHT the worker was a homosexual ... according to a new lawsuit.

Donald Perdue -- a set painter on the show -- claims his supervisor, Jeremiah Redclay, engaged in a 5-year campaign of brutal harassment ... calling him "fa***t" and "c***sucker" and hanging "sexually disgusting" drawings of gay sex at Perdue's workstation.

In his lawsuit, Perdue -- who claims he's straight -- says the harassment started when he heard Redclay refer to certain actors on the show as "d***suckers" ... and he asked Redclay to stop.

And this is weird ... Perdue claims Redclay lunged toward his genitals on one occasion and when Perdue pushed him away he claims Redclay responded, "Come on Mucho, you know you want it."

Perdue claims Redclay retaliated by making him a laughingstock at work ... which he endured for 5 years before leaving the show on a medical leave.

Perdue says he's the victim of discrimination ... simply because his boss THOUGHT he was gay.

Here's Michael Sam at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis today ... clearly excited at his prospects of playing professional football.

Go get 'em, Mike.

Katherine Heigl's hit hard times ... telling us she needs to hang onto every penny and is in NO position to donate cash to finish her new movie.

Here's the thing ... Hollywood hasn't exactly been beating down Katherine's door since she foolishly left "Grey's Anatomy" and trash talked Judd Apatow's movie -- she even admits it in this clip.

So now she's counting on a crowd funding campaign to raise $150,000 to complete her indie film "Jenny's Wedding" -- and makes it clear she won't be pitching in because she just ain't got it like that anymore.

Major flip-flopping after a gay fan publicly accused Rihanna of saying he was going to hell for his homosexuality -- he has now changed his story ... insisting he was LYING the whole time ... and actually Photoshopped the Instagram image going around the Internet.

Benvoy Seals posted the above image on Instagram last night -- showing a back and forth between him and Rihanna on her comments section.

Benvoy writes, "Rihanna u going to hell girl" -- and, in the image, Rihanna responds, "Arnt you gay? ... Nuff said blah!"

The exchange was shocking, especially because Rihanna voiced her support for gay rights in Russia less than a week ago -- posting a photo of herself wearing a hat embroidered with "P6," which stands for Principle 6 ... a campaign against Russia's anti-gay propaganda law.

But now, Benvoy tells TMZ, he Photoshopped the picture for no reason ... "I lied. I don't know why. I just did." He also said he received thousands of death threats and hate messages.

Benvoy has since deleted the original Instagram image and posted a retraction in its place, claiming, "Rihanna would never say something like that."

Chris Brown is being sued by the guy who claims the rapper berated him with the words, "I ain't down with that gay s***" and then beat him and broke his nose.

Parker Adams claims in his new, $3 million lawsuit .... he was outside the W Hotel in D.C. last October when Brown went nuts on him. This is the same incident for which Brown is currently being prosecuted for misdemeanor assault.

Brown has denied any misdeeds and we're told he claims Adams was the aggressor, trying to strongarm his way on his tour bus.

Adams is suing both Brown and Christopher Hollosy -- Brown's bodyguard. Adams wants $1 million from each of them for his injuries, and another $500K from each for punitive damages, to teach them a lesson.

Model Cara Delevingne was the big winner ... when Michelle Rodriguez emerged nearly naked from their limo in London. Well, honestly -- we're ALL winners on this one.

Just ask M-Rod and CD's limo driver.

No one had a better ride than Michelle Rodriguez last night -- just ask her pants ... which disappeared off her body while she was in the backseat of a limo with her new GF Cara Delevingne!

Here's what we know.

Fact: Michelle was wearing white pants when she and Cara hopped a ride back to their London hotel.

Fact: Michelle stepped out of the car cloaked in her bodyguard's jacket ... WITHOUT pants.

FUN FACT: CD stepped out of the car right after Michelle ... holding white pants.

Fact: These pictures tell an AWESOME story, and this is our new favorite celeb couple.

The makeup and masking tape were in full effect for the "RuPaul's Drag Race" season six premiere earlier this week ... but only one of these gorgeous gurls was born that way.

Can you guess which of these nine queens has always been a full-fledged female?!

Michelle Rodriguez and supermodel Cara Delevingne are acknowledging the obvious -- they're the hottest lesbian couple in the universe -- and to prove it they ate out last night.

Michelle and Cara were photographed leaving a London restaurant together, looking very coupley.

And to make it official -- before their date, Michelle told The Mirror they're an item, saying, "It's going really well. She's so cool. When we started hanging out, I just thought she was awesome, and we have the best time together."

35-year-old Michelle and 21-year-old Cara have been all over each other for 6 weeks now -- starting last month with a drunken makeout session courtside at a Knicks game -- so nothing fishy about this hookup.

Ellen Page -- who hit Hollywood hard with "Juno" -- just came out in pretty spectacular fashion -- declaring she's gay and saying, "I am tired of hiding and I am tired of lying by omission."

The 26-year-old actress formally unveiled her sexuality at the HRC's Time to Thrive event, an LGBT conference designed to help the LGBT youth, saying, "I am here today because I am gay ... and because maybe I can make a difference."

Page said, "I suffered for years because I was scared to come out. My spirit suffered, my mental health suffered and my relationships suffered. And I'm standing here today, with all of you, on the other side of the pain."

The battle lines in the NFL gay rights struggle will be drawn in the showers ... according to one former NFL star.

Super Bowl champion Raheem Brock -- who spent 10 years in the league -- tells TMZ Sports ... there will be a massive coverup when openly gay players like Michael Sam enter the locker room.

Brock says, "Guys won't go in the shower if they know a guy's gay in there. They gonna feel uncomfortable. I wouldn't [go in the shower]."

He continues, "I mean I would stay at my locker and chill until he's done getting out of the shower."

Michael Sam's college quarterback tells TMZ Sports ... he and other teammates "accepted" the openly gay football star during their time at Missouri ... but they don't "support" homosexuality.

We spoke with James Franklin -- who just completed his senior year at U of M and just like Sam, is expected to be selected in the upcoming NFL Draft.

"I don't drink. I don't curse. I don't support [homosexuality] -- but it doesn't mean I don't accept Michael," Franklin says.

When asked if he was supportive of Sam when he made his announcement in August, Franklin said ... "I wouldn't say supportive, but accepting. A lot of people confuse supporting and accepting."

Still, Franklin says ... "Michael respected us. He didn't make us feel uncomfortable in the locker room."

Michael Sam is one HELLUVA dancer -- in fact, the NFL prospect showed off his moves at a gay club in Missouri shot months ago and he didn't care who was watching ... now TMZ Sports has the footage.

Sam hit up the SoCo nightclub in Columbia, MO back in October -- just a few months after he came out to his teammates -- and let loose! So even though Sam made his public declaration Sunday, the reality is he's been out for a while.

In the footage, Sam (sans shirt) is gettin' down to Michael Jackson's "Rock With You" ... grinding all over a bunch of women, who seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Problem is ... shirts are required at the club -- and sources tell us at one point, security approached Sam and asked him to cover up.

He laughed at first ... but eventually complied.