Former Cowboys star Michael Irvin, the focus of a lengthy Out magazine piece about his experience of learning an older brother was gay, believes the NFL is "in a different place" to deal with the subject. "I'm not starting this now. I've been on this mission for the last three or four years," Irvin said when asked why he is just starting this campaign now. "Everyone is starting to show support now, which is great. ... But this is not new. ... We use avenues that are at our disposal to make it better. "I'm as guilty as anyone out there, and I've said negative things, offensive things, without knowledge of it ... (which is) ignorance. I think we should all flip the coin and get knowledge out about not offending people and spread the knowledge about it. We did it out of ignorance. Let's make sure it doesn't perpetuate in ignorance." Irvin also says with certainty that today's NFL players would be accepting. He already has heard from some players -- and not in a negative sense. He doesn't expect a backlash from the inner circles of the league. "The reality is I think we're in a different place. Really," Irvin said. "It used to be that we couldn't accept these (types of) things and still be tough. Anything that takes away from masculinity, we have an issue with it, because we thought it took away from it. Toughness comes in many forms. "Once we get some knowledge of a situation, athletes will start pulling back. A lot of it has been out of ignorance. You don't know it hurts people the way it hurts people. I think we're in a place in this country where hopefully there won't be a backlash. I really do."