Kev Maxen, Jaguars assistant strength ach, out as gay

Contents:

• BASEBALL PLAYED VAL ROLE FOR GAY JOCK TURNED DOC HIS G OUT
• LIFE WAS HELL FOR A GAY TEEN JOCK
• FOR OPENLY GAY JOCK, G OUT TO TEAMMAT THE HARST PART
• JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ASSISTANT STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY
• JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS' KEV MAXEN IS FIRST AMERIN MALE PRO SPORTS ACH TO E OUT AS GAY
• JAGUARS ASSISTANT KEV MAXEN IS FIRST MALE NFL ACH TO E OUT AS GAY
• IT WAS A SIMPLE TEAM PHOTO, BUT MEANT THE WORLD TO GAY HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYER
• JAGS' MAXEN IS FIRST MALE AMERIN PRO SPORTS ACH TO E OUT AS GAY

BASEBALL PLAYED VAL ROLE FOR GAY JOCK TURNED DOC HIS G OUT

This Philly kid wanted to throw right, bat right, be a Christian, play for the Philli and never ever be gay. At the same time that I was a hard-chargg jock, I was fightg my ternal battl of fulfillg that last le of my imagary baseball rd: Don’t ever, ever be gay.

Beg gay fely was not ol when I was growg up and seemed every other word out of a kid’s mouth was “that’s gay. ” The nnotatn of gay was always negative, lame and stupid. If you would trip when nng to first base, you’re gay.

If you stck out, you’re gay. If you gave another guy a pliment, make sure you say “no homo, ” bee God forbid we would pliment each other. To this day, I never e gay slurs and rrect anyone who them my prence.

LIFE WAS HELL FOR A GAY TEEN JOCK

The world of beg a Christian athlete allowed me to keep my ternal battl where they belonged and was able to “pray the gay away. While studyg to bee a doctor and tryg to be the bt hband I uld be, I was tormented by thoughts such as “Was I gay?

This sight led me to stg down wh my dad at a Philli game and, after many Bud Lights, tellg him that I was gay.

I did not f the stereotype of what society views as a gay man and my father was pretty floored. I was born this way and I wish that I didn’t have the stggl of worryg if I was gay, worryg if I was gog to Hell, worryg about the jock rhetoric, worryg about my acceptance my small Christian world.

FOR OPENLY GAY JOCK, G OUT TO TEAMMAT THE HARST PART

I am a gay jock doc and am nstantly evolvg, and am still a huge Philli fan. My updated baseball rd now reads: Bats right, throws right, gay and proud.

On the b home after a victory the players serenad him wh "YMCA" and "It's Rag Men"; when he attend gay youth nferenc and pri march, they asked for souvenir T-shirts. Corey beme an articulate spokman for gay civil rights, hung out wh senators and movie stars, and even appeared (wearg football pads and eye black) an ad for the Mchell Gold furnure pany. Greg says that s msage mt be heard by the many gay athlet who may thk that bee Corey me out to broad acceptance, even reverence, the ast is clear for everyone else to do the same.

The clost gay bar is the "big cy" of Elmira, N. Like many teenagers stgglg wh homosexualy, the Inter opened up an amazg world. Many gay youths fd this to be an empowerg, life-affirmg disvery.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ASSISTANT STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY

"I didn't know any gay people around here.

The only time the subject of homosexualy arose was as a joke. Even the lol newspaper, the Daily Review nearby Towanda, ran regular diatrib agast homosexualy, sometim cg the North Amerin Man-Boy Love Associatn as a reprentative gay anizatn. The next year, a gay chat room, was the first time he typed the words "I am gay.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS' KEV MAXEN IS FIRST AMERIN MALE PRO SPORTS ACH TO E OUT AS GAY

He locked himself his fay's puter room, spendg every night prowlg the Web for rmatn and chattg wh other gay youths. "I jt didn't know how to go about beg gay, " he explas. The only gay athlete I knew was Greg Louganis, and he was a swimmer.

The only gay people I saw were the drag queens on Birdge. He broke down, told the officer he was gay, and said he uld not pe. She thought his homosexual feelgs were only a phase.

The iend told him that everyone at school knew Greg was gay. "When you're gay and young, that's what you do. While readg XY, a publitn for gay youth, Greg's boyiend thought would be a good ia to send a photo of Greg his football uniform for an upg issue.

JAGUARS ASSISTANT KEV MAXEN IS FIRST MALE NFL ACH TO E OUT AS GAY

The picture appeared at the same time ESPN was searchg for gay athlet to terview for a televisn show.

" The clost support group for gays and alli was an hour away Bghamton, N. After the gay Universy of Wyomg stunt was tied to a fence and left to die, however, Greg wonred whether the hatred he felt Troy might lead to vlence there too. He traveled nearly two hours to Scranton to vis his first gay club, where he fally met person some of the iends he had ma onle.

" As Greg entered the gay muny, he tried to build a new life for himself. After realizg his homosexualy was not a phase, they have bee strongly supportive. Maybe I'd tell a uple of people I'm gay and let them handle so there wouldn't be this massive wch-hunt.

IT WAS A SIMPLE TEAM PHOTO, BUT MEANT THE WORLD TO GAY HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYER

His msag, he says, are important: lettg gay teenagers know they are not alone, and raisg awarens that even the 21st century homophobia exists. He mak clear that there are other differenc between the two openly gay ex-high school athlet as well. Most gay youth live small towns.

And even though some people have e pretty far terms of acceptg gay people, there's still a long way to go.

From the out director of Mudbound and Bsie, Dee Re's first feature film, about 17-year-old Alike (Apero Oduye) g to terms wh beg a lbian the face of her homophobic mother (Kim Wayans), is often grty and tough to watch.

JAGS' MAXEN IS FIRST MALE AMERIN PRO SPORTS ACH TO E OUT AS GAY

Greg Berlanti -- gay producer and director extraordaire behd the CW's super-queer slate of TV shows om Supergirl to Riverdale -- livered the mastream g-out movie LGBTQ dienc have been wag for wh Love, Simon, about a closeted gay teen who falls love wh an anonymo gay boy, "Blue, " via a seri of emails. As Simon (Nick Robson) search for the inty of his onle paramour, he to terms wh beg gay, g out to his iends and his ultimately supportive fay (Jennifer Garner and Josh Duhamel play his parents) the romantic edy that boasts a killer soundtrack. But out director Jamie Babb's satiril But I'm a Cheerlear, which Orange Is the New Black's Natasha Lyonne plays Megan, a lbian cheerlear sent to a nversn therapy mp n by the very mpy Cathy Moriarty and RuPl (of all people), has been the gold standard of "ex-gay" movi for s.