Nicknamed “Diamond Calv,” he was the first Black man to w the Mr. Ameri ntt. As a gay man, he said, he also felt bigotry over his sexual orientatn.
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BOB PARIS, GAY FORMER MR. UNIVERSE, SUFFERED DEATH THREATS AND HEARTBREAK AFTER COMG OUT [VIO]
Bob Paris, a gay former Mr. Universe who me out of the closet the July issue of Ironman magaze 1989, admted recently that he suffered ath threats followg his announcement. Later that year, Bob Paris would marry his bodybuildg boyiend, Rod Jackson, and discs his announcement on the Oprah Wey show. In a […] * gay mr universe *
The public celebrated his athleticism and admired his physil strength -- but was one liberate act 1989 that would tt Paris' te a time when a Los Angel Tim poll reported that nearly 70 percent of the untry thought homosexualy was a s, Paris stunned the world by g out as a gay man.
"Paris and Jackson beme stant symbols for gay marriage, actively speakg on and advotg for gay rights. "I felt I would be lettg down the e, that I would be at givg fuel to people who hated gay people and said we uldn't sta relatnships and were anti-equal marriage. "Beg able to fally make our marriage legal 2003 healed a spot my soul that had been wound om the time I was 14 years old and first realized I was a gay man livg a culture that told me I was ls than, " Paris says.