Matt Llano, a profsnal distance nner and former Richmond spir, out publicly as gay and shar his journey a new vio.
Contents:
- BEG OUT: ELE GAY NNER DAVID MELLY PROUD OF HIS ‘WEIRDNS’
- MATT LLANO, PROFSNAL DISTANCE NNER ARIZONA, OUT AS GAY
- ON TRAG, RACG, AND GROWG AS A GAY NNERON TRAG, RACG, AND GROWG AS A GAY NNER
- A ACH AND A SPORT HELPED LLEGE NNER E OUT AS GAY
BEG OUT: ELE GAY NNER DAVID MELLY PROUD OF HIS ‘WEIRDNS’
* gay distance runner *
10:53Download AudCopy the below to embed the WBUR d player on your seRumeProfsnal nner Nikki Hiltz recently cid was time to share a middle-distance nner had been openly gay for years, but was durg a virtual fundraiser last summer about suici preventn for LGBTQ youth that Hiltz realized was time to tell the whole people ed the race as an opportuny to e out, so Hiltz wanted to hear their stori before this year’s event. Atralian A-League soccer star Josh Cavallo me out as gay an October vio posted to his social media, beg hailed as the first current male top-flight profsnal soccer player to publicly do so.
I'm a footballer and I'm gay. "He ntued: "Growg up I always felt the need to hi myself, you know, bee I was ashamed, and ashamed I'll never be able to do what I love and be gay. In a September terview wh USA Today, 25-year-old mor league baseball player beme the only active baseball profsnal to be out as gay!
Natnal Hockey League prospect Le Prokop me out as gay July, the first active player the league to e out. "I am proud to publicly tell everyone that I am gay, " he wrote a heartfelt msage on social media.
MATT LLANO, PROFSNAL DISTANCE NNER ARIZONA, OUT AS GAY
"If my story has any lsons, should be that beg the first gay nner your world means you won’t be the last." - David Melly * gay distance runner *
The 28-year-old Natnal Football League player and Rairs fensive leman ma history when he me out as gay on Instagram durg Pri Month, beg the first veteran NFL player to e out as gay while signed to a regular-season ntract. I jt wanted to take a quick moment to say that I'm gay. The Bachelor star and former football player (who was signed by the San Diego Chargers as an undrafted ee agent and was on the practice squad of the Oakland Rairs and the Philalphia Eagl) me out as gay April, sayg he had fally e to terms wh his sexualy and the "next step all of this was sort of lettg people know.
"He wanted everyone to know he was "still the same Colton everybody met on TV" and is "proud to be gay. Hiltz had prevly e out as gay while llege and has been a visible and affirmg prence for gay athlet the past.
Corey Walsh, the 27-year-old pro BMX rir and Vans spokperson, said he isn't normally the type of person to "let people " on his personal life, but felt was important to e out as gay a March Instagram post bee "there are a lot of people still stgglg wh the same suatns" and he "jt wanted to let people know that they are not alone. Champn long track speedskater Conor McDermott-Mostowy never hid beg gay om his fay, iends, and fellow athlet, but he also wasn't one to rate his locker wh rabow Pri flags eher. He ially feared negative stereotyp about gay male athlet but threw those ncerns asi after his two-tle performance at the U.
ON TRAG, RACG, AND GROWG AS A GAY NNERON TRAG, RACG, AND GROWG AS A GAY NNER
Alone as an openly gay athlete when he joed the cross untry and track and field teams 2011, Melly was pleased that his senr season three of the five top nners intified as LGBT. Teams wh gay athlet also have a funny tenncy to be more acceptg across the board. It eaked me out a b at first when I started gettg msag om other gay athlet, often younger kids and teens, who found me and felt my story ronated wh them.
As recently as five or six years ago, I uld name a sgle openly gay nner outsi my own team. In 2013, Matt Llano me out publicly as gay when he published a blog post tled “It’s Time” on his personal webse.
Hiltz, whose Instagram b not her preferred pronouns are “she/they, ” has been openly gay for several years, and she posted on social media to share the news that she is transgenr and, more specifilly, non-bary. The nng club has been airg a seri of vios on YouTube (above) lled "An Open Look, " and this week the vio was all about Llano beg gay and g out.
A ACH AND A SPORT HELPED LLEGE NNER E OUT AS GAY
In the vio Llano talks about the shame he felt as a teenager for beg gay, g out to his parents and the stggl so many people face dog that (his parents are also terviewed), datg llege, and how difficult was for him simply to say the words "I'm gay. My “weirdns” happens to have a label: I’m a gay nner. As a nfed, young, closeted gay boy, there was also somethg particularly satisfyg about beg good at a sport.
When I went to llege the fall of 2011, I was the only openly gay member of a track and field program that was 80+ athlet strong. I was not the only gay member of my team for long- by senr fall, we joked that we had the “gayt cross-untry team the NCAA” bee 3 of our top 5 nners intified as LGBT. Fortunately, we live a world where we are rapidly nng out of thgs to be the “first gay” of.