The gay versn of SI's Swimsu Issue - Outsports

Contents:

• FROM LLEGE SWIMMER TO HIGH SCHOOL ACH, GAY ATHLETE STAYED TE TO HIMSELF
• TWO GAY SWIMMERS ARE BT IENDS AND EACH OTHER’S ROCK
• TYP OF GAY SWIMWEAR
• GAY DIRECTOR ADAM KALRON PICTS HOMOPHOBIA THE SWIMMG WORLD WH ‘THE SWIMMER’
• THE GAY VERSN OF SI'S SWIMSU ISSUE

FROM LLEGE SWIMMER TO HIGH SCHOOL ACH, GAY ATHLETE STAYED TE TO HIMSELF

From llege swimmer to high school ach, gay athlete stayed te to himself.

TWO GAY SWIMMERS ARE BT IENDS AND EACH OTHER’S ROCK

‘The most challengg part of beg gay has actually been enuragg myself to be more open wh others, ’ MacJilton Lewis wr. When Brish diver Tom Daley announced he was gay, ronated wh me. However, after that first nversatn wh my mom, was not as if the floodgat opened and I began tellg everyone my life that I was gay.

Even though I uld sense I was a supportive environment at Cleveland State (where I attend llege and petively swam), was not until my sophomore year that I was ready to open up to one of my teammat. The most challengg part of beg gay has still been enuragg myself to be more open wh others.

TYP OF GAY SWIMWEAR

I unrstand the importance of lovg myself for who I am: an athlete, a ach, a son, a brother and a iend — who happens to be gay. We’re two swimmers and bt iends, both llege, who happen to be gay.

Before we tell you the story of how two gay swimmers helped each other e out, we want to share some background about each of . I was always good at hidg my emotns and phg my feelgs ep si, so I had no problem hidg that I was gay until high school. On top of everythg else I was a petive swimmer, a sport known for beg “more gay” bee my uniform was a ty piece of fabric jt large enough to ver “my stuff” and I went to a private, Catholic high school.

I was aaid of tellg my teammat that I was gay bee I feared they would look at me differently or my guy iends would distance themselv. The hard part was the lonely, dark place I put myself when faced wh the realy that people knew I was gay. I’ve had such hard time g to terms wh my sexualy bee I was sred that my fay would hate me bee homosexualy is a s.

GAY DIRECTOR ADAM KALRON PICTS HOMOPHOBIA THE SWIMMG WORLD WH ‘THE SWIMMER’

At my school, swimmg was nsired a “gay” sport bee of our ltle Speedos.

Even though I wanted to jt be “normal, ” that was not the ma reason I uldn’t wrap my head around wh beg gay. Josh are you gay?

THE GAY VERSN OF SI'S SWIMSU ISSUE

Fast forward to fay weekend, my sophomore year at the Universy of Arizona 2015, when I fally felt fortable wh my fay knowg.