Jacksonville Jaguars Kev Maxen be first profsnal male ach to e out as gay

Contents:

• JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS KEV MAXEN BE FIRST PROFSNAL MALE ACH TO E OUT AS GAY
• JAGUARS ACH KEV MAXEN RECEIV OVERWHELMG SUPPORT AFTER G OUT AS GAY
• COMG OUT AS GAY IN YOUR 20S, 30S & 40S
• ‘HONEY, I’VE GOT A SECRET’ : WHEN GAY MEN E OUT TO THEIR WIV

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS KEV MAXEN BE FIRST PROFSNAL MALE ACH TO E OUT AS GAY

I image my iends watchg He-Man, and sudnly there's a flash of heavenly light, out of which appears a betiful faerie wh a msage om on high, "Gurl, you're gay! The wrer Christopher Isherwood once said, and I'm paraphrasg, but that homosexualy uldn't be narrowly fed around the sex act.

I was for all tents and purpos a gay person, but I thk there was still a sense of hatn, still the smallt b of crge when I said those three words, "I am gay.

JAGUARS ACH KEV MAXEN RECEIV OVERWHELMG SUPPORT AFTER G OUT AS GAY

The first time I ever me ntact wh the word "gay" was around middle school when I started to watch Amerin TV shows like Friends, Will & Grace, and Queer as Folk. Whout an inty, I searched for one and found a temporary inty Jacquele as her boyiend, agast my sister's wish, who was a sophomore. " As bter as she was havg never land a lead the school play, Jacquele told several people that I was gay, and the word spread to my sister, which turn spread to my Mom.

But on the ter, I was able to see that if I uld jt get to London, there were all the amazg, lorful, creative gay people that were jt like me. The next thg I knew, three months had passed, and my iend and his parents helped me fd another fay to take me and foster me - a gay man named Pl, whom I now ll my dad, and his iend Sarah. I feel tly blsed and uldn't be happier wh the, as an openly gay artist, I try to put everythg I've experienced to my mic, the good and the bad.

I don't have a signature g out moment of memory om the enunters wh iends, but I do remember how tough was to actually say the words "I'm gay. It was my assured unrstandg that beg a gay person would e wh a range of lifelong difficulti addnal to what a "normal" person would have to face. It saved me om havg a seri of sry "I'm gay" nversatns, and wasn't really news to the people who were already ridiculg me for .

COMG OUT AS GAY IN YOUR 20S, 30S & 40S

She was unrstandably upset that I didn't give her any warng about my beg gay or my tent to disclose ont of an dience of our peers.

The oversight on my part was born of my timidy about g out, spe that ll to actn that was all around me San Francis where I rid and was a film the time, I fancied myself on a trajectory to fame and fortune Hollywood, but as fate would have , I joed a gay super 8 support group -- a rag-tag nstellatn of about 15 filmmakers, most of whom veloped their footage at Harvey Milk's Castro Street mera store where I "worked" the ont sk.

We were fired up wh the semantics of the lbian and gay movement, but we tly had ltle ia the event would grow to such poignant and far reachg proportns. It took about a year for my mom and I to e to terms about who I was and who I loved, durg most of which, I was San Francis, tryg to -create queer muny the heart of the newly mted gay ghetto of the Castro district. California was next on the choppg block, wh Senator John Briggs' Proposn 6, which would have the state fire "out" gay teachers and their alli.

‘HONEY, I’VE GOT A SECRET’ : WHEN GAY MEN E OUT TO THEIR WIV

When I fally did e out to him, after my iend Harvey Milk was killed, my dad was supportive sayg all along, he thought I might be gay and that was fe wh him - I was still his son and he still loved me. Thankfully, we ma through those r of passage and I also found other folks that validated my worth society beeI was gay, and together, we share the visn to try to help make a better and safer world for LGBT people and our alli.

I went onto the show wh the hop of makg a posive reprentatn of what meant to be a gay man, as I need this type of role mol for myself to be fortable beg both gay and a man. Immediately after The Real World, I spent time readg books on the subject of what the bible really says about homosexualy, as I was sudnly booked to speak on the subject at more than 40 universi around the US.