Broadway's Matt Zarley on the 'Magnu' of Beg the First Out Gay Man PEOPLE's Bachelors Issue

"This mak him the first former lead to be part of the LGBTQ+ muny, and the first gay man volved wh the May 2023, Unrwood married polil strategist Jordan C. AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTThe 29-year-old former football player had wrten about qutng his sexualy a memoir, published Shotwell/Invisn, via Richard Shotwell, via Invisn, via Associated PrsColton Unrwood, a star of “The Bachelor” and a former football player, me out as gay an terview wh Rob Roberts that aired Wednday on “Good Morng Ameri.

And I’m gay.

“I would have rather died than say, ‘I’m gay.

‘BACHELOR’ FANS MAND GAY SEASON AMID COLTON UNRWOOD’S G OUT

“‘You know, Colt, we’d still love you and support you if you were gay, ’” he relled his mother tellg father was more nontatnal.

“He’d pulled up the history of recent Google search, which clud gay porn s and a variety of qutns: ‘Am I gay? How do you know if you’re gay? )In s 20 years, the anchise has never featured an all-gay st.

Beg named PEOPLE's first openly gay bachelor back the 2012 Bachelors issue. Could there be a gay season of “The Bachelor?

THE BACHELOR STAR COLTON UNRWOOD OUT AS GAY

“Ok let’s see a gay Bachelor season, ” wrote one Twter er rponse to the news.

“So now, obvly, do a long overdue gay Bachelor season, ” posted another. “Now give the season we serve wh a gay bachelor please, ” said @anahigu.

THE BACHELOR STAR COLTON UNRWOOD OUT AS GAY

I see a glimmer of hope for the gay Bachelor season that we all so sperately serve. To everyone sayg he should get another season and be the first gay bachelor- are you fettg how he treated Cassie??

But at least one supporter saw the news g — and suggted there’s already been a season of “Gay Bachelor.

” In a clip rurfaced Wednday, “Billy on the Street” host Billy Eichner suggted that Unrwood was the first gay Bachelor whout even knowg . "And I'm gay. Ms Randolph then filed for a rtrag orr agast Mr Unrwood, accg him of stalkg her, but she later requted the police vtigatn be source, Getty ImagImage ptn, In The Bachelor, he chose nttant Cassie RandolphMr Unrwood said he cid to e out after the panmic h, addg that was a time which forced people to "look at themselv the mirror and figure out who they are and what they've been nng om or what they've been puttg off their liv" said he had been aware of his sexualy for a long time, knowg he "jt felt different" om the age of Unrwood said he "learned the Bible that gay is a s" Catholic school.

THE BACHELOR STAR COLTON UNRWOOD OUT AS GAY

Durg his time playg football, he relled the term "gay" held "a nnotatn of negativy". "I thk there's a lot of thgs, when I look back, I'm like, 'No wonr I held , '" he may also be terted : Media ptn, Kenh Felts has e out as gay at 90 years old... Colton Unrwood, the erstwhile fence jumper of "The Bachelor" Season 23 fame, has now said he is gay.

THE BACHELOR STAR COLTON UNRWOOD OUT AS GAY

"After the terview aired, TMZ and CNN reported that Unrwood had already begun productn on a realy seri wh Netflix documentg his life as an out gay man.

THE BACHELOR STAR COLTON UNRWOOD OUT AS GAY

)So maybe rather than that Unrwood is gay — which: It's 2021, people — the real news om Unrwood's terview is simply that the unqutnably toxic masculy enthiastilly endorsed by the anchise rolls n be challengg for everyone to fully live their tth, pecially when they have any semblance of celebry, and I hope that beg able to do so is eeg and healg for is, after all, a show that romanticized Unrwood's relentls pursu of the woman who broke up wh him on the show.

'BACHELOR' PRODUCERS 'INSPIRED' BY COLTON UNRWOOD AFTER HE COM OUT AS GAY

I hope Colton Unrwood's announcement will be yet another remr to "Bachelor"-land that mt do better — both diversy and reprentatn all of s forms and also the kd of imagery and narrativ choos to curate about what love and romance n and should look, gay and queer and nonbary people are all worthy of love — and perfectly pable of beg leads on realy datg shows. The executive producers of ABC's The Bachelor issued a statement on Wednday sayg that they are "spired" by former nttant Colton Unrwood g out as gay.

"Both the statements e shortly after Unrwood me out as gay durg an terview wh ABC News' Good Morng Ameri. And for me, I've ran om myself for a long time, I've hated myself for a long time and I'm gay, " Unrwood said durg the terview. I would have rather died than say, 'I'm gay'.

Colton Unrwood didn’t plan on ever tellg the world that he was gay. “I’ll jt say , ” Unrwood reveals on a recent afternoon, still adjtg to his new life as an openly gay man. Acrdg to him, last year, while livg Los Angel, he secretly vised a spa known for terg to gay clientele.

COLTON UNRWOOD, THE FIRST GAY ‘BACHELOR,’ CONONTS HIS CONTROVERSIAL COMG OUT

At one time, g out of the closet was emed a reer killer, but shows like “The Real World, ” “Survivor” and the origal “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, ” now rebooted on Netflix, led to a profound, posive transformatn how gay people are perceived, and helped brg about progrsive chang to LGBTQ civil rights.

As new generatns of lennials and Gen Zers have grown up wh LGBTQ iends and role mols, gay Amerins have attaed the right to marry, and queerns has bee more mastream media, as proven shows like HBO’s high school h “Euphoria” and sentially half of the characters the Ryan Murphy universe.

A gay “Bachelor, ” though? His announcement that he was gay cid wh news that he was filmg a Netflix realy show about his new life.

IT’S TIME FOR AN ACTUALLY GAY SEASON OF THE BACHELOR ALREADY

And others legimately argued that as a hunky whe gay man, he was benefg om privilege, takg a platform that other members of the queer muny served more than he did. “If you’re gay, be gay! “I had never seen a football player that had ma to the NFL that had been gay, growg up Catholic.

“I’ve had hundreds of gay Christian men and women who are nfed their walk wh J say, ‘I felt closer to God when I me out. “I never want people to thk that I’m g out to change the narrative, or to bsh over and not take rponsibily for my actns, and now that I have this gay life that I don’t have to addrs my past as a straight man, ” Unrwood says.

Cled to ment for this story, or answer qutns about whether there have been discsns about velopg a gay season of “The Bachelor. Realy TV has the power to change mds, showsg unrreprented muni to sectns of the untry who might not e across gay, bisexual or transgenr people their everyday liv. The number of high-profile gay love stori at the movi — among them, the Hulu romantic edy “Happit Season” and 2017 Sundance darlg “Call Me by Your Name” — remas small.

It’s time for an Actually Gay season of The Bachelor already | Life and style | The Guardian

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COLTON UNRWOOD, ‘BACHELOR’ STAR, COM OUT AS GAY