Two gay swimmers are bt iends and each other’s rock - Outsports

Contents:

• GAY DIRECTOR ADAM KALRON PICTS HOMOPHOBIA THE SWIMMG WORLD WH ‘THE SWIMMER’
• AT SWIM, TWO BOYS IS A GREAT IRISH NOVEL, AND A GROUNDBREAKG GAY LOVE STORY
• SWIMMG MA ME GAY
• GAY, BLACK SWIMMER JEFF COMMGS' NEW BOOK
• FROM LLEGE SWIMMER TO HIGH SCHOOL ACH, GAY ATHLETE STAYED TE TO HIMSELF
• TWO GAY SWIMMERS ARE BT IENDS AND EACH OTHER’S ROCK
• GAY OLYMPICS SWIMMER MAK WAV AND OUT OF THE WATER

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

As he told ScreenDaily’s Geofey MacNab, “By makg this film, we would not only want to highlight the problem of homophobic bullyg profsnal sport, but show a hero who is brave and strong enough to face adversy and is able to overe everythg wh attu.

AT SWIM, TWO BOYS IS A GREAT IRISH NOVEL, AND A GROUNDBREAKG GAY LOVE STORY

We didn’t crimalise homosexualy until 1993 – more than a quarter-century after siar laws had been enacted Great Bra – and yet by 2015 we’d bee the first untry the world to vote by plebisce for same-sex marriage.

There was still a sense of the clanste to what should have felt perfectly a young gay man behd a bookshop unter, I watched the people who bought At Swim, Two Boys – and there were a lot of them – and ed as a tool for flirtatn. In love wh lerature but starved of books that spoke to their own experienc of beg gay Ireland. Thanks, Jamie O’Neill, I owe you urse, At Swim, Two Boys is a universal novel that enpass much more than simply the gay experience.

SWIMMG MA ME GAY

Who among , gay, straight or somewhere between, has not felt that nfn? 99, to mark the 50th anniversary of the crimalisatn of homosexualy England and Wal. Swimmg ma me gay.

That’s when I began to wonr, did swimmg make me gay? Exhib A: IGLA, the Internatnal Gay and Lbian Aquatics associatn, is one of the biggt queer sports leagu the world. The homoerotic elements of the novel have been talogued elsewhere — what I’m terted is the swimmg.

Ele petive swimmer Jeff Commgs, who still swims master's meets, is g out wh a book later this month that chronicl his life as a swimmer who also happens to be gay and black. Books wrten by gay athlet divg, baseball, football, basketball and ice skatg have ptivated dienc wh their ndid and unflchg stori.

GAY, BLACK SWIMMER JEFF COMMGS' NEW BOOK

Now "Odd Man Out: An Autobgraphy, " the first book to tell the te story of a gay Ain-Amerin swimmer. Commgs spent all of his teenage years and most of his 20s aaid to live openly as a gay man. From llege swimmer to high school ach, gay athlete stayed te to himself.

‘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.

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

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.

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. He me out publicly as gay at the Gay Gam 1994, but was out to those around him om an early was the 'g out to myself' procs like for you?

I me out at the Gay Gam 1994, welg the athlet and sayg, 'It's great to be out and proud.

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

My thought before I me out to my mom was, 'Oh my God, if my parents knew that I was gay, then the earth is gog to open up and swallow me whole.

Beg a gay man wh HIV, at that time there was still a lot of stigma surroundg HIV.

A lot of the attu the untry and the world was, 'It's killg the right people -- gay men, IV dg ers and prostut.

GAY OLYMPICS SWIMMER MAK WAV AND OUT OF THE WATER

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