Interesting story I found.
Chapman University football player Mitch Eby joined an
exclusive group of college athletes this month by coming out to his teammates
as gay then going public with his story.
Eby, a junior defensive end, made a coming out speech to the
team on 18 March just before they were about to have some pizza at the end of a
team meeting.
He said in part: 'It has taken me years to accept myself for
who I truly am, so it's irrational to expect everybody to unconditionally
accept me right away. However, the one thing that I hope that I can count on
from each of you, my teammates, is your respect. Your respect as a friend, your
respect as a teammate, and your respect as a man.'
The team applauded when he finished speaking, some gave him
a hug and one even called Eby his hero.
'More people have said "what's up" to me in
passing and been even friendlier than ever before. Maybe they feel bad for what
they said or did before, but whatever the reason they feel like they need to be
nice to me, to show me that I'm still a part of the team.'
When Eby started thinking about coming out to his teammates,
he reached out to someone who had very recently been in his shoes: Conner
Mertens, a place kicker for Willamette University in Oregon.
Mertens got attention in January when he came out as
bisexual - believed to be the first active college football player in the US to
come out publicly.
Since then, University of Missouri grad Michael Sam,
expected to be drafted into the NFL, came out publicly and landed on the cover
of Sports Illustrated. Sam came out to his teammates before the start of his
senior season but not to the world until after his college career was complete.
Like Mertens helped him, Eby hopes he can be helpful to
others in similar situations.
He tells Outsports: 'There's a lot of bad stuff that happens
and kids feel alone and they feel depressed because they're repressing their
feelings because they feel like they can't talk to anybody. People shouldn't
have to go through that. It's sad, and I want to be able to help if I can.'
source: GayStarNews
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