Tag: coming out

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Twitter: Pro “Gay Footballer” Plans To Come Out Soon

Twitter is abuzz with a new account - The Gay Footballer - who has told the world he is currently a player in the Sky Bet Championship.

Twitter is abuzz with a new account – The Gay Footballer – who has told the world he is currently a player in the Sky Bet Championship.

The athlete says he just came out to his family, and he’s preparing to come out to the world as well.

His Twitter profile reads, “I’m a professional footballer, currently playing in The Championship. I will reveal my identity soon, but I am a PROUD gay man.”

The account has garnered over 26k followers in four days.

And, we wait.

After his first meeting with team management, the anonymous footballer says another meeting will take place on July 14.

He also notes that management told him his coming out would not impact his place on the team.

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Mayor Pete To Lil Nas X: “Welcome To The Family”

Mayor Pete Buttigieg (L), Lil Nas X (R)

Democratic White House contender Pete Buttigieg gave Lil Nas X props for “standing in his truth” after the country-rap artist came out on the last day of Pride month.

“@LilNasX has gone from viral sensation to groundbreaking musician. As a fan, I’m thrilled and inspired to see him standing in his truth as a member of the LGBTQ community. Welcome to the family,” tweeted Mayor Pete.

It’s been a great week for the 20-year-old as his hit, “Old Town Road,” became only the 12th song in the history of Billboard’s Hot 100 to stay at number one for 13 weeks or longer.

And more celebs praised the artist on social media as well:

There were some haters as well, it seems, but Lil Nas X had no problem handling the trolls on social media.

A post shared by Lil Nas X (@lilnasx) on Jul 2, 2019 at 6:18am PDT

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NYC High School Valedictorian Comes Out In Graduation Speech To Cheers

New York City high school valedictorian Mason Bleu came out as bisexual during his graduation speech to cheers from the crowd.

“I want to remind all of you to always be proud but to always remain humble,” the teen told the audience. “I’ve struggled to be proud of something all my life. Since I’m preaching about being proud today, it’d be hypocritical of me to continue hiding. I’m not someone who likes getting emotional so saying this is extremely personal and hard.”

“For a long time, I have struggled with my sexuality,” he continued. “I’ve dodged it and ignored it because I wasn’t proud of who I am. But today I’m changing that. I’m proud to be a bisexual man.”

And the crowd goes wild!

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Touching Anonymous Note Demonstrates Why Showing LGBTQ Pride Is Important

An note from a young neighbor told a Texas lesbian her Pride flag inspired them to come out.

Earlier this week, partners Meghan Stabler and Sal Stow found a touching note placed under a rock on their doormat in Williamson County, Texas.

“You don’t know me, but my name is [redacted]” the note read. “We’re moving today, but I wanted to thank you.”

“Seeing a pride flag waving so proudly out side your house every day has given me the courage to come out to my family and be more comfortable with who I am,” the note concluded.

“This is why visibility is SO important,” Sal Stow wrote on Facebook in sharing the note. “You never know who needs the support and to know it’s ok. I hope this person is ok, their family is being supportive and they find a community to connect with that can help them through this brave process.”

She also explained that county officials recently voted 4-0 to not allow the Pride flag to be flown over the courthouse, but that won’t stop her from showing her pride.

“I am proud of who I am and the person I love” Stow wrote. “I will continue to be visible in whatever way I can.”

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News Round-Up: June 17, 2019

InstaHunk Gustavo Naspolini almost looks like he's in a Disney fairytale in this photo from Italy. #MyPrinceMyPrince!

Some news items you might have missed:

• InstaHunk Gustavo Naspolini almost looks like he’s in a Disney fairytale in this photo from Italy. #MyPrinceMyPrince!

• A thread on Reddit found gay men sharing that ‘ah-ha!’ moment when they realized they were gay.

• A new Gallup poll shows 53 percent of Americans believe we need the Equality Act passed in order to ensure LGBTQ people aren’t discriminated against. Forty-six percent said we don’t need such laws. Guess which 46 percent?

• Check out this first look at the upcoming Steven Spielberg’s remake of West Side Story.

Click image to enlarge

• The State Department has announced that it is ending all aid to Guatemala, Honduras or El Salvador until the countries take “concrete actions to reduce the number of illegal migrants coming to the U.S. border.”

• Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who raised over $7 million in April for his presidential campaign, told Axios on HBO that we’ve most probably already had a gay president, we just don’t know who.

• The fabulous Robyn drops her latest music video, “Ever Again,” set in a landscape she describes as “a dreamy place, somewhere undefined, somewhere in my consciousness.”

The new track celebrates the power of sensuality, human touch and self care.

Over two decades, the “Dancing on My Own” singer has wracked up 5 Grammy nominations, 4 Top Ten singles in the UK and literally hundreds of millions of streams.

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Quisling Of The Day: Guess Who?

One of my favorite bloggers, kenneth in the (212), has posted a text message chat between what appears to be 'totally-not-gay' former Rep. Aaron Schock and a supporter.

One of my favorite bloggers, kenneth in the (212), has posted a text message chat between what appears to be ‘totally-not-gay’ former Rep. Aaron Schock and a supporter.

I haven’t personally verified the identities of the two people chatting in exchange, so, feel free to believe or not believe.

In the screen captures, Schock complains of how “mean and nasty” the gays have been to him in leaking his nude pics.

He also says he “hadn’t come to terms” with his sexuality when he cast anti-LGBTQ votes while in Congress, and was in the process of coming out to his family when video of him canoodling at Coachella surfaced.

In addition, the person says the ‘hatred’ aimed at him is based on his being a Republican.

In his post, Kenneth offers this spot-on counter-point to the whining:

Note to Aaron Schock: The perspective of queer people has always been consistent and clear: Even those who “preach tolerance, acceptance and compassion” don’t take kindly to having lawmakers vote to rob them of their rights, particularly when it is believed that said lawmaker was being hypocritical in his beliefs. If you think your coming out has been difficult, imagine someone’s parents finding out he/she is gay when they were booted from the U.S. military under “don’t ask, don’t tell,” which you voted to keep in place. Talk about humiliating. Whether you think you were “out” when you voted against LGBTQ rights is irrelevant as you are a gay man who surely knew what you were doing was shitty. If you truly don’t stand by your past votes, then why not denounce them?

The “hate” has always been about your anti-gay policies, not your party. But if you think the two are related, that’s perhaps something you need to grapple with. HRC didn’t give you a zero rating because of your stance on taxes and regulations.

According to Kenneth, the man who posted the screen caps verified its authenticity.

No word from Mr. Schock yet.

Click over to kenneth in the (212) for the full text exchange.

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Pride Music: Ty Herndon “What Mattered Most”

Ty Herndon

Sometimes, it just takes a while for some of us to embrace our authentic selves.

Country singer Ty Herndon, who had his first #1 hit in 1995 with the single “What Mattered Most”, has re-visited the song saying this new take – with male pronouns – is “the way I wish I could have sang it for you then.”

Watching the video is a deeply visceral experience as Herndon’s emotions are clearly front and center.

When you understand the journey we all go on to get to ‘here,’ the sense of freedom Herndon must have felt while recording the new version must have been palpable in the studio.

Herndon came out in People Magazine in 2014.

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Coming Out At 40, GOP County Commissioner Says “I Get To Be Myself”

A Republican county commissioner in Utah came out as gay to his constituents via social media video on Wednesday.

A Republican county commissioner in Utah came out as gay to his constituents via social media video on Wednesday.

“There’s no easy way to say this, I might as well just jump up and say it — I’m gay,” said Nathan Ivie in the video. “That’s my reality, and that’s what I need to talk to you about today.”

Ivie, a 40-year-old horse trainer, says he shared his first kiss with a boy when he was 9, survived a suicide attempt at 22, and has spent most of his life trying to come to terms with who he is.

“I diligently devoted myself to trying to cure myself, to heal myself,” said the soft-spoken LDS church member. “And doing all of the things that society and my faith-based institutions had taught me to do to cure myself — going on missions, getting married, etc., etc.”

He also shared that while he’s amicably separated from his wife of 13 years, he still considers her his best friend. And the couple are committed to raising their two children together.

In an interview, Ivie told local newspaper The Herald Extra his coming out was the result of a few factors.

First, he wants “the 22-year-old version of himself” out there to know things will be ok.

“Obviously we have a problem in our community, especially in the LGBT community, of suicide,” he shared. “As someone who’s been there and pulled the trigger once: don’t.”

He also says that seeing two men holding hands on a river trail in Boise deeply affected him.

“It was just two regular human beings who loved each other who were walking holding hands as an intimate, caring couple, and that image really stuck with me for whatever reason,” he told the Herald Extra. “And that was probably one of the first times in my life I went, ‘Maybe I’m not screwed up. Maybe I’m not broken.’”

And last year, he found himself threatening to pull county funding for Provo’s Freedom Festival if LGBTQ groups weren’t allowed to participate in the annual 4th of July parade.

One of those groups was Encircle, a Provo nonprofit which works to prevent suicide among LGBTQ youth.

Ivie told the Herald Extrait was a difficult balancing act during that time advocating for Encircle and the other LGBTQ groups not to use the words, “Because I know.”

Openly gay former state Sen. Jim Dabakis took to Twitter to call Ivie an “ally.” Dabakis also sent a message to the county commissioner, “Welcome to an honest life, Nathan.”

Mayor Jackie Biskupski, Salt Lake City’s first openly gay mayor, also tweeted her support:

The first-term county commissioner, elected in 2016 in a staunchly conservative county, says that reaction to his announcement has been positive and that his coming out does not affect his view on conservative politics.

“The Democratic Party should not have a monopoly on tolerance,” said Ivie. “I hope this illustrates that you can be gay and Republican. You can believe in limited government and personal liberties.”

Ivie does have one piece of advice for young LGBTQs who may be struggling with who they are.

“One of my favorite reminders is that a flower doesn’t need to be reminded it’s a flower, it just blooms,” he said. “Just bloom. Just be who you are and don’t fear that. Discover it, let it happen.”

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News Round-Up: May 14, 2019

Dan Tai

Some news items you might have missed:

• Instagram: Dan Tai shields his eyes from the sun (…or is he just flexing for us?…) #InstaHunk

• NY Times: Donald Trump Jr. and the Republican-controlled Senate Intelligence Committee reached a deal on Tuesday for the president’s eldest son to sit for a private interview with senators in the coming weeks.

• Daily Telegraph: Former Newcastle Jets player, Andy Brennan, becomes the first Australian male soccer player to come out as gay.

• JoeMyGod: Televangelist Pat Robertson says God will destroy America if The Equality Act passes. Just like when she was going to wipe us out after marriage equality and Gay Days at Disney.

• Bloomberg: Trump Tower, the 36-year-old Manhattan residence, is now considered one of the least desirable luxury buildings in New York City. Over the past two years, sales of condo units in the building have taken losses of up to 20 percent.

• New digital series Model Boy explores “the lives of the wide-eyed young men lured into New York’s notoriously fickle high fashion modeling world.”

Check out the first episode below.

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Mormon Valedictorian Who Came Out At Graduation Sits Down With Ellen

Matthew Easton, who recently came out during his commencement speech as valedictorian at Brigham Young University, sat down with Ellen DeGeneres today to talk about what inspired him to make his announcement.
Matthew Easton chats with Ellen DeGeneres (screen capture)

Matthew Easton, who recently came out during his commencement speech as valedictorian at Brigham Young University, sat down with Ellen DeGeneres today to talk about what inspired him to make his announcement. “It’s something I’ve been wrestling with my whole life,” said the newly-minted graduate. “Ultimately, I decided there’s no better place to do it than here.” “I thought, I’m ready, this is a new chapter of my life,” he continued. “I’m graduating, and I want to live more authentically, more honestly.” “More than that, I want to give visibility to the other students who are gay who maybe aren’t so ready to come out,” he added.

Easton also shared the meaning of the white sash he wore during his speech. Called a ‘stole of honor,’ the sash allowed him to honor someone in particular. Easton chose a former classmate named Harry Fisher, who committed suicide his senior year after coming out. “It was his last semester, and he was in sort of the same situation that I was, and he decided to come out on Facebook, and because of the rhetoric and the response that he got from our community, he actually ended up committing suicide,” he shared. “He sat right in front of me,” he added, growing emotional. “And I thought, ‘Is that my future? Is that what I’m headed toward?’ So I thought, maybe if I came out at graduation, maybe a student like me, a freshman, could say, ‘No, my future’s something brighter, something better.’” “We can succeed, we can do what we want, and accomplish our dreams,” he concluded. “So, that’s why I chose to come out there.” “It’s all about visibility,” Ellen quietly replied. “A lot of times some people want to keep us quiet.” Speaking of keeping quiet, Easton shared his plan to come out with his dad the night before the graduation ceremony. He asked his father if it might upset people. His dad had the right answer. “Matt, if people have a problem with what you’re going to say, it’s a problem with them, not with you,” Easton recounted. “We love you, we’re here for you, and that’s all that matters.” “That’s a good dad,” said Ellen.

With his studies in political science now complete, Easton says he’d like to make it out to Washington D.C. someday. But for now, he has an internship lined up in Salt Lake City. And having come out, he says he’d really like to get involved with the LGBTQ community there. “For a long time, I’ve been really afraid and scared to participate, and now’s my time to shine,” he announced. “I’m ready to live authentically and I want to get involved.” Good for Easton. Many closeted Mormon gays take much longer to get to accepting their authentic self. It looks like he’ll be able to take some time to do just that as Ellen’s connections at Shutterfly wrote a big, fat check for $10,000 for Easton to start his next chapter. Watch the interview below.