Colton Underwood, former NFL player who has appeared
on several Bachelor series, coming out as gay to Robin Roberts on GMA:
"I learned in the Bible that gay is a sin. [And] I’ve
hated myself for a long time … There was a moment in L.A. that I woke up and I
didn't think I was gonna wake up. I didn't have the intentions of waking up. I
would have rather died than say, 'I'm gay,' and I think that was sort of my
wakeup call. Take back control. … I've ran from myself for a long time. I've
hated myself for a long time, and I'm gay. And I came to terms with that
earlier this year and I've been processing it. I think the next step in all of
this is letting people know. I'm still nervous but, yeah, it's been a journey
for sure. I'm emotional in such a good, happy, positive way. I'm the happiest
and healthiest I've ever been in my life and that means the world to me. I got
to a place in my personal life that was dark and bad and I can list a bunch of
different things, but they'd all be excuses. I think overall the reason why now
is because I got to a place where I didn't think I was ever going to share
this. I remember praying to God the morning I found out I was the Bachelor and
thanking him for making me straight. I remember that vividly, saying, 'Finally,
you're letting me be straight. Finally, you’re giving me a wife, a fiancée,
that I’m gonna have the kids, gonna have the house.' ‘But’ I do think I could
have handled it better. I just wish I wouldn't have dragged people into my own
mess of figuring out who I was. I genuinely mean that. But I also at the same
time, I can sit here and say, 'I'm sorry' to all those women. I can also sit
here and say, 'Thank you,' because without them and without The
Bachelor franchise, I don't know that this would have ever came out.
But if I had to go back and give anybody advice, I mean, you're gonna get through
it is what I would tell myself. Keep fighting for you. Keep choosing you every
morning. And when the time's ready or when the time's right and you're ready,
do it on your own time. I'm still the same Colton everybody met on TV. I'm
still the same Colton to my friends and my family, I just happen to be able to
share with people now all of me. And I am proud of that, you know? I am proud
to be gay.”
Church and sports. Two groups that do not welcome LGBTQ+
people; two groups that ridicule and demean LGBTQ+ people.
How many times do we have to hear that a gay man or woman,
not to mention trans person, has contemplated suicide because of the Bible or a
teammate?
It’s enough. This man went on TV to “win” a wife to prove to
himself that he wasn’t gay and could be “all right,” when he should have known
he was all right to begin with.
Welcome out, Colton.
PS Now I hear Colton is turning his coming out into a
reality show for Netflix. I guess staying in the closet with no job prospects or
coming out and getting back on TV for the coins may have helped in his decision
to come out. Or that’s just the cynic in me.
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