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I never knew hurling was a sport, I always thought it was I’d done after a slew of Purple Hooters at a bar one night.
But it is a sport, and this week one of its stars, Conor Cusack, came out as gay in a blog post entitled “To Thine Own Self Be True”:
"I’ve known for a good while now that I have been sexually attracted to men. In that time, I’ve had relationships with women, and enjoyed them immensely but I’ve always had more fulfillment from being with a man. I’m not sure what label society would categorise me under. I remember a doctor one time telling me I was a bi-polar depressive and a different guy a few weeks later telling me I was a manic depressive. Go figure that one out! Life for me is never black or white (though I know a lot about the blackness) but more about different shades of grey.... ...I have been comfortable with this area of my life and I never felt the need to discuss it with anyone. That is until recently. As I crossed the border from Galway into Clare and then back home to Cork and through the towns of Buttevant, Charleville and Mallow, I thought strongly about the current Mental Health work I am involved with. I thought about all the different people that I have spoken to and about all the upcoming events that I have committed to. I asked myself the question ‘Do I need to talk and discuss this aspect and area of my life?" — Conor Cusack
Welcome out Conor! And please accept, as our gift to you from HOMO HQ, the United Sates Chapter, the obligatory Coming Out Toaster Oven and a copy of The Gay Agenda.
And do us one favor? Give a belated Happy Coming Out to your brother, Donal Og Cusack, who came out in 2009 [see HERE] and tell him to expect our gifts, too.
Welcome out, Brothers.
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And then ….. Conner Mertens, a kicker for Willamette University football team in Oregon, has come out as bisexual, making him the first college football player to come out publicly while still playing.
Mertens, who is just nineteen, says his teammates were overwhelmingly supportive and accepting. Jack Nelson, the team captain, said the prevailing reaction to Mertens’ revelation was "So what?"
As it should be.
“I was hoping these guys and everyone else in my life can show everyone else we are finally moving in the right direction and we are changing the way we look at people like myself. You can be real and you can be yourself, but it only starts when you can love yourself and let others love you. That’s where I was going with this. Right now, it is seen as a weakness to be LGBT. When you hang out with your guy friends, 90 percent of the insults are homophobic comments, that’s just the way it is. What I’m hoping to do, I don’t want to say blaze a trail, but hopefully let people know you can still be an athlete, still be another guy, even if you like guys.”’ — Conner Mertens
I say you can, Conner, and I also say you are blazing a trail in college sports, and hopefully, one day, professional sports, by being yourself, being true to yourself.
So, again, please accept as our gift from HOMO HQ the Coming Out Toaster Oven and a copy of The Gay Agenda.
It’s a short book, one page really, one word, actually: “equality.”
Welcome out, Conner. Welcome out.
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