Posted on 06/21/2017 2:54:24 PM PDT by Ennis85
Former NFL player Ryan O'Callaghan has come out as gay, revealing that his anguish over his sexuality drove him to write a suicide note. The New England Patriots and Kansas City Chiefs lineman told Outsports that fear of rejection spurred him to hide his homosexuality. He even built a cabin near his Kansas City home and bought guns, planning to take his secret to the grave. It is still exceedingly rare for top-flight male US athletes to come out. The 33-year-old told Outsports, a website focused on LGBT issues in sport, that he realised he was gay while at high school in a conservative northern California town.
The 6ft 7in, 330lb (149kg) hulk saw the ultra-macho world of American football as the perfect camouflage for his true identity. "No one is going to assume the big football player is gay," he said. "It's why a football team is such a good place to hide." A litany of sporting injuries eventually led O'Callaghan into painkiller addiction. "It helped with the pain of the injuries, and with the pain of being gay," he told Outsports.
"I just didn't worry about being gay when I took the Vicodin." As his NFL career waned, he began to distance himself from his family, telling himself that it would make his suicide easier for them to accept. O'Callaghan eventually plucked up the courage to tell Kansas City Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli about his sexuality. "I'm gay," O'Callaghan said, after asking for a meeting. Pioli responded: "So what's the problem you wanted to talk to me about?" O'Callaghan, who retired from the NFL in 2011, described the huge relief the revelation brought him.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Failure is bad news.
“It is still exceedingly rare for top-flight male US athletes to come out.”
Not rare enough.
Society has almost entirely removed the stigma.
People “come out” now because they need publicity.
There are many “switch hitters” in pro sports.
How do we know there are any homosexual athletes who are hiding their homosexuality???
We don’t know until or unless they reveal it. Maybe it’s rare for them to come out because there are so few to start with???
How do you hide it in the shower?
NFL star? I never heard of him.
“I’m gay” is such an odd thing to say.
It would be more accurate to say, “I’m sexually attracted to men, not women.”
Or you could also say he was emotionally disturbed.
Meh. Never heard of him.
A “sexual emergency” ?
This guy said he would avoid the shower.
He would pretend he wanted to go drink coffee instead.
Relief and healing will only arrive when society stops normalizing and embracing the damage caused by predators and instead goes after the predators.
Easier to virtue-signal and ignore the root cause of this particular perversion.
More than likely, some Sandusky-type creep is intrinsic to the narrative.
Very true.
>> The New England Patriots and Kansas City Chiefs lineman
Playing for both teams... and at the same time?
Yep, pretty much there aren’t that many to begin with.
Not if you're happy. Apparently he wasn't and isn't.
Total lack of commitment.....
Actually, being gay is a mental illness, I hope he seeks help!
And most of the “switch hitters” are women ...WNBA, LPGA ...
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