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Lunch Break Video: See Australian hockey star Gus Johnston’s heartfelt coming out story
This is a video really worth watching.
Australian athlete Gus Johnston is a thoughtful and articulate ex-hockey star who speaks about his coming out process. He’s in a good place today, thank God, but it wasn’t always so: “For a long time, there would barely be a week that would go by when I didn’t contemplate taking my own life.”
He posted this 12 minute video on YouTube last month and wrote: “After many years of competing in hockey at an elite level, I’ve decided to share my story and experience with homophobia in sport. It’s taken me many years to find the strength to share it, but I hope that people find value in hearing it.”
FILE UNDER: Lunch Break Videos (2011)
Comments
(All comments are reviewed before being published, and I review submissions several times per day.)
Peter Zalinski says:
He is absolutely right about team sports — the homophobia has been endemic, and lead one to repress and suppress his or her own feelings and emotions to “be a part of the team” and not cause any friction. The more you are into the sport, the greater the degree of self-repression you may feel. Thankfully, that’s changing for many of today’s youth and tomorrow’s athletes. But those of us who matured in our sport and eventually came out have been seriously affected by the repression of the times we lived in. Individual-based sports like gymnastics, diving, track and field, and swimming have a greater degree of self expression, IMHO, and our gay heroes (like Greg Louganis) who helped lead the way out of our closet did so simply because they were able to express themselves more freely in their chosen sport. Team sports have been more repressive to their members, and this has got to continue to change for the better. We shouldn’t have to have Gay Games and Gay Athletic Clubs to feel safe to compete and be gay — we should be able to compete on the public field and be accepted for the athletes we are.