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Morning Man Classic: Bob Paris!
Remember Bob Paris?
He’s the handsome professional bodybuilder and former Mr. Universe who In the July 1989 issue of Ironman came out as a gay man. He was the world’s first male professional athlete, in any sport, to come out in the media while still an active competitor in his sport.
I was still firmly in the closet then but was eating up anything I could about gay people as I dreamed about one day being out and proud.
Bob and his then-partner Rod Jackson were as high-profile as you could get back then. They were on the covers of magazines, on Oprah and Donahue, and were the subjects of a Herb Ritts coffee table photo book called Duo.
They were extremely well spoken and both gorgeous and considered themselves married and even had hyphened names.
It really was the first time I saw two gay people as a married couple even if they were not technically married. They helped me envision it.
Anyway, they broke up after seven years together and probably stayed together longer than they would have otherwise because of the pressure they felt to stay together after having been so public about their relationship.
Bob is now 59 and still gorgeous as you can see in the bottom photo. He’s done some acting and has been with his current spouse, Brian LeFurgey, since 1996. They live on an island near Vancouver, British Columbia.
Comments
(All comments are reviewed before being published, and I review submissions several times per day.)
Tracy says:
Incredible body, amazing muscle tone
Sam says:
I had seen both in person. Incredibly beautiful men!
Richard V says:
Costco, the place to run into people you know or wish to anyway, well I ran into Rod in the warehouse, got to talking, very nice and gorgeous man back in those days a few years after Donahue. I had found a picture of the couple and told him I wish I could get him to sign it but never was able to run into him again. I would take him to my home to get the signature. I want Bob’s too.
They were my first married gay couple and I wanted to be like them. It was sad to hear of the end of their marriage.