Olympic diving champion Greg Louganis to guest on “Oprah” today as part of the show’s 25-year LGBT retrospective

There’s no way I’m missing today’s episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show.

In this, Oprah’s final season, Oprah takes a look back at 25 years of covering LGBT issues on her talk show with special guests Greg Louganis and India’s Prince Gohil.

Louganis, winner of four Olympic Gold Medals and a silver medal in diving at the 1976, 1984 and 1988 Olympics, last appeared on Oprah back in 1995 when he had just published his deeply moving autobiography Breaking the Surface and announcing to the world that he is HIV-positive.

I was in the middle of my big coming out process which was such a hugely emotional time. Greg’s book and hos appearance on Oprah – where I saw how absolutely accepted and loved he was by that crowd – was very inspiring and gave me the encouragement I needed to keep coming out to my friends and family.

In the past few years, I’ve seen Greg on several occasions at various events and had the chance to tell him how much his story, his book, and the interviews he did with Oprah and Barbara Walters as well, impacted me.

Obviously I was not alone. A viewer who was only 12 years old at that time in 1995, was given the courage by Greg’s appearance that day to come out to himself and accept himself as being gay. He will be a surprise guest and is pictured with Greg and Oprah above.

To read my interview with Greg Louganis from last June, click HERE.