College football player comes out - tells coaches: 'I like dudes. I have a boyfriend'
Conner Mertens, a kicker for Willamette University
in Oregon, is believed to be first active college football player in US
to come out
Photo: Outsports
Conner Mertens made some LGBTI history this week.
The place kicker for Willamette University in Oregon is believed to be the first active college football player in the US to come out publicly, according to Outsports.com.
'I'm bisexual,' Mertens told his coach. 'I like dudes. I have a boyfriend. And next week, I'm going to tell the world.'
Mertens did an interview with Outsports, the leading site for LGBTI sports news, and also tweeted a letter to his hometown of Kennewick, Washington.
'You are not alone. You do not need to come out but you do need to know that you do not have to go at this by yourself,' he wrote in the letter. 'The aloneness you're feeling is temporary and it will get better.'
He also wrote: 'I made the decision that if I could prevent one person from feeling that self-hatred, loneliness, desperation and a thousand other emotions that I felt, I would. I will be damned if I let anyone tell you that you are wrong or weird or not normal.'
The athlete tells Outsports that he was depressed growing up and felt alone.
'I had a smile on my face all the time as a kid, but I was dying on the inside,' he said. 'In my hometown, you have to fit in or you'll be exiled. If somebody had come out that I looked up to in the town, I would have been a lot happier.'
Head coach Glen Fowles has been supportive of Mertens' decision.
'Coach didn't blink an eye,' said the kicker who is a redshirt freshman. 'He talked about how they don't build football players at Willamette, they build men, and that he was proud that I could tell him this about myself.'
The coach tells Outsports: 'You never expect that conversation to happen. Typically when people do things like this, it's to their family and closest friends. Heaven forbid someone should try to do it while they're a competitive athlete. They just don't do that very often.'
'But Conner has friends here and he feels comfortable telling us, and I think that speaks well of our program. He feels safe and well-liked and comfortable around us.'
The place kicker for Willamette University in Oregon is believed to be the first active college football player in the US to come out publicly, according to Outsports.com.
'I'm bisexual,' Mertens told his coach. 'I like dudes. I have a boyfriend. And next week, I'm going to tell the world.'
Mertens did an interview with Outsports, the leading site for LGBTI sports news, and also tweeted a letter to his hometown of Kennewick, Washington.
'You are not alone. You do not need to come out but you do need to know that you do not have to go at this by yourself,' he wrote in the letter. 'The aloneness you're feeling is temporary and it will get better.'
He also wrote: 'I made the decision that if I could prevent one person from feeling that self-hatred, loneliness, desperation and a thousand other emotions that I felt, I would. I will be damned if I let anyone tell you that you are wrong or weird or not normal.'
The athlete tells Outsports that he was depressed growing up and felt alone.
'I had a smile on my face all the time as a kid, but I was dying on the inside,' he said. 'In my hometown, you have to fit in or you'll be exiled. If somebody had come out that I looked up to in the town, I would have been a lot happier.'
Head coach Glen Fowles has been supportive of Mertens' decision.
'Coach didn't blink an eye,' said the kicker who is a redshirt freshman. 'He talked about how they don't build football players at Willamette, they build men, and that he was proud that I could tell him this about myself.'
The coach tells Outsports: 'You never expect that conversation to happen. Typically when people do things like this, it's to their family and closest friends. Heaven forbid someone should try to do it while they're a competitive athlete. They just don't do that very often.'
'But Conner has friends here and he feels comfortable telling us, and I think that speaks well of our program. He feels safe and well-liked and comfortable around us.'
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