Every time I see a kid has killed himself, I can’t help but think about the professional athletes who are closeted. In case you missed it, teenager Jeffrey Fehr killed himself near Sacramento, Calif., on New Year’s Day. He was gay, and it’s now evident that anti-gay bullying was part of what lead him to [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Suicide’
My Life, Part 1: Greg Congdon shares his story of being closeted…and being outed
Editor’s Note: Greg Congdon was a high school football player and wrestler in rural Pennsylvania. He struggled with his sexual orientation for years until he was outed. It was such a touchstone in 1998 that it is our #83 most important moment in gay sports history. For the first time ever, Greg tells his story [...]
Jamey Rodemeyer: This is why pro athletes should come out of our society’s last closet
One of the reasons we hear professional athletes don’t come out is that they don’t have a good reason. “They would risk too much,” we hear. “They can just wait until after retirement.” But of course, even then they keep chasing a million-dollar dangling post-career carrot. So they stay in the closet. Let me introduce [...]
Moment #69: Ed Gallagher survives suicide attempt
Part of Outsports’ series on our 100 most important moments in gay sports history. Football, 1985. Former Pitt Panther standout Ed Gallagher lied down atop the Kensico Dam, asked God for forgiveness, and rolled into the open space 100 feet above the ground. Gallagher had recently given into his gay sexual desires for the first [...]
Chris Kanyon, out former wrestler, dies
Sad news came in this weekend about the apparent suicide of openly gay former pro wrestler Chris Kanyon on Friday. Kanyon was a former tagteam champion with the WCW and WWE and came out publicly soon after he left the WWE in 2004. He was a popular guest on the Howard Stern Show, but he [...]
Anti-Gay Bullying Leads To 6th Grader’s Suicide
Sixth-grader Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover (at right) had been playing football and basketball at the New Leadership Charter School in Springfield, Massachusetts trying to make friends. But the new kid had become the target for bullies. According to his mother, Carl had been harassed and bullied for months on end for his clothing and was called [...]