Joe.My.God. LGBT News
The New York Daily News reports:
Former Patriots and Chiefs offensive tackle Ryan O’Callaghan publicly came out on Tuesday, saying that he strongly considered committing suicide before he received support from the Kansas City organization.
O’Callaghan discusssed the gripping, heart-wrenching journey he took as a closeted gay man in college football and the NFL in a piece by SB Nation’s Outsports.The story provides a unique window into the devastating toll the lying and hiding can have on an individual. Now that he’s come out, O’Callaghan says he’s committed to helping those enduring similar struggles.
“As long as there are people killing themselves because they are gay, there is a reason for people like me to share my story and try to help,” O’Callaghan said. “People need to understand that we are everywhere. We’re your sons, your daughters, your teammates, your neighbors. And honestly, even some of your husbands and wives. You just don’t know it yet.”
From the opening of the OutSports article:
Ryan O’Callaghan’s plan was always to play football and then, when his career was over, kill himself. Growing up in Redding, Calif., he didn’t see any other option. From a deep red corner of a blue state, the conflicted young man had decided in high school that he would never — could never — live as a gay man.
While the 6-foot-7, 330-pound offensive tackle didn’t fit any of the gay stereotypes, he decided shortly after coming out to himself in junior high school that he could never let anyone else in on his darkest secret.
Over the years he had heard general comments from friends and family members about gay people. Every utterance of a gay slur or a joke about gay men — and he heard them plenty when he was young — was like a knife to the gut.
“If you’re a gay kid and you hear someone you love say ‘fag,’ it makes you think that in their eyes you’re just a fag too,” O’Callaghan told Outsports on a recent visit to Los Angeles for his first-ever Pride celebration. “That got to me a lot.”