Tom Daley Comes Out on YouTube
Daley made a video and posted it on his YouTube channel explaining why he decided to come out now and in the way he did.
Daley said, “Recently, I was misquoted and it made me really angry. For me, honesty is something that I really believe in and sometimes I might be vague, but I’m always honest.”
Daley went on to explain that he wanted to tell everyone himself and did not want to do it in an interview, as he said that he was worried that his message would get twisted and that was the last thing he wanted.
He decided that he wanted to share with his fans and the world that he is in a relationship that makes him completely happy and safe; that is with a man.
Daley said, “Right now I’m dating a guy and I couldn’t be happier. It just feels safe and right.”
In an ideal world, any person, athlete or not, would not have to “come out” and would just be who they are. However, the world is still far away from being completely accepting of the LGBTQ community.
One of the reasons that the fact that Daley coming out is such a big event is because he is in the sports world, and the sports world is not known as being a accepting community as a whole. Very few professional athletes have come out of the closet yet.
Daley said, “In an ideal world, I wouldn’t be doing this video, because it shouldn’t matter.”
The sports world has this stereotype around it that it needs to be a “manly” area and only “men” can play sports and that being gay is not a “manly” thing.
This idea makes the idea of “coming out” a bit scary for many different reasons. Athletes could be afraid of their team mates who may react negatively toward them or affect their relationships with their team in a way that they would not want. They also could be afraid that by coming out it would affect their career in the sports world.
UHS Athletic Director, Mr. Greg Hall said, “I don’t think that your sexuality should matter in the sports world. Being a professional athlete is the same as having a job, you have to be professional and be able to work with people from different backgrounds.”
It still is however, a major deal in the sports world and professional athletes coming out will still for the foreseeable future be a major event. The world and, therefore the sports world, is slowly moving in the direction of fully accepting homosexuality. However, it will still be a while yet before a famous person coming out is not a big deal in the world.
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