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College football player comes out to his teammates on stage

Written by gaytourism

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Xavier Colvin came out to his teammates recently

How’s this for a coming out story? When Xavier Colvin, a linebacker for Butler University’s football team, stepped on stage, it wasn’t to give his teammates a pep talk. It was to come out to them.

After initially telling his head coach, Jeff Voris, and linebackers coach, Derek Day, they encouraged him to tell the rest of the team.

So he took to the stage, microphone in hand, and told his story. He spoke of growing up, playing football, and what it means to be a gay athlete.

Fortunately, he received nothing but support for his words.

‘Afterwards I got texts and phone calls,’ Colvin told Outsports. ‘The freshmen who didn’t know me came and shook my hand. And they all said, “we’ve got your back.” They told me how proud they were of me. Not even a single negative reaction. It was all positive.’

Despite the fact that discrimination and homophobia still exist, Colvin believes support does show changing times.

‘What I’ve come to learn from my 105 teammates and 15 coaches is that no one cares, and it’s not as big of a deal as it used to be,’ he said. ‘People care more about you as a person and your mental health. It took me a while to learn that.’

Timing is everything

It took Colvin time to comes to terms with his sexuality. While he expressed he wishes he had come out sooner, he’s expressing nothing but positivism now: ‘I feel like with the increased role this fall, on top of being more mature, I think this will work out well.’

Since coming out, he uses Instagram account to share who he is. And the pictures are pretty inspiring and heart-warming.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BXlvnzZlSrW/

☀️☀️☀️

A post shared by Xavier Colvin (@sircolvin43) on

He also hopes his story can help others.

‘Other LGBT athletes and non-athletes have to realize they are not alone,’ he said. ‘There are other people with similar stories, similar backgrounds.’

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