Rural West Virginia teen Michael Martin came out with the homecoming king.
In a piece Martin penned for Outsports, the 18-year-old high school jock — a member of Musselman High School’s soccer, swimming, football and tennis teams — tells a coming-out story complete with a romantic soundtrack.
It started with Martin attending the school dance of a boy he liked, who happened to be the school’s homecoming king, named Jem. Both Martin and Jem had “female” dates, but at the end of the night they danced to “Love Story” by Taylor Swift. It was Martin’s first time publicly displaying his sexuality.
A couple of weeks later, Martin invited Jem to be his date for a dance at his own school.
“Only some people knew about me [being gay] before the homecoming, so it was a shocker for some seeing me dance with another guy. Jem and I danced all night . . . But it was the slow dance that I most remember that night at the school cafeteria — “Remember When” by Alan Jackson.”
If a future as a professional athlete doesn’t pan out, Martin may have a career in writing. His essay reads like a chapter in a Nicholas Sparks novel.
Someone call Disney, already: this is so now.
Why you can trust Xtra
