David Testo, an American pro-soccer player, came out a few days ago. His former team, the Montreal Impact, reportedly knew he was gay before they signed him and really didn’t care. Testo is the first MLS athlete to publicly proclaim his homosexuality. Here’s what he said, translated from a French interview:
“I’m gay, I’m gay. I did not choose. It’s just part of who I am. And it has nothing to do with the talent of a soccer player. You can be both an excellent soccer player and be gay. I really regret not having said publicly earlier. I fought with it all my life, my whole career. Living the life of a professional athlete and being gay is incredibly difficult. It is like wearing a secret in his bags but never yourself. It saps all your energy to you, in addition to having to perform, having to play. It’s made me realize that life is so much greater than just soccer and winning and losing. It’s about the relationships you build with the people around you. In the end, when you’re laying down on your death bed, it’s not about how much money you’ve made, how many wins you have, any of that. You want to know those connections you had to people and the difference you made in people’s lives. And I actually thank being gay for that. Because, hypothetically speaking, I don’t know who I would be if I wasn’t, but I know this has pushed me to grow in such a way I never would have dreamed.”
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