Olympian Shawn Barber holds the indoor pole vault world record and is ready to share publicly that he also vaults poles in his own free time (if you catch our drift!).
“Gay and proud!” the 22-year-old wrote. “Thank you to my parents for being such a great support. I continue to grow as a person and have a great support group. My parents are my greatest support and have helped me through a lot recently. To my friends, you are always my friends and I love you too!”
Awe! Nice of Shawn to give props to the support in his life. Not only is the man talented and kind, but he’s also a HOT GINGER! The world is your oyster, Shawn! Welcome to the club and congrats!
[via newnownext]
I think he is sexy and boyfriend material, he is for me anyway.
COOL. Good Welcome ! Big Hug & Kiss.
He’s quite cute but… nahh. And I know I say this all the time but, coming out in 2017? C’mon people. Let’s start treating LGBT people like straight people and not have them need announce their sexuality like its a big deal. If I ever have kids and they turn out to be gay/bi, they can bring their whoever home and that will be that. They’ll be treated no differently. Full integration. (I just hope I won’t have to roll off this diatribe still in 2067)
Visibility of well known people, especially sports figures, who come out is still important. Good for him. It wasn’t some old-style big ‘I have to come out of the closet because…’ announcement, it was just a ‘Hey, gay and proud and thanks to my loved ones for your love and support.’ Straight people don’t need to announce their sexuality because it is the assumed default. Sure, he could have waited and just post he’s in a relationship with a guy, and announce it that way. That sort of reveal has happened before, and can put excess pressure on them both. Better to post an ‘Oh by the way’ first, then when a partner publicly comes into the picture it is not a surprise.
oooooo….and he goes [or went] to university near me!
Cool.