I'm glad Robbie Rogers felt safe enough to come out and live his own life, but I am saddened that he felt the need to walk away from the sport that was his "escape, my purpose, my identity." Maybe one day he return to soccer, after all he is only 25 years old.
On the bright side, some of his fellow players applauded his courage and wished him well:
"Brave men like you will make it so that one day there's no need for an announcement. That day can't arrive soon enough," tweeted Eddie Pope, a U.S. veteran of three World Cups and an executive with the MLS players' union.
"Much love and respect for you," tweeted U.S. teammate Herculez Gomez, a sentiment echoed byD.C. United's Chris Pontius, the Galaxy's Omar Gonzalez and women's national team star Abby Wambach.I hope Rogers is not the last to live his life openly - and I hope the next man to do so will not feel the need to leave his sport.
Soccer player Robbie Rogers reveals he is gay
Robbie Rogers, 25, a Mater Dei High graduate who has played in MLS and for U.S. national team, says in blog post that he is gay and is 'stepping away' from soccer.
Mater Dei High graduate and professional soccer player Robbie Rogers announced he's gay and will be stepping away from the sport. (Drew Hallowell / Getty Images / August 10, 2011)
By Kevin Baxter | Los Angeles Times
February 15, 2013
Robbie Rogers said he had to choose between being a soccer player or being himself.
He ultimately choose to be himself, stepping away from his sport Friday in a powerful blog post in which he revealed he is gay.
"I always thought I could hide this secret," wrote Rogers, 25, a former Mater Dei High standout who played five seasons in Major League Soccer and had 18 appearances with the U.S. national team.
"Football was my escape, my purpose, my identity. Football hid my secret, gave me more joy than I could ever have imagined."
But, he concluded, "I realized I could only truly enjoy my life once I was honest. . . . My secret is gone, I am a free man, I can move on and live my life as my creator intended."
Rogers did not use the word "retirement" in his seven-paragraph announcement, instead saying, "Now is my time to step away. It's time to discover myself away from football."
Rogers' career has been in free-fall since he left MLS'Columbus Crew in 2011, the year he earned his last cap with the national team.
Troubled by nagging injuries, he was most recently playing for Stevenage of League One, the third tier of English soccer. And in his blog Rogers suggested his decline on the field was influenced by the emotional toll of trying to hide his homosexuality — although in Columbus, at least, that was said to be something of an open secret.
"You hear from athletes all the time that performance suffers from living in the closet," said journalist Cyd Zeigler, co-founder of the gay sports website Outsports.com. "I'd love to see him try again. It might be a mistake for him to stop now.
"There's a great chance that he will . . . have a clear head and be able to focus on the sport in a way he hasn't been able to in his adult life."
No active athlete in a major professional U.S. team sport has come out as gay. But Rogers was being lauded for his courage on social media Friday.
"Brave men like you will make it so that one day there's no need for an announcement. That day can't arrive soon enough," tweeted Eddie Pope, a U.S. veteran of three World Cups and an executive with the MLS players' union.
"Much love and respect for you," tweeted U.S. teammate Herculez Gomez, a sentiment echoed byD.C. United's Chris Pontius, the Galaxy's Omar Gonzalez and women's national team star Abby Wambach.
kevin.baxter@latimes.com
1 comment:
Hey good friend, I don't know who is reading your blog but the articles you choose are personal and well written. I feel they reflect issues that the entire community should be dealing with although most of the straight people in the world, I'm afraid don't think we need labels.
Who wants to be called straight except maybe a sober alcoholic or something? I tied to let my label go because it didn't really fit anymore. I wasn't sexually active. Do we get to pick our own label or is someone just calling us a name?
People are even having a problem with the disease concept these days in recovery... Some feel my sexuality is just a disease I have to cope with like alcoholism. The euphemistic "coming out" is more like a cotillion these days rather than a closet unless you are a sports figure, politician or an actor or something special.
My world is getting smaller everyday. I have never had a walk in closet when it comes to being fashion savvy. The existence of same sex relationships was something I never heard of as a child, but I thought as same sex as a "natural" step in childhood. A phase in adolescence. Consequentially, aging gracefully is becoming more difficult after I decided to move to a red state and keep things on the down low. My plan was good but there were a few details that didn't iron out in the coming out process. Career was never accomplished. I am not a role model or a stellar citizen. I just try to do the next right thing and make a difference if I can help.
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