Akil Patterson's career with the Terps football team was derailed by alcohol and partying as he struggled with his sexuality
COLLEGE PARK ——
For years, Akil Patterson wouldn't tell the world who he really was: a gay man playing Division I college football.His secret weighed on him, frightened him, confused him, taking on a life all its own.
In lonely periods, the former University of Maryland player would go online and type in "gay," "athlete" and other keywords. And Patterson, an offensive and defensive lineman on former coach Ralph Friedgen's teams of 2001-03, would wonder: how many other Division I athletes are gay — and black — and feeling as isolated as he was?
"It's not like it's a terrible, deep, dark secret, but you think about the ramifications," said Patterson, now a highly ranked Greco-Roman wrestler and unpaid Maryland wrestling coach. "They're talking behind your back, and everywhere you turn there's this culture that says you're not supposed to be like this."
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5 comments:
I would guess a lot of athletes are gay.
Why does their sexuality define who they are? Because it's a mental illness that's why!
It is behavior - not identity.
This is BS. And the gays know it. It has nothing to do with identity. We are not "sexual beings", we are human beings with spirits / souls and vast intelligence. We have the ability to comprehend and act within a very large scope of activities.
Hollywood and the Liberals want to convince us that our sexuality is WHO we are . . . it is not.
If he felt that bad about it all, then maybe his conscious was trying to tell his subconscious something.
Anon 1245 -
You're trying to merge two separate questions. I would agree that our sexuality (or sexual orientation) is not WHO we are. After all, we are supposedly the only animal capable of controlling our sexual urges. That does not mean that sexual orientation is not somehow "hard wired" in us.
Genetic? Don't know. Don't really care. I can only say that I've known too many gay people who "are what they are". They are guys who are sexually attracted to guys, girls who are sexually attracted to girls, etc. I'm not arguing that gays should be a protected class. I only believe that we should accept them for what they are whether we agree with their lifestyle or not.
I'm forever amazed by people who are anti-gay but seem so accepting of adulterers. Remember, one is a TOP 10 offense and the other one isn't.
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