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ESPN’s Israel Gutierrez comes out and talks self-acceptance in blog post
ESPN reporter Israel Gutierrez, 38, came out Friday with an emotional blog post.
In the post, titled: ‘Thanks for Reading‘, he describes the struggle in his twenties of not wanting to be gay—and how this all changed when he met his now fiancé David Kitchen.
Gutierrez used the blog to announce he is getting married on September 12.
However he also wanted to speak out for other people struggling with their sexuality, and not living their lives openly.
‘More than anything, I just want to tell my story. It’s probably going to feel like too much information to some of you. But it’s the best way I know to explain what life can be like for conflicted, confused gay men and women everywhere, so I appreciate you putting up with me.’
He notes he’d go to gay bars, but never felt at home there. The post paints a picture of him walking around a bar a few times nervously before entering, but leaving soon after. ‘”I don’t fit in. This isn’t me. Nobody in this place knows what I’m going through,” [I’d think]… Every time, I’d end up unhappier when I left.’
In a particularly moving passage, he describes how: ‘Starting in my early teens until somewhere in my late 20s, I’d blow out my birthday candles with the same wish: “Please don’t let me be gay.”’
Gutierrez says he was especially inspired by Gareth Thomas’ coming out, a British Rugby player who announced he was gay in late 2009. He said meeting his later fiancé in May 2009 ‘changed’ his life, and only two weeks later he started coming out to friends and family.
The religious community with which he is close also provided challenges, but he says: ‘In a sense, all the prayer worked because I eventually saw my true self, and I’ve never been happier.’
If my story makes a difference in any way, it’s the all that really matters to me. Thanks a ton for the responses. Can’t keep up with them.
— Israel Gutierrez (@IzGutierrez) September 4, 2015
He joins LZ Granderson and Kate Fagan as openly gay journalists at ESPN, as well as Nate Silver, who is editor of ESPN-owned Five Thirty Eight.
The post ESPN’s Israel Gutierrez comes out and talks self-acceptance in blog post appeared first on Gay Star News.
Jack Flanagan
www.gaystarnews.com/article/espns-israel-gutierrez-comes-out-and-talks-self-acceptance-in-blog-post/
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