Such inspiring news!
Edward ‘Chip’ Sarafin from the Arizona State Sun Devils football team has just come out as gay, making him the first active Division I player ever to do so!
The linebacker sat down for an interview with gay sports magazine Compete, and, very nonchalantly, came out to the world.
A fifth-year senior, the Biomedical Engineering graduate told his teammates that he was gay last spring, but waited until his interview to do so publicly.
After coming out via magazine, Chip went on Instagram to post an uplifting before and after shot of himself as both a closeted and out athlete.
You can practically see how much more happy he seems in the latter!
Chip captioned the photo, saying:
“It my be hard to tell the difference between the two, but the one on the left is when I was hiding who I was, and the one on the right is me being open and proud of who I am.
Athletes shouldn’t have to feel they need to hide who they are for acceptance.”
Strong words!
And Chip wasn’t the only people taking to social media in support of his coming out.
Michael Sam, the first publicly gay player to be drafted into the NFL, posted encouraging words to Chip and other gay athletes on Twitter, saying:
Congratulations Chip Sarafin for having the courage to be yourself. Wishing you and your teammates much success this season. #courage2014
— Michael Sam (@MichaelSamNFL) August 13, 2014
Congratulations, Chip!
We hope your bravery inspires other closeted athletes to be true to themselves as well.
[Image via Chip Sarafin/Instagram]