Screen shot 2016-01-15 at 4.00.46 PMIf you want to choke up and feel inspired within a span of a few minutes, I have just the piece for you.
And I didn’t even write it.
Recent TCU graduate and champion swimmer Cooper Robinson wrote a touching essay about how he came to accept his sexual orientation for Outsports this week, the LGBT sports site founded by Cyd Zeigler.
I talked to Robinson by phone yesterday from his home in Austin. Even as he’s accepted and embraced his gay identity, the full-time student and champion athlete said, writing the essay was not easy. But he still wanted to write it.
“The wheels had been turning in my head for a while,” he said. “I wanted to dive in, but I was too nervous. But last semester I started asking people for advice. I wanted to share my story because I knew it would help.”
After procrastinating, gathering his thoughts, and processing his story, he finally submitted it to Zeigler. Coming out was a struggle that almost cost him his life. Writing about something so intimate was scary, but if help folks is what he wanted to do, then he certainly got what he asked for.
“I got so many loving and supportive texts,” he said.
He also got messages from strangers, too.
“A 13-year-old messaged me. He told me my story inspired him to come out to his parents. I’ve gotten other people messaging me for advice,” Robinson said.
His parents have embraced him as well.
“They ask me about boys,” he said.