Professional soccer player Robbie Rogers, in his first television interview since coming out earlier this year, describes the feeling of being gay and closeted in professional sports, and said he hid his sexuality all his life so he could fit in with the “macho, macho man” world of soccer.
In a new interview airing on ABC News’ “Nightline” Monday evening, April 15, Rogers tells ABC News correspondent Amy Robach, “I think the same things that made it difficult for me to come out also gave me the strength.”
“I was raised to be a voice, to be myself, to be unique, not to follow a pack,” said Rogers, who also acknowledged that he heard gays slurs in the locker room “all the time.”
Watch a preview, courtesy ABC News “Nightline”:
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When he came out on Feb. 15, Rogers also announced that — at age 25 — he was retiring from the sport.
“My secret is gone, I am a free man, I can move on and live my life as my creator intended,” he said.
