Baseball Player Boyfriend Of First Out Gay College Football Player, Comes Out

Last week Conner Mertens, a football player at Willamette University in Washington, came out, making him the first active college football player to come out as gay. 

Well, it doesn't appear that he'll be lonely now that his boyfriend, Chandler Whitney (pictured, below), a baseball player at Walla Walla Community College has also decided to come out of the closet!

​Chandler told Outsports:

"I'd been planning to do it at some point anyway," Whitney told Outsports, "and seeing the reaction to Conner's story calmed me down."

Last week when the baseball team gathered for the first practices of the new year, talk turned to stories from winter break. Because he'd spent much of the break with Mertens, Whitney felt the time was now. He stood up in front of the team, said he had contemplated whether to tell them a secret or not, and shared a "confession" he'd been holding back from them since they first met:

"I'm gay."

The team broke into spontaneous applause. It took Whitney off-guard.

"Being where I am in eastern Washington, it's not the response I expected. I'm in Walla Walla, there's not a lot of open-mindedness on the surface."

....

"I didn't necessarily expect hostility, but I expected a guy or two to feel uncomfortable or awkward. Everyone on the team shook my hand, gave me a hug and said we're a family and they had my back. The guys I thought would feel the most uncomfortable said don't worry about a thing, it's not a big deal."

Big congrats to Chandler (and Conner) for coming out! And we've also got to applaud his teammates for being open-minded and accepting!

It's great to see and it must be a comfort for many athletes that are considering coming out.

(Story Via: instinctmagazine)