Gus Kenworthy is aware of a factor or two about breaking boundaries in sports activities for LGBTQ+ athletes. He was the primary brazenly homosexual X Games athlete and alongside good pal and determine skater Adam Rippon, he was half of the primary brazenly homosexual duo to symbolize the United States within the Winter Olympics on the 2018 video games in PyeongChang, South Korea. And because the season finale of Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test airs this Wednesday on FOX, with Kenworthy as a participant and solely LGBTQ+ consultant on the present, he took time to talk with Deadspin this week to share his ideas on different noteworthy accomplishments for the LGBTQ+ group in sports activities.
In June 2021, Carl Nassib posted a message by way of his Instagram account sharing that he was homosexual and have become the primary energetic NFL participant to take action. In 2014, Michael Sam got here near carrying out that feat after being chosen within the seventh spherical by the St. Louis Rams. He was launched as a part of the workforce’s closing minimize to a 53-man roster and hung out on the Dallas Cowboys’ observe squad, however didn’t get his probability underneath the NFL’s brightest lights. Nassib had already spent 5 years within the league previous to popping out publicly.
“It would be amazing if we were in a place, and I hope that we get to a place where it’s like ‘Who cares what someone’s sexuality is?’ And I feel like oftentimes you see that response under articles about Carl Nassib coming out or me coming out or whoever it was when they came out. And ultimately, that’s actually not supportive,” Kenworthy informed Deadspin. “It sounds supportive to be like ‘Who cares? It’s 2022, it’s 2023. We don’t care about sexuality.’ But actually, you do and that’s the reason that there hasn’t been someone that’s out.
“And so to see someone take a brave stand like that, in an industry, the NFL, where it’s not necessarily conducive to that. There’s a lot of homophobic language that gets used in the locker room and the people that are watching are potentially from more conservative, rural places that aren’t as supportive of LGBTQ rights, it’s really amazing. And I think that when athletes come out, especially the first athlete in that sport, we have to really uplift them and tell their story and amplify their voice. It kind of creates a beacon of hope for the next generation, for any gay kids in that sport or gay kids in places that they feel like they can be themselves. It’s like a sign that they can and that someone has and it gives them footsteps to follow in. So I think it’s super important.”
Kenworthy’s recommendation to create a extra inclusive environment for future LGBTQ+ youth can be for everybody to observe their actions and phrases extra rigorously. He was additionally fast to level out that hatred and bigotry of any variety shouldn’t be tolerated in locker rooms, not solely hate in opposition to those that are homosexual.
“I know that even like my friends and people I grew up with when I was a kid would refer to anything that was bad as gay. and use the F slur and say things,” Kenworthy mentioned. “And after I came out, it changed. And also a lot of them are like ‘I had no idea. I would have never said this If I knew.’ And it shouldn’t take that. It shouldn’t take knowing someone that’s this, that, or the other to change your rhetoric. But sometimes it does. I would just encourage anybody to be mindful of the words they’re using.”
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While competing on Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test was a lot harder for Kenworthy than his look on The Challenge: Champs vs. Pros in 2017, he mentioned he’d be open to competing on one other season of the present if FOX requested him to take action. Kenworthy hasn’t learn a lot about what folks take into consideration the present or his look on it, admitting he seemingly doesn’t have thick sufficient pores and skin to be within the public eye. Yet, he’s pleased to be the LGBTQ+ consultant on the present.
“It’s just kind of cool to see queer people doing anything in the public eye,” Kenworthy mentioned. “For so long, there was a lack of representation. So to see a gay man on national TV doing military Special Ops training, I think is exciting. I would love to see more diversity, inclusion in the next season. I would love to see more LGBTQ people cast and prove themselves because I know my community to be super tough and I think that they’ve shown that.”