Top US high school wrestler comes out as gay
A top high school wrestling champion in the US state of New Jersey has come out as gay.
Speaking to Outsports, Alec Donovan, who is ranked in the top 25 high school wrestlers of his weight class in the US, came out as gay.
Donovan is currently on a recruiting trip at a college between Los Angeles and San Francisco, and has also been approached by others.
Saying he was unfazed by the stir his story could potentially cause, what was important to him was being with a wrestling programme at college which allows him to be who he is and help other LGBT athletes.
A fellow recruit had apparently asked Donovan whether he was bisexual on the recruitment trip, at which point he said: “I’m not bisexual… I’m gay.”
According to the wrestler, the fellow recruit said he was “cool with it”, and Donovan said he didn’t care whether the recruiters knew about his sexuality.
“It’s better that everybody knows anyway, so I don’t end up on a team that doesn’t want me for all of me,” he said.
He came to a stronger place having had dark thoughts in his past, saying he contemplated suicide several years ago, and made it through with the help of friends, and fellow wrestlers, in whom he confided about his sexuality.
As well as being a star wrestler, Donovan is involved in an anti-bullying group at Brick Memorial High School, and is still deciding which college to attend.
