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Olympic Skater Has The Perfect Response When A Reporter Asks Him What It's Like To Be A Gay Athlete

2018 Prudential U.S. Figure Skating Championships - Day 2

Source - Figure skater Adam Rippon, who’s earned a reputation for speaking his mind, has become the first openly gay man to qualify for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Despite a disappointing fourth-place finish at the U.S. national championships this weekend, Rippon was named to the U.S. Winter Olympics figure-skating team on Sunday morning.

Rippon came out in 2015, telling Skating magazine he wanted to send a message “to the dad out there who might be concerned that his son is a figure skater.”

“When athletes come out and say that they’re gay, it makes it a little more normal and less of a big deal—especially in the athletic community,” he added. “You have a lot of respect for your fellow athletes for working hard toward a goal. Their sexual orientation takes a backseat to that.”

Love the message, Adam. It’s a shame more gay athletes don’t come out. Not only does it send a positive message, it prevents reporters from having to download Grindr to figure out who’s gay. Which speaking from experience, is a nightmare. Unless there’s some sort of identifier like a tattoo, everyone’s torso looks the same. It can take weeks to get a face picture if someone is discreet. The rest of the article is  about Adam’s story and how he got to where he is. It’s worth the read if you have second. But the highlight for me is this tweet.

He’s not lying. Look at those things.

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2018 Prudential U.S. Figure Skating Championships - Day 4

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Arches so perfect they’d make Anastasia Soare blush. The whole situation shows how clueless people can be. I get asked stupid questions all the time. “You’re gay right? What do you drink at the bar?” Umm- Appletini’s bro, just like every other dude. It’s obnoxious. It’d be nice to see him win the gold so people have something else to talk about. Here’s to hoping he does.