American football player Brad Thorson comes out as gay

American Football player Brad Thorson has come out as gay.

Thorson, a former college football player and National Football League (NFL) prospect, wrote openly about his sexuality on his personal blog last week (July 4), in a post titled ‘Seeing through the Fog’.

In the blog post, the 26-year-old revealed that he struggled to get to grips with his sexuality for years.

Read an excerpt from Thorson’s blog post below:

“I’ve been told many times that the process of coming out is cathartic. Yet since coming to terms with my sexuality, I found it arduous and unnecessary. At least that’s what I kept telling myself. So today, I’m putting it in writing and not looking back.

I’m gay.

I’m also an athlete. For years, I struggled to unite these two identities in my own mind. Not until after my professional athletic career came to an end did I allow myself to understand my sexuality. Now, three years later, I’m finally ready to share that with people.”

Thorson also explained that NFL player Michael Sam’s decision to come out as gay earlier this year, helped give him the courage to open up about his sexuality too. He continued:

“If not for the strength of athletes like Jason Collins, Michael Sam, and Brian Sims, I would likely still be struggling with my own cognitive dissonance. Each of their stories reinforced the truth that there is nothing wrong with being a competitive athlete and gay. Just as their stories helped me come to understand and accept myself, I’ve gotten to a point in my life where I hope to help someone else to understand his or her identity as a gay athlete.”

Read the full blog post here.

Earlier this year, US student tennis star Matt Dooley came out as gay – click here for the full story. Finnish Olympic swimmer Ari-Pekka Liukkonen also came out as gay earlier this year and you can read his coming out story here.