Dancing On Ice star Matt Evers: ‘Coming out shouldn’t have to be a thing’
The American figure skater addressed his sexuality publicly for the first time earlier this year.
Dancing on Ice star Matt Evers has opened up about his recent decision to come out publicly as gay.
The professional skater, 41, addressed his sexuality publicly for the first time in the February issue of Attitude, and says he hopes he can use his platform to help people understand that gay people are “born the way that [they] are”.
He told The Mirror: “I just hope we can eventually get to a place in this world where you shouldn’t have to come out. It shouldn’t have to be a thing.”
The American athlete, who partnered with Great British Bake Off winner Candice Brown for the latest series of Dancing On Ice, continued: “I think with the Trump situation in the States right now, it’s not good and it scares me for the youth of the world.
“Obviously I teach skating and care a lot about kids and sport and keeping people active and now we have to worry about what he does [for] our future generation, what kind of world are they going to live in now this bully of a president has given other bullies the right to speak up and bully even more?
“That was the basis of my interview with Attitude. It was nothing of a vanity, it was nothing really to do with me, it was about the future generation and as well the horrible situation we could be heading towards with this president.”
Evers added that the response he’s had to coming out has been “incredible”.
“I had messages from around the world and from other sports people,” he revealed. “Sports still have this connotation that, regardless of if you’re an ice skater, a footballer or a basketball player, it’s a very masculine straight sport.
“But I think, hopefully, as we’re seeing year after year after year more footballers and rugby players feel that they are accepted and can come out to their teammates so we’re heading in the right direction.”