College Basketball's First Openly Gay Player Jallen Messersmith Was Raised Mormon, Leads Catholic Team

Outsports has a wonderful feature piece about Jallen Messersmith, the first gay men’s college basketball player to come out while still playing. Messersmith, who plays for Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, was raised Mormon, overcame intense bullying in school, and now leads his Catholic college’s team in blocked shots for this past season. Messersmith contacted Outsports about telling his coming out story prior to NBA player Jason Collins declaring he is gay.

“When I came out, there was nobody in my sport I could [relate to],” Messersmith said about why he agreed to share his story. “I always wanted to put it out there and I had a great experience with it and I wanted to show people it could be fine.”

Messersmith goes on to discuss the severe bullying he faced in adolescence and how he found refuge in a place not usually seen as a sanctuary for gay teens wrestling with their sexuality: sports.

“The people making fun of me pushed me into basketball further and made me want to be the best at basketball and get somewhere with myself," he said. "After my sophomore year, I didn't care what people thought. I grew stronger because of it and it rolls off my back now."


Above all, Messersmith says self-acceptance is the most important aspect of living out and proud both on and off the court.

“You've just got to be comfortable with yourself," he said. "I wasn't very comfortable with myself for a long time and then when I was, if you put off the confidence and you are 100% comfortable when you tell someone, they will support you. They can't, as much as they can try, drag you down. It's all about you. It's what you think. If you are comfortable with yourself, you can do anything."

Read Messersmith’s full story at Outsports. 

Bryan Fischer: Mormons Supported Lifting Boy Scouts Gay Ban Because They Want Polygamy - VIDEO

Even though he has "no evidence that this is the case," American Family Association radio host Bryan Fischer has figured out why the Mormon church ended up supporting the 'Boy Sodomizers of America' decision to lift the ban on gay scouts, Right Wing Watch reports, and it fits neatly into the longtime right-wing talking points that gay marriage will lead to polygamy.

Says Fischer:

"The LDS leadership, these people are smart, they're sharp, they're thinking all the time and I believe one of the reasons they may have gone soft on the homosexual agenda is that they believe that the homosexual agenda may be the secret to restoring polygamy to America and this would vindicate Mormon doctrine from the very beginning."

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

'Book of Mormon' Party Bus Performance of the Day: VIDEO

Tim Koll, Sam Leicht, Leland Raymond, Damian Wille, and Logan Lang make a van ride Mormon-tastic.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

(via boy culture)

Mormon Church Approves of Boy Scouts' New, Unimproved Gay Ban

The Mormon Church has given its seal of approval to the new Boy Scout proposal to allow gay scouts but continue to ban gay scout leaders, the L.A. Times reports:

In their statement Thursday, Mormon officials gave their OK to the compromise -- without ever mentioning sexual orientation.

"While the church has not launched any campaign either to effect or prevent a policy change, we have followed the discussion and are satisfied that BSA has made a thoughtful, good-faith effort to address issues that, as they have said, remain ‘among the most complex and challenging issues facing the BSA and society today,' " the statement said.

The statement, noting the strong ties the church has kept with the Scouts for the past century, added, "We appreciate the positive things contained in this current proposal that will help build and strengthen the moral character and leadership skills of youth as we work together in the future."

Recently...
Eagle Scout Zach Wahls Speaks Out Against Boy Scout Gay Ban: VIDEO [tlrd]
The Boy Scouts Made it Worse [tlrd]

Gay Son of Congressman Matt Salmon Talks About His Father, Who Opposes Same-Sex Marriage: VIDEO

Matt R. Salmon, the son of Rep. Matt Salmon (R-AZ), talks about his father and his father's public opposition of marriage equality, with KPNX.

Said Salmon: "It's hard for me to understand that people will jump to the conclusion that he's anti-gay, he's a bigot. When really, yeah he doesn't support gay marriage, but that doesn't make him a bigot at all."

Salmon also reveals that he was in 'reparative therapy' and the hardest moment he had in his relationship with his father was when he decided to stop doing it:

"It was probably while I was in college, at ASU, and I had just decided that I was no longer going to do reparative therapy, and it was hard for him. We still had a loving relationship but it was difficult for him to accept."

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

LDS Leader Boyd Packer Says Family is Under Attack, Tells Mormons to Resist 'The Tolerance Trend': VIDEO

LDS Apostle Boyd Packer told Mormons in a Saturday address to be wary of softening the church's stance on 'anti-family' issues, presumably homosexuality and same-sex marriage.

Said Packer:

"The family, The fundamental organization in time and eternity is under attack from forces seen and unseen...We need to be careful of the tolerance trend, so that we do not swallow it up and get swallowed up in it...The permissiveness afforded by the weakening of the laws of the land to tolerate and legalize acts of immorality does not reduce the serious spiritual consequence that is the result from a violation of God’s law of Chastity.”

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...