• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy

Towleroad Gay News

Gay Blog Towleroad: More than gay news | gay men

  • Travel
  • Sports
  • Law/Justice
  • Celebrities
  • Republicans
  • Madonna
  • Books
  • Men
  • Trans Rights
  • Royals
  • Monkeypox
  • ‘Gay Key West Uncovered’ Gets a Dose of Culture with the Island’s Galleries, Artists and Performers: LISTEN
  • Another Bad Romance: Lady Gaga & Michael Polansky ‘Hit A Wall’ After They Couldn’t Agree On Marriage & Babies
  • Florida moves to expand ban on sexual orientation, gender identity teaching

Chris Burns is First Division 1 Basketball Coach to Come Out As Gay: WATCH

Andy Towle October 8, 2015 Leave a Comment

Chris Burns comes out as gay

Chris Burns, the assistant men’s basketball coach at Bryant University, has come out as gay, and is the nation’s first Division 1 coach to do so.

USA Today Sports describes how he told his players:

“There are parts of this business that lead me to believe what I’m about to tell you is not acceptable here,” the assistant coach says. “This is something I struggle with. It’s made me consider giving up coaching. It’s made me think I’m not supposed to be here.”

Players are wide-eyed. Burns takes a deep breath.

“I’m a gay man,” he says, at last.

He goes on to say he hopes none of this will affect the players negatively, that he wants it to unite them. Bryant’s players surround him with hugs. They tell him they love him. He can exhale.

They add: “He opened up to his family first. He told head coach Tim O’Shea more than a year ago. In recent weeks he informed the rest of the coaching staff and key members of the Bryant athletics department. He confided in the team’s three captains and then, days later, stood before the team.”

But Burns has a larger story, and he tells it in a first-person piece over at Outsports:.

Burns describes how Anthony Nicodemo, the Saunders High School basketball coach who came out as gay in 2013, became his boyfriend, while he was living in the “toxic” closet:

Slowly I became more comfortable with myself, and Anthony did as well. I felt both pressure and fear rise in me. All of those early years, just beginning to explore my sexuality, were filled with a bit of denial – As comfort rose I realized someday I would have to embrace and accept that this is who I am, and that I will need to be honest with people about it.

In those secretive years, I had grown accustomed to a lot of lying and deceiving. When you’re lying to everyone about who your are at your core, lying about everything else gets easy. Those habits and behaviors were very toxic for every aspect of my life. Slowly, piece by piece, I became detached from everyone, including Anthony. I ran from everything that was real in my life to try and keep myself hidden.

That’s what the closet does to you, and it did it to me in the worst way: Detaching from my family and my best friend.

Burns attended the Nike LGBT Sports Summit, and says it was that and the Supreme Court decision on marriage equality that finally propelled him to make the decision.

Read his full Outsports piece here and the USA Today piece here.

And here’s a video interview from USA Today:

Topics: Business, Sports, Supreme Court, towleroad More Posts About: Basketball, Chris Burns, I'm Gay, Rhode Island, Video

Related Posts
  • Chase Chrisley Posts Cryptic Message About ‘Getting Through’ Tough Situations After Todd Allegedly Paid Blackmailer
  • Is Dennis Rodman Gay? Been With A Man? Just a Fantasy, He Says. A Fantasy He’s Had…But Hasn’t Acted On. Dennis Rodman Just Came Out ‘Gay Adjacent’ and Free
  • Race to Replace Brazil President Puts Focus on ‘Proud’ Former Bolsonaro Supporter; Eduardo Leite Comes Out as ‘Governor Who is Gay;’ ‘I Have Nothing to Hide’
  • Another Bad Romance: Lady Gaga & Michael Polansky ‘Hit A Wall’ After They Couldn’t Agree On Marriage & Babies

    Another Bad Romance: Lady Gaga & Michael Polansky ‘Hit A Wall’ After They Couldn’t Agree On Marriage & Babies

    Published by Radar Online Mega Lady Gaga and her boyfriend Michael Polansky have gone their separate ways after two years of dating, RadarOnline.com has learned. “They broke up a few months ago,” blabbed a source. “It …Read More »
  • Florida moves to expand ban on sexual orientation, gender identity teaching

    Florida moves to expand ban on sexual orientation, gender identity teaching

    Published by Reuters By Sharon Bernstein (Reuters) – Florida is looking to expand its ban on teaching young children about sexual orientation and gender identity issues to include all students in its public schools under a …Read More »
  • Bisexual ‘Love Island’ Star Megan Barton Hanson Rakes In $1.5 Million On OnlyFans

    Bisexual ‘Love Island’ Star Megan Barton Hanson Rakes In $1.5 Million On OnlyFans

    Published by uInterview.com Former Love Island star Megan Barton Hanson has been minting money after uploading her sexy pictures on the OnlyFans platform. The 28-year-old former reality star has reportedly made over $1.5 million from posting …Read More »
  • Judge tosses suit from 36 congregations looking to leave Methodist church over LGBTQ

    Judge tosses suit from 36 congregations looking to leave Methodist church over LGBTQ

    Published by The Charlotte Observer CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A lawsuit by dozens of conservative United Methodist churches in western North Carolina wishing to break away from their governing body was thrown out of court Tuesday by …Read More »
Previous Post: « Gay Men Twice As Likely To Get Skin Cancer Due To Heavier Tanning Bed Use
Next Post: America’s Next Top Model Stud And Fan Favorite Nyle DiMarco Comes Out as Sexually Fluid »

Primary Sidebar

Adjacent News

  • Right-wing crowdfunding site hosts neo-Nazi project to create whites-only community in Maine

    Right-wing crowdfunding site hosts neo-Nazi project to create whites-only community in Maine

  • Lourdes Leon Insists She Is ‘Nothing Without My Family’ Months After Madonna Admits Motherhood Is ‘Exhausting’

    Lourdes Leon Insists She Is ‘Nothing Without My Family’ Months After Madonna Admits Motherhood Is ‘Exhausting’

  • QAnon follower charged in bizarre booby trap incident that injured salesman

    QAnon follower charged in bizarre booby trap incident that injured salesman

Good Trash: Going to Read It Somewhere, Y'know

  • RBG’s death set off a pattern of ‘distrust and discord’ that still plagues the Supreme Court today

    RBG’s death set off a pattern of ‘distrust and discord’ that still plagues the Supreme Court today

  • ‘Tiger King’ Joe Exotic Announces His Run For President From Behind Bars

    ‘Tiger King’ Joe Exotic Announces His Run For President From Behind Bars

  • Gwyneth Paltrow says rectal ozone therapy has been ‘very helpful’

    Gwyneth Paltrow says rectal ozone therapy has been ‘very helpful’

RSS Partner Links

  • An error has occurred, which probably means the feed is down. Try again later.

Most Recent

  • ‘Gay Key West Uncovered’ Gets a Dose of Culture with the Island’s Galleries, Artists and Performers: LISTEN

    ‘Gay Key West Uncovered’ Gets a Dose of Culture with the Island’s Galleries, Artists and Performers: LISTEN

  • Another Bad Romance: Lady Gaga & Michael Polansky ‘Hit A Wall’ After They Couldn’t Agree On Marriage & Babies

    Another Bad Romance: Lady Gaga & Michael Polansky ‘Hit A Wall’ After They Couldn’t Agree On Marriage & Babies

  • Florida moves to expand ban on sexual orientation, gender identity teaching

    Florida moves to expand ban on sexual orientation, gender identity teaching

  • Bisexual ‘Love Island’ Star Megan Barton Hanson Rakes In $1.5 Million On OnlyFans

    Bisexual ‘Love Island’ Star Megan Barton Hanson Rakes In $1.5 Million On OnlyFans

  • Judge tosses suit from 36 congregations looking to leave Methodist church over LGBTQ

    Judge tosses suit from 36 congregations looking to leave Methodist church over LGBTQ

  • Howard Stern Yearns For Comedian Jon Stewart To Run For President: ‘The Most Trusted Newsman In The Country’

    Howard Stern Yearns For Comedian Jon Stewart To Run For President: ‘The Most Trusted Newsman In The Country’

  • Arkansas enacts law restricting school bathroom use by transgender people

    Arkansas enacts law restricting school bathroom use by transgender people

  • Madonna Lets Loose On Horseback As She Mocks Haters With Remix Of Her Viral Grammys Speech: Watch

    Madonna Lets Loose On Horseback As She Mocks Haters With Remix Of Her Viral Grammys Speech: Watch

Most Commented

Social

Twitter @tlrd | Facebook | Instagram @tlrd

Footer

Copyright © 2023 · Log in

×