Top College Runner Nico Young Comes Out in Insta Post
He's a California state champ and has been named National Gatorade Player of the Year for both track and field and cross-country running. He's also an entrepreneur who co-created the Run Fast Apparel line. Now Nico Young has crossed another finish line.
"This may come as a shock to some of you, but this is something I have always known and have finally decided to share with the world. I like guys, not girls," Young declared in an Aug. 29 Instagram post.
Young's post proceeded from there to school followers on a few essentials regarding LGBTQ+ people.
"Anyone who tells you that being gay is a choice is wrong," Young wrote. "I am living proof that it is not a choice, it is something I have always known and been aware of, but have kept silent out of fear of rejection."
Admitting to internalized homophobia, Young articulated that being gay isn't the problem; it's the stigma that others needlessly foist on LGBTQ+ individuals that makes life difficult and creates emotional trauma.
"I have realized that the only reason I never liked this part of who I am was because of what society has told me, not because of how I actually feel," the rising junior at Northern Arizona University declared. "This is a quality of myself as well as so many other people that should be accepted and celebrated just the same as a straight person's identity is."
As other athletes who have done a broad jump out of the closet recently, Young expressed a desire to be an inspiring role model.
"I want and hope to be a representative and advocate for others like me," Young added. "I want anyone who is struggling with who they are to know that you are never alone, and that the people who truly matter to you will always be there to love and support you."
"If people choose to walk out of your life because of who you are, then they never deserved to be in your life in the first place," the champion athlete concluded. "My name is Nico Young and I'm proud to be gay!"