Well before he came out to his friends and family, L.A. Galaxy player Robbie Rogers first opened up about his sexuality to a random woman he met at a bar in London.
"I had been thinking about it a lot," Rogers, 27, recalled in a HuffPost Live appearance this week to promote his new memoir, Coming Out to Play. "I just was so sick of lying and wanted to get the ball moving."
Although he told his family a month later, Rogers said the initial coming out "felt so amazing, and I'm sure [the woman] didn't realize it."
Last year, the U.S. soccer player came out in a poignant blog post on his personal website.
"Secrets can cause so much internal damage," he wrote at the time. "People love to preach about honesty, how honesty is so plain and simple. Try explaining to your loved ones after 25 years you are gay."
20 Years Of Free Journalism
Your Support Fuels Our Mission
Your Support Fuels Our Mission
For two decades, HuffPost has been fearless, unflinching, and relentless in pursuit of the truth. Support our mission to keep us around for the next 20 — we can't do this without you.
We remain committed to providing you with the unflinching, fact-based journalism everyone deserves.
Thank you again for your support along the way. We’re truly grateful for readers like you! Your initial support helped get us here and bolstered our newsroom, which kept us strong during uncertain times. Now as we continue, we need your help more than ever. We hope you will join us once again.
We remain committed to providing you with the unflinching, fact-based journalism everyone deserves.
Thank you again for your support along the way. We’re truly grateful for readers like you! Your initial support helped get us here and bolstered our newsroom, which kept us strong during uncertain times. Now as we continue, we need your help more than ever. We hope you will join us once again.
Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages.
20 Years Of Free Journalism
For two decades, HuffPost has been fearless, unflinching, and relentless in pursuit of the truth. Support our mission to keep us around for the next 20 — we can't do this without you.
Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages.
Now, the MLS star told HuffPost Live's Alyona Minkovski that while it was "rewarding" for him to hear from younger athletes who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT), he's "always surprised" that so few professional sports stars have come out.
"That's always been a little weird to me," he said.
