Gus Kenworthy Quotes

I was terrified about people knowing I was gay. I'd cringe inside at the idea that they'd be talking behind my back.

I spent 24 years in the closet wanting to talk so desperately about who I was and what I am but too afraid to.

Being gay and coming up in New Orleans was not easy. At first I was very terrified and very timid.

I'm the person I am because of all the support we have but inside there is still a scared, gay kid, worried he's going to get bullied and people aren't going to like what I do.

I think it's always good for gay people to come out, but it's also understandable why people might choose not to do so.

I don't think closeted homosexual morticians have the market cornered on self-loathing or sense of shame.

Before I came out, the thought of someone calling me gay, even when I knew very well that I was, was petrifying.

I had a lot of fear about coming out as a kid.

I've always been comfortable with my gayness, but I was intimidated by the social anxiety.

I've been bisexual for as long as I can remember. I remember being made fun of in junior high for that. It was something that was shameful, and it really shouldn't be.

Trying to conceal the fact that I was a gay, effeminate, hyperactive, adopted child with a serious lisp in southern Louisiana would have been like trying to hide Dolly Parton in a string bikini!

I was 'gay-bashed' when I was in school even though, you know, I'm not... I'm a straight guy that just happens to be what I do. So, it's easily relatable to me. It was awful. It's a hard time in a kid's life.

I was never honest. My father died, and I had never said to him, 'I'm gay.' I knew what I was, but I had to pretend not to be that to avoid the beatings.

In my work with young Jewish adults in the gay community, I hear their stories of discrimination, of struggling for acceptance, of feeling invisible not for what they have done but simply for who they are.

The truth is, I probably would be dead if I had become a star, because at that point I was so closeted and so afraid of people of finding out I was gay. There was no telling what would have happened.

When I was outed, it was like, That's done.

Someone once told me that being in the closet is like living in a vertical casket. Perfect description.

And I've known people who came out with a sense of torture.

There's so much bullying with young people and them feeling like they can't come out, and they don't know what to do. And it's something that you have to work through. And, you know, for me, it was - I came out, and then I went back in for a minute. And then I came out, and I was like, 'You know what? This is who I am.'

'Milk' doesn't imply that all gay men who stayed in the closet were cowards.

I didn't want to be gay. I wanted to be... I wanted an easy life. And you know what? I am gay, and I still have an easy life.

Gay men can sometimes feel ashamed or chastised when the messaging is 'Be out and proud!' or 'Just come out.' It's not that easy. It certainly wasn't for me.

I'd always been a little bit uncomfortable talking about my sexuality just because it took me a while to fully accept it. I had a bit of traumatic time with my friends when I was younger, and it kind of just put me off talking about it.

I have a coming-out story that's probably very similar to lots of people who are my age: the fear of being rejected, the fear of losing your family and friends. You know, I worked through all of that, and that fear, and what that does to you, is pretty profound.

One of my best friends since I was eleven years old is a gay man, and I knew his struggle. It was a tough life, you not accepting yourself.