0:10
but I never saw anybody like me
0:14
so ultimately like I didn't think I was
0:40
ever since you know I've come out I've
0:42
just been unapologetically me on social
0:45
media you know showing my lifting but
0:47
also showing my personal life and the
0:48
love I have for my husband and I just
0:50
think that's really important for people
0:51
to be able to see healthy loving
0:54
relationships and people following their
0:55
dreams and doing what they want to and
0:57
have them realize like gay straight
0:59
lesbian trans it doesn't matter what
1:02
you're doing is to make yourself feel
1:03
good and ultimately like I do have this
1:05
amazing platform to show the world that
1:08
my sexual orientation has absolutely no
1:10
bearing on what I can do as a strong man
1:45
you know Pride for me Isn't just a month
1:47
it is my entire life it is who I am it
1:50
is 365 days a year but being able to
1:53
have June as a moment to really showcase
1:56
amazing lgbtq plus voices regardless of
1:59
the space they are in and to celebrate
2:01
diversity and love and inclusion that's
2:04
really what pride month is all about up
2:07
until 2014 I lived a very
2:10
heteronormative lifestyle I was really
2:12
good at pretending to be somebody I
2:14
wasn't you know and in 2014 really not
2:18
sure why or what made me have this kind
2:21
of epiphany but I I had that moment I
2:24
just kind of tore down all those walls
2:27
you know later in that year in 2014 is
2:30
when I started to accept myself for
2:32
being a gay man in October 20th of 2014
2:34
is when I officially came out
2:37
um you know to the world publicly and it
2:39
was one of the most terrifying and
2:41
empowering moments of my life to have
2:44
lived so long as this one person who
2:47
everybody thought I was and to kind of
2:49
flip the script and finally live my true
2:52
um was was so amazing and you know it
2:56
sounds corny but it really was like this
2:58
proverbial weight off my shoulders when
2:59
I was able to to say that freely and
3:02
openly and you know through that journey
3:05
of accepting myself and realizing who I
3:07
was it really it made me a better
3:09
strength athlete because I no longer had
3:12
to use so much energy to pretend to be
3:13
somebody I wasn't and was able to just
3:17
fully be myself and focus on what I
3:20
wanted to do and not who I had
3:46
there was no openly gay professional
3:49
strongman in the space so I didn't know
3:52
how I was going to be perceived right
3:53
like I didn't know if it was going to be
3:54
something I was really positive or even
3:56
career ending right because it can be so
4:00
polarizing um and I'm so fortunate that
4:04
strongman is such an amazing group of
4:08
you know it kind of is like a
4:09
Brotherhood especially at the top level
4:12
we all understand the pain and the
4:15
sacrifice and the time that it takes to
4:16
get to this level that
4:19
you know when I came out the people that
4:22
were the first ones to support me were
4:23
the people in the sport the people that
4:26
understood the culture of strong men
4:27
understand what it takes to be able to
4:29
do this so weirdly enough the hardest
4:31
part about back squatting for me
4:33
swarming up my shoulders to be able to
4:36
like so I have to hold the plate the
4:38
plates like out here yeah because like
4:41
my shoulders are so immobile
4:44
it's great because I usually pinch the
5:03
you know when I came out it wasn't my
5:05
goal to be you know kind of an
5:09
influencer and to have influence in this
5:11
space or to be kind of that person that
5:14
people look to it really was for me for
5:17
you know my husband then boyfriend it
5:19
was for us to be able to celebrate our
5:21
love openly and authentically but what
5:24
we quickly realized was you know the
5:26
spotlight was kind of thrust upon us
5:28
really quickly because being the first
5:31
of anything is always a big deal but now
5:35
we have this platform to really promote
5:38
inclusivity equality and and uh you know
5:41
just the loving nature of the sport and
5:43
try to project that onto the world
5:59
this looks like it would be some kind of
6:00
alien from like an 80s horror movie
6:03
the one thing that people have to
6:04
remember is like coming out is a journey
6:07
and you have to do it when you're ready
6:10
but also you have to be ready for really
6:13
kind of like the life-changing
6:17
explanation of it and it's weird to say
6:19
that but the way I look at it is you
6:21
know as a gay man you know I essentially
6:24
have to come out every single day of my
6:26
life and I think that's one thing people
6:29
don't realize is when you do come out
6:30
initially you wanna you want it to just
6:32
be that one moment and to be over but it
6:35
never ends as as confident I am in
6:38
myself and my relationship
6:40
it is still to this day
6:44
a moment of anxiety every time I have to
6:47
bring it up because I always have to
6:48
think in the back of my head how is this
6:50
person going to react
6:51
and I don't think that's something
6:53
people tell you it's not something you
6:55
expect or fully understand as you are
6:58
coming out for the first time
7:00
but just getting more comfortable with
7:02
yourself it just becomes more
7:04
it just becomes easier you know for me I
7:07
think um it really isn't about wins and
7:10
losses necessarily for me I want to
7:12
leave a legacy uh people will remember
7:15
me for the character I brought to the
7:17
sport every single time I do an event I
7:19
have this realization of holy I get
7:24
you know like so obviously I want to
7:26
perform and I want to be my best and I
7:27
want to win but you know when I'm able
7:29
to look up into the crowd of 10 000
7:31
people and have that realization that I
7:33
am lucky enough to do this and compete
7:35
in front of these amazing fans that want
7:37
to come see me I want them to feel that
7:40
as well and that's really what I hope
7:41
people remember from my career
7:45
I feel like this could be my uh
7:47
Anchorman moment hey everybody come see
7:50
how good I look absolutely
