On her daytime talk show, Ellen
DeGeneres talked with a college football player about coming out gay
in high school.
Jake Bain, who played football while
attending John Burrough's High School in Missouri, came out gay last
year to his classmates during a school assembly.
“I had a lot of nerves coming out
because at the time, there weren't very many out, openly gay football
players,” Bain told DeGeneres.
Bain, who is now playing Division 1
football at Indiana State University, said that he spoke with his
coach about his sexuality before committing to the university.
“Even before I committed there, I
talked to the coach about my sexuality and that I wanted to be openly
gay,” Bain said. “He assured me from the very beginning that I
was gonna be accepted by the community at Indiana State and that my
teammates were gonna treat me just like anybody else on the team.”
Bain's boyfriend, Hunter Sigmund, who
attends the University of North Carolina, was in the audience with
his mother. Because NCAA rules do not permit athletes to accept
gifts, DeGeneres gave Sigmund a six-night vacation in Fiji.
“So maybe he'll bring you, I don't
know,” DeGeneres
told Bain.