In an emotional speech, Olympic skier
Gus Kenworthy talked about coming out.
The 27-year-old freestyle skier came
out on the cover of ESPN Magazine following his silver medal
win at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
Kenworthy was introduced by Queer
Eye's Jonathan Van Ness as he accepted this year's The Point
Foundation Point Leadership Award. The Point Foundation is the
nation's largest scholarship-granting organization for LGBT students
of merit.
He described openly LGBT students as
“incredibly inspiring.”
“I wish that I had the courage to be
myself when I was in high school,” Kenworthy said. “But it took
me many years to get to that point.”
“We often face ridicule and we fear
torment. My time in the closet is a blur of depression and anxiety,”
he said.
He added that he didn't enjoy
achievements to their fullest before coming because he “truly
wasn't present for them.”
Kenworthy also criticized the Trump
administration's policies against the LGBT community.
“We have a president who has made
repeated attacks on our community, on our trans brothers, sisters,
and gender non-binary siblings,” he said, referring to the
administration's decision to prohibit transgender individuals from
serving in the military.
“We have a vice president who still
believes in conversion therapy, for fucks sake,” he added.