Will Sheridan, a former Villanova
basketball player who announced on Monday that he's gay, says there
is more homophobia in the Black community than elsewhere.
Sheridan came forward a day after
Phoenix
Suns' CEO and President Rick Welts came out of the closet in an
interview with the New
York Times.
The 26-year-old Sheridan discussed his
sexuality during an appearance on ESPN's Outside The Lines.
When asked why he decided to come out,
Sheridan replied: “I'm kind of over it. Everyone close to me
knows. Everyone who matters to me knows. I'm at a point where
someone else can learn from my experience.” (The video is embedded
in the right panel of this page.)
In
an interview with gay sports website Outsports, Sheridan added
that he came out because he didn't want to be outed by someone else.
“I'm an artist and if you listen to
any of my songs, it's all in my music and I'd rather just come out
than be brought out,” he said, referring to his 4-track album,
Ngoma, which is Swahili for music, released
in October. “I'd rather do it [myself] rather than somebody
say, 'He said he was a queen in a song.'”
When asked, “Do you think there is
more homophobia in the Black community than elsewhere?” Sheridan
answered: “Yes, of course.”
“I think the black community has
stronger ties to the church, because of slavery and trying to have
faith on the slave ships and trying to have faith during the
oppression of slavery and then trying to have faith during the civil
rights struggle and trying to get equality. And also trying to
present themselves in a presentable manner to white America, and
trying to be an upstanding member of the community and being part of
the church is very important. Black people are more invested in
church, which ultimately ties to being homophobic.”