Mason Darrow, Princeton University Football Player, Comes Out

Mason Darrow

There’s another gay football player to keep our eyes on: Princeton University’s junior offensive lineman Mason Darrow has publicly come out just days before the Tigers hit the field.

Darrow gave a detailed interview to Outsports about his own personal struggles with balancing his own sexuality and his football career. The 6-foot-5, 285 pound lineman discusses why he felt like he didn’t fit in with “gay stereotypes”:

“I felt trapped. I wasn’t happy. I wanted to tell people, but I thought there would be a lot of animosity. There are a lot of guys from the South on the team. I wasn’t sure how people would react to it…Don’t get me wrong, I like Broadway shows. But I thought, this isn’t right. I like football. It just made it harder to figure out because I didn’t fit into the stereotype.”

Fortunately for him, his Princeton team welcomed him, and his coach, Bob Surace, told Outsports, “Here at Princeton, if we can’t handle this and say, ‘we’re supportive of everybody no matter what their background, religion, race or sexual orientation,’ then we don’t have the right guys in the locker room…We’re going to support Mason 100%.”

You can read the entire interview here.