A star basketball player in Argentina has come out as gay. Sebastián Vega, 31, plays for Gimnasia de Comodoro. The team plays in the country’s top league. The 6’7″ athlete came out by publishing a letter on his social media last week, becoming the first professional basketball player in the country to reveal themselves as gay.
Vega grew up in Gualeguaychu, about 125 miles north of Buenos Aires. In the letter, he talks about struggling to accept his sexuality. He recounts trying dating a girl and trying to live a “straight life”, but over time, he couldn’t escape his feelings for men.
“And then I met who would become my partner for the next six years.”
On meeting that partner, he decided he had to tell his family. He said he was “terrified” of telling his father, and assumed he’d be asked to leave home. However, to his surprise, his parents were accepting and supportive. “They showed me that nothing was going to change, that things would remain the same. That my sexual orientation would not change my personal situation, what I was (and am) as a person.”
He says he was coming out now to help others in the same situation.
La verdad nos hace libres! pic.twitter.com/oKv4vUuOeg
— Seba Vega (@_sebavega) March 10, 2020
“I was really scared, but the fear didn’t paralyze me. I felt truly free: it had been a long time since I’d walked without such a heavy weight on my shoulders.”
Although Argentina has progressive laws around LGBTQ rights, within society, conservative attitudes toward sexuality and gender norms persist.
“Unfortunately, (homosexuality in sport) is still a taboo topic,” said Vega. “It’s very difficult to say you’re gay…you have to be masculine to not be (seen as) less than.”
Via Queerty
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