Byron Perkins, the history-making out gay college football player, is training for his best season yet
revealing his boyfriend in the process. But now, after enjoying his gay revelry, it’s time for Perkins to get back to work. The first out gay football player in HBCU history returns to the field this week, and is determined to make his senior season a success.“We don’t just play to win,” he posted Tuesday on Instagram. “We play for the memories too.”The accompanying photo dump features Perkins enjoying time with his teammates throughout the years.
It’s clear that his football life has been building towards this moment.A post shared by Byron Perkins (@byron.perkinz)Perkins publicly came out as gay last October, saying he could no longer live inauthentically.
He was in a dark place and as he phrases it, needed to “destroy his mask.”“I have been told on many occasions that I walk around a look as if I’m upset,” he wrote on his coming-out story. “This is not because I am an angry person, but because I have put on a mask, a mask that has restricted me.
Today, I am destroying that mask.”In a recent ESPN interview, Perkins elaborated on his phrasing. The Hampton defensive back said his secret was bringing him down on and off the field.“I felt as if I was constricting myself,” he said. “I felt as if I wasn’t able to be free and because I wasn’t able to be free, it was condemning who I wanted to be.
