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Champion athlete Luke Strong just came out

Via Twitter

Luke Strong, a five-time British champion in trampoline gymnastics just came out as bisexual.

The gymnast opened up about his personal life in a recent interview with the BBC. 

“I’ve never hidden anything and I’m really open about the fact that I’m attracted to both sexes, male and female, but I’ve never been in a relationship with either of them so I don’t know,” said Strong, now 27. He added that close friends and relatives knew about his bisexuality, though he’s never made any kind of public declaration. Until now.

Strong also took the opportunity to address homophobia in sports, even in the gymnastics world.

Related: Actor Ben Aldridge celebrates pride… by coming out!

“I think like most people in the LGBTQ community, growing up is always a little bit difficult,” Strong observed. “Especially wearing a leotard, doing gymnastics, doing the splits — you get the typical ‘you’re a fairy’ and the gay jokes. I had that growing up in school and then especially in high school it got a lot worse. There was a period of time in Year 8 and 9 where the bullying was bad. I wouldn’t really talk about trampolining because I was embarrassed.”

For Strong, dealing with homophobia has become a regular reality in the age of the internet. “On social media, you get your trolls every now and again, with homophobic abuse on comments or personal messages sometimes,” he admits. “But I honestly don’t even think about that ever. It doesn’t bother me: I feel sorry for people like that who are close-minded and still think its offensive to be called gay — because it’s not.”

In the same interview, Strong also discussed a recent ankle injury that kept him off the trampoline.

https://twitter.com/Luke_strong2/status/1236700002526932994/photo/1

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