When 21-year-old Clark Carter first transferred to Indiana University to join the schoolâs diving team, he knew he wanted to be open with his new teammates about his sexuality.
But he also knew he was in Indiana, the state that elected homophobe Mike Pence to be its governor.
âIt wasnât necessarily easy,â Carter, a junior, recalls in an interview with Outsports.
Related:Â Olympic swimmer and TV personality comes out
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Rather than drag things out by telling each of his teammateâs individually, Carter decided to do it in group text to the entire Indiana menâs and womenâs diving teams.
âI was like, this group of people is my family,â Carter said. âJust like my family, I can tell them anything. I just thought it was timeâgiven the day, given the circumstances.â
To his relief, the response was âsuper chill.â
âI want to be careful when I say this just because I love my teammates to death,â Carter says. âThey are the most supportive group of people that youâll ever meet.
âOn the conservative side of things ⊠they have been firm in their beliefs but very accepting of mine, too.â
Related:Â How this college swimmer found his courage to come out in the pool
Heâs now the schoolâs first publicly out athlete, currently representing the Hoosiers at the Big Ten Swimming and Diving Championships.
âIâm just proud to represent my school, and Iâm just proud to be a Hoosier,â he says. âNow that Iâm helping to represent the LGBT community, too, as the season moves forward, I have that to be proud of as well.â
Scroll down for shots from Clarkâs Instagram pageâŠ
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fridaynightlights
Looks a lot older than 21 to me…. must be the Daley Effect.
Kieran
What does freedom mean? Freedom means you are not forced to lie.
Paulie P
Amen.
Paulie P
i was actually hoping for a splash…
happiness17
Queerty considers this guy to be a hunk. Everyone has their definition of
what a hunk is. I don’t think he’s a hunk. I wondered what was up with his belly button. I had the first picture of him blown up. It appears that his belly button is somewhat deformed and has some hair growing out of it. That’s a
definite turn off for me!
mz.sam
Agreed about one’s definition of ‘hunk’. Much like the interpretation of bear depending whom you talk to: from hirsute muscular to gorilla-like obese. LOL!
scotshot
The man is a regular looking guy like most of us are. I’d do him in a second.
You can get plastic surgery if you’re unhappy with your belly button. I had a hernia which caused mine to pop out by almost 1/2″. I had an operation and turned it back into an innie. The appearance of changed.
The hair growth is referred to as a treasure trail. I had one but lost it during the same operation. I miss mine.
avesraggiana
How come all male divers are gay?
Eiswirth
That is a seriously stupid question. You hear about a gay diver or figure skater or soccer player and you jump to the conclusion that most of them are gay? Why would Queerty run a story about another straight diver?
avesraggiana
At least we don’t have to read yet another write-up about that annoying little British twerp of an Olympic diver and his husband whose name I can’t remember.
CarlIsle
Love those hairy legs :-p
William Krzemien
SEXY!…’Wood’ love to follow that treasure trail with my tongue! Love his hairy pits too…more tongue action there, as well! đ Just loveeee watching men’s diving…and Clark is a perfect example why. Woof! XXX