Football champ Jake Bain made headlines in 2017 when he came out as gay at his high school assembly. A year later, he made headlines again when he became one of the first openly gay Division I team athletes in history after enrolling at Indiana State University. In the years since, he has become an outspoken voice for LGBTQ athletes and students.
Now, Bain is speaking out again, this time about the sexual abuse he and other students allegedly suffered at the hands of his father, a high school basketball coach who worked for multiple private Christian schools.
In a statement shared with his social media followers, Bain writes: “I have in my possession over 20 pages of court documents, detailing the abuse that me, and many others endured at the hands of my father. To protect the confidentiality of those who are mentioned in these documents, I won’t release them to the public.”
Bain goes on to accuse his father, from whom he seems to be estranged, of showering with male students, inviting them over for sleepovers, and sending then inappropriate emails.
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“I believe that [it] should be public knowledge that while working as a high school basketball coach at both Westminster Christian Academy, and MICDS, two well known private schools in Saint Louis, MO, my father was found to be showering with other students, emailing inappropriately with students about things a coach or teacher should never be talking to kids about, and would have students to his house for ‘sleepovers.'”
Bain says it “doesn’t take a rocket scientist” to know that his father’s alleged behavior wasn’t right.
“To my knowledge, my father is still coaching basketball at the AAU level in Saint Louis,” he continues, “so I urge anyone who is either employing him to coach, or allowing him to use their facilities, to please stop, so this behavior does not continue.”
This should be public knowledge… Warning, contains information about child abuse. pic.twitter.com/8lnFrtZc28
— Jake Bain (@jakebain17) October 29, 2020
joeboyle49
GOOD FOR YOU FOR OVER COMING THE PAIN OF YOUR FATHER ABUSING YOU. BUT ,MY QUESTION IS WHY ISN’T YOUR FATHER IN JAIL??
WashDrySpin
Clearly Jake and others are working on leveling charges against him…
Center_Right
I can’t fault him for suing his father for his despicable behaviors and the irreparable damage he has caused many other young men. However, this happened years ago so maybe the best way going forward is not to dwell upon the past, forgive, and let bygones be bygones.
WashDrySpin
Forgiveness is NOT the sole responsibility of the victim…
curiobi
… So ignore abuse in the past, and the very real possibility it is still happening to others. That is your plan? … Have you considered shutting the phuck up at all?because this is not advice it is blatant pandering to abusers. Shame on you for posting this trash instead of supporting his bravery in speaking out!
ronniebs
Seriously? I work with a lot of individuals who’ve experienced abuse & trauma & ‘let bygones be bygones’ does not work. Just because it was years ago does not make it easier. He’s doing the right thing by confronting it. Also, his father still works with children so that must be stopped as well.
jorgecruz
Imagine the horrible guilt he would feel in the future if just dropped this to make it easier on himself, then learned of new victims. Finding peace within himself is a great objective but stopping his father has to be part of that process.
Toofie
Let bygones be bygones? He’s warning that there are potential future victims if his father is allowed to continue coaching.
nathan
Shocking advice. ‘Let bygones be bygones’ – in other words allow the abuser to remain unpunished for his repulsive behavior. As someone who has worked for many years with abused children, I have seen first hand the severe damage done by the abuser. I know of adults in their 60s who still have not been able to find peace after having been abused. So don’t try to sell that forgiveness crap. You should be ashamed of yourself.
Center_Right
I believe most of the so-called sex abuse allegations, the “victims” are not always without fault. We need to hear both sides but I often have serious doubts about the accusers, who may have their own unspeakable motives to blame others for their own misfortune.
mailliw110
What are you hiding from?
Kangol2
Oh my Lord! What? Why isn’t this man in court being tried on sexual abuse charges if there are pages of court documents about this? My heart goes out to Jake Bain; his coming out was a huge deal, and the Westboro Baptist Church fanatics even showed up at his private suburban high school to attack him. Thankfully the students, faculty and staff, and countless parents showed up to support him and override the Christianist wackos. That this was also part of his story is so saddening to hear. I hope he’s on the path to healing.
Heywood Jablowme
“Why isn’t this man in court being tried on sexual abuse charges if there are pages of court documents about this?”
Because: (1) There’s no law against “sleepovers,” of course, although a sane school might consider that a fireable offense. (2) A coach showering with students is inappropriate, and again probably a fireable offense at a sane school. But again it’s unlikely there’s a law against it.
(3) Any crime would be in the inappropriate texts.
Jake seems to have a case in there, somewhere, but if he wants to pursue this he needs to win in court (and not the basketball court, or the court of public opinion). I hope he finds a good lawyer!
D P
And apparently its already been adjudicated, so somewhere along the lines of criminal and civil justice this issue has been considered, so I agree with @HeywoodJablowme (terrific handle, btw, and if we were in each other’s presence, I’d be inclined to say yes). So it begs the question now, why are these academic institutions still employing this person, why isn’t this person on a sex-offender’s registry (if he isn’t yet) and what steps have been taken to ensure that no further inappropriate behavior occurs between Bain senior and those young in his charge?
Tad
Not to discount his concerns, but I attended an all-boys school and many of the teachers would shower with us. This was before cell phones but I never recall anything other than fairly innocent interaction. The sleepovers are worrisome but he says nothing of overt sexual acting out or abuse in any way. Inappropriate behavior, yes, but sexual abuse? I’m not seeing it.
RFD
He says his father abused him. That should meet the definition.
Heywood Jablowme
Gen Z guys are famously freaked out by communal showering. If they join the military they’re in for a shock. Although I can’t imagine my (mostly sadistic) coaches showering with us; it was bad enough showering with my age-appropriate bullies.
The texts may be VERY bad, though, and may break some laws, we just don’t know the details.
rray63
So if someone say’s that someone else abused them, that is all the proof one needs? What a way to ruin someone’s life. Not saying he is not guilty but with 20 plus men saying he did something you would think he would have been convicted. Or is this one of those stories where only part of it gets out. You folks, as usual, have already judged, convicted and are ready to pass sentence. Also, he has court documents (why and how) and won’t talk about the others and they won’t come forward, why?
Think about it folks, we still don’t in this country judge and sentence people on social media. Though there are those that would like it to be that way. The very premise that one only accuse and that is that, well, hope you aren’t the one accused because on here, you are guilty.
Donston
I highly doubt someone will blindly accuse their father of sexual abuse. It seems as if he experienced something firsthand and suspects, based on observations, others experienced some things as well.
But public perception and the court of law are two different things. While many, many folks get away with a ton of shit in both venues.
rray63
Donston you might want to check into, you’d be surprised the number of crimes people are accused of for a variety of reasons, none having to do with actual truth. Again, not saying he is, just saying there are unanswered questions. I know of two cases after being a paralegal for many years one of which had a man accused, the police and social services work were shoddy at best. The man was kept in jail for almost nine months, the alleged victim and his family never once showed up to court. There were six continuances. Turned out the man (our client) had told the police in another state about his brothers crimes. His brothers son at the time was 14, he claimed his uncle (the client) had molested him, along with his father and mother being interviewed at the same time. After the almost nine months the man was finally released, but his reputation was forever tarnished. Of course most on here will believe that this is being made up, but it actually happened.
Openminded
Dudes got beautiful eyes.
I would think the normal course for the alleged offenses would be to let the courts handle the complaint, let the media cover any official reports or court proceedings. Seems odd that he chose this avenue to attempt to protect others in harms way.