This profile is one of a series of posts about young LGBTQ activists out to make change in the 2018 Queerties category Up & Coming.
Meet Conner Mertens, the Washington-born college football player with a million-dollar smile, powerful leg and a whole lot of courage.
Conner made headlines in 2014 when he became the first college football player to come out. Mertens identifies as bisexual, and when he addressed the subject publicly, he generated international headlines–and met with a cruel blow back from some longtime friends.
Mertens grew up Washington, and showed an early interest in drama and sports. As a young student, he faced a good deal of bigotry for his interest in the fine arts. After getting bullied and teased, Mertens concentrated on athletics and earned notice as a soccer and football player.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Related: How two college swimmers helped each other come out
During high school, he also became an active member of Young Life, a Christian organization for teens. Young Life banned Mertens when he came out but there was no stopping Conner, who simply redoubled his activist efforts and finding time for a boyfriend–college baseball player Chandler Whitney.
Throughout his college career, Conner traveled the nation raising awareness for suicide prevention, anti-bullying efforts, and the power of sports to create positive change in our communities. Since graduating, he’s joined the boards for The Trevor Project, The You Can Play Project and The Sport Equality Foundation. He also started his own non-profit advocacy group, Out on the Streets, aimed at helping homeless LGBTQ youth across the US. He’s also lobbied politicians in his native Washington for increased funds to promote good mental health.
In other words, the man has legs.
Vote for Conner in the 2018 Queerty Awards here.
ChrisK
Wow. I didn’t even realize people came out as Bisexual. That’s a first. Oh wait. Forgot about Aaron Carter. At least he was when he was trying to sell his album.
leobaga
Actually we are all bisexual. what I think happens for all of us to varying degree is that for reproductive purposes, we’re naturally attracted to the opposite sex…. But over time the other side comes along. We’re a sexual creature but we’re also the earth’s most complex social creature. The immense social, moral & religious based pressures tend to influence us to suppress those desires.
ChrisK
@leobaga. I agree with that. Very few of us are 1’s or 6’s on the Kinsey Scale. Most are near the center ie bisexual. Like you say it’s society that keeps it where it is.
So basically he’s coming out as something most of society is already. We just need to keep chipping away at the stigma.
OzJosh
Utter nonsense. I am totally homo. And so are the majority of gay guys. Numerous studies have now shown that for men sexual orientation tends to be fixed and more polarised, whereas for women orientation can be more fluid over time – hence the very common occurrence of women who marry, have families and only develop an attraction for a woman later in life. That kind of shift is much less common in men.
Evji108
It’s hard to do, but use some self control and don’t feed the trolls. These guys come here to poke the gays, drop in a jibe, try to get a reaction. All they want is to know that they annoyed us. Just don’t be annoyed, and if you are, don’t respond, 95 percent of us don’t respond, now if only the others would just restrain themselves.
Vince
Thanks for the great reminder. Glad we have you on our side. Lol
Danny595
I followed him on Twitter for a while after he came out. He started out as a nice, regular guy. He was pro-bi but also celibate for religious reasons. I thought was contradictory since the religious reason would be that bi sex is a sin, and yet he was still pro-bi. But whatever. I still liked him.
But over time, he he turned from a nice, friendly guy into an insufferable “social justice warrior”-type. Almost every tweet was either a sermon or a denunciation of white people or America. He also elevated transgender activism above the interests of LGB youth. This happened after he got modestly famous after coming out and started going on speaking events. He probably got high off of the applause when he would utter some SJW cliche. He became so obnoxious that I unfollowed. Hopefully, he will return to his better self.
startenout
1. It’s great that you are bi! Live your truth and ignore the ignorance from both sides. Love it when people say Bi doesn’t exist; you’re just gay. Maybe that’s why Bi guys keep too quiet about it. They are the B in lgBt, no?
2. Glad you are using your platform speaking out for Trans people since they are STILL suffering more discrimination and violence per capita than the rest of the LGBT community. Oh and they’re the T in lgbT.
3. The femme shaming is so tired and just reveals your own self-loathing not being good enough. Brotherhood AND sisterhood and all the queens in between got you the rights you have…like the ability to speak publicly on a forum like this without losing your job and life!
Namaste, ladies.
alfred
Not sure where the ‘femme’ shaming is. I am the only one to mention ‘fem’ as far as I can tell. Certainly didnt shame Eliel, just that it is interesting to me to see the the connection between very fem guys and the bi-identity. And the issue to do with bi now gay later is a very real one. I am a case in point of it. Very vocal about being bi and thought for a long time even that it would be easier to be just ‘gay’. Took me a long time to unpack my thoughts to realise that I was just that; gay. Frustrating for real bi men I am sure, but it doesnt change the fact it is a very common reality.
Namaste, Gurl.
Danny595
It’s hilarious the way you outsource your thinking to letters. “We must support transgenderism because someone invented LGBT! We must be loyal to the initialism!”
This is what Orwell wrote about 80 years ago, how language can be used and manipulated in order to regulate, restrict, and channel political thought. It works particularly well on the less intelligent.
In this instance, some activists in the 1990s invent something called “LGBT” and within a decade or 2, you have gay people, who know virtually nothing about transgenderism, absolutely convinced that they must fight to the death over where transsexuals take a dump.
Cagnazzo82
No one cared about where Trans people used the bathroom until conservative (extremely fake) christians made it an issue to distract the ever-gullible right-wing base.
Lino1602
As a matter of fact we are for the most part promiscuous. what I think occurs for every one of us to shifting degree is that for conceptive designs, we’re normally pulled in to the contrary sex… . Be that as it may, after some time the opposite side goes along. We’re a sexual animal but at the same time we’re the world’s most mind boggling social animal.