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Pro handball player Ola Hoftun Lillelien has proudly come out as a gay man.
Lillelien, 22, plays for the nation of Denmark. For those unfamiliar, handball is a very popular sport in Europe, wherein teams play keep away with a ball as they try to toss it in the opposing team’s goal. Think of it as a combination of basketball and soccer.
Lillelien took to Instagram on April 21 to share the emotional revelation with his fans. In coming out, he becomes one of the few openly LGBTQ players in the league.
“I have been thinking for a long time about whether I should publish this post, but I now understand that it is something I want,” he wrote. “Not for my own part, but to be a role model. Not just for young people, but for everyone. About half a year ago, I told my family, friends and teammates that I most likely do not end up with a sweet girl, but a handsome boy. The response was exclusively positive!”
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“April 21, 2022, it is 50 years since it was decriminalized to love whoever you want in Norway,” he continued. “This post is not posted for me to receive confirmation or recognition, but for me to proudly thank those who before me have fought for my right to love the one I want. I hope society today has come so far that boys and girls do not have to feel the fear of not being accepted for who they are. It is not a sensation to be in love and in love with someone, so I hope we have gotten there that it does not turn out to be a big deal.”
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Lillelien then quoted King Harald V’s 2016 speech in which he reaffirmed Norway as a nation of equality for queer people.
“I say like the king: Norway is boys who love boys, girls who love girls, and girls and boys who love each other,” Lillelien concluded. “As an athlete, I have only gotten to know warmth, joy and unity, and that’s what sport is all about! Sport has room for everyone, including you and me. Because I’m still just me, Ola.”
We congratulate Ola on publicly joining the international queer family. We also have a feeling he won’t have to try hard to find a man willing to date…
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CatholicXXX
He’s cute and that’s all that matters.
CityguyUSA
And now he has an official debutant ball.
PinkoOfTheGange
When did “Hand Ball” become football (soccer) but using your hands from two or four old guys batting a small hard rubber ball against a wall in a room with a little door?
Jaquelope
I was wondering that, myself. Is European handball a different game from what is played in America?
Kangol2
Team handball is played on what could be a basketball court and appears in the Summer Olympics every four years. Modern team handball originated in Denmark at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century.
American court handball is different sport, played on what’s essentially half a tennis court, facing at least one wall and sometimes up to four. American handball goes back hundreds of years, but is recorded as having been played during the Revolutionary period, with courts as we know them first appearing in the 1870s.
RyanMBecker
European handball is a team sport that resembles water polo without the water. Google it.
Rikki Roze
Yes. I think that the game that is played on a closed-in court where the ball can be hit against all four walls is called Racquet Ball. It’s also played with a racquet that is a bit smaller and lighter than a tennis racquet. It’s very popular in England and parts of Europe. In American handball there is no racquet, the ball is hit with the players closed hand and can be hit against only one wall.
Diplomat
Good move. Welcome to a freer life gwajus.
white-queer-african
@Diplomat, silly screenname I must add. Now it all makes sense to me. You are so shallow you can only comment on Queerty articles that might give you a hard-on.
I still send you peace and love.
Heywood Jablowme
@white-queer-african: Do you talk like Trevor Noah? – that’s hot. 🙂
white-queer-african
@Heywood Jablowme, unfortunately not. I love Trevor Noah. He has a distinct Cape Malay, read person of color from Cape Town, accent. I had the honor, before he became internationally famous, to partake in a television debate about true South African identities. He was fabulously funny and down to earth. He said to me, “Sorry Doctor I am just an uneducated “skollie” from the the Cape Flats. We were all briefed before the taping of the show about our fellow guests and their credentials. Of course we all knew who Trevor Noah was. And look at him today!
scotty
awesome! now you can live your truth and be yourself. a huge weight lifted off ones shoulders in the best way possible. congratulations!! have you met ezra miller yet?
Prax07
Thought “handball” went out with the 80’s
RyanMBecker
This is European handball, a team sport that resembles water polo without the water. And it’s very popular in the Nordic countries.
john.k
I’m a bit confused. The article says he “plays for the nation of Denmark”. But he is clearly Norwegian. Could it be that he plays in Denmark (for a club) rather than for Denmark?
Kangol2
Lillien has played for Drammen HK, a Norwegian team, since at least 2018-19.
I’m not sure where Queerty got “Denmark”–come on, guys, Denmark and Norway are two distinct and quite different but neighboring countries–but there it is, in the piece.
Kangol2
Lillelien, that is.
thisisnotreal
He’s cute but he looks like he’s 16 or 17 and that kinda weirds me out.
jt1990
Yeah that’s a bit old for many of the LGBT crowd.
Bosch
@jt here we go again. Clearly you haven’t been paying attention to where all the pedos are hiding. Do these names sound familiar?
Mike Huckabee, Jim Jordan, Josh Duggar, Matt Gaetz, George Nader, Ruben Verastigui, Tim Nolan, Ralph Shortey, Ben Gibson, Adam Hageman, Mark Foley, Roy Moore, Dennis Haster, and Anton Lazzaro.
I suppose you think bears, otters, and leather daddies are supposed to represent “youth”?
RyanMBecker
That’s probably because he’s very short (although well-proportioned). Some of his teammates are a head-and-a-half taller than him. And he’s shorter than most of his female friends. I’m guessing that he’s about 5’4″ – 5’6″. It’s hard to tell because Scandinavian men and women are famously tall so it’s hard to tell his height standing next to other Norwegians.
jt1990
Not sure this is news. I thought all players of ‘handball’ are gay? Maybe I learned something new today
nm4047
like female tennis or golf players?
white-queer-african
@jt1990, our supposed straight ally here on Queerty AGAIN shows his ignorance with a stupid comment! Shouldn’t be on some straight porn site or QAnon?
white-queer-african
Correction: YOU
jt1990
QAnon is for the more senile conservatives. I prefer amren.com. Like this website, we get our share of visitors with opposing views. I have no issues with that, it actually gives us an opportunity to educate. Check it out sometime!
white-queer-african
@jt1990, thank you for sharing the web address. I hate to say just the same old same right-wing rhetoric. Sharing opposing views are good, but shoving down once throat that only “white is right”! No thank you. I highly appreciate your willingness to engage in a debate without being insulting. Providing a look at opposing views.
gregg2010
Adorable.
SDR94103
who cares.
RyanMBecker
I didn’t realize that handball (whether the American or European version) players have such defined bodies. Nice…
CityguyUSA
@Bosch You forgot Trump, Biden, Clinton and Gates.
Superman
An anagram for Ola’s middle name is Hot Fun. Yep. ?