Sport

19-year-old diving star opens up about why he decided to come out

Oct 28 2017
Written by Joseph McCormick

A 19-year-old diver from Canada has opened up about the amazing reason he decided to come out.

British Columbia-native Aiden Faminoff came out last October for National Coming Out Day.

Speaking to Outsports, he has now expanded on the timing of his coming out and what inspired him to do so.

He says he never “felt comfortable enough” to come out before last October.

“I was confused as to why I was attracted to men,” he said.

“Throughout middle school and high school, I would keep this to myself. I created a fake persona so I could blend in with the guys.”

Going on, Faminoff says he “wanted to scream” when his friends talked about “cute girls”, because he wanted to speak openly about being gay.

But he still says he found support in diving.

And it was seeing a bisexual female friend in a same-sex relationship which eventually helped him find the confidence to come out.

“I was escaping being with the ‘guys,’ but also I was still hiding my true self. Diving was a way to get my mind off of all the emotions and feelings of not expressing who I really was.”

He adds: “I saw one of my closest female friends be loving and happy with her girlfriend. I wanted to feel this way, comfortable in my own skin. She was an inspiration to me and made me feel confident.

“She was openly bisexual, which helped me gain the courage to come to terms with my own sexual orientation. I remember sitting in my car in a parking lot with her, telling her everything.”

His friend responded to say that she had always known he was gay, and at that point he cried, feeling “he had been accepted”.