Robbie Rogers Coming Out To Play

The Olympian that took on a challenge bigger than winning a gold medal. Was it about victory? Was it a challenge to take on a secret and give it life outside what created total darkness. From the iHeart Radio Studio I'm Unplugged and Totally Uncut with professional soccer prlayer Robbie Rogers. In February 2013, when championship-winning soccer player Robbie Rogers came out as gay via a letter that he posted online, he made sports history. After having kept his sexuality a secret for 25 years, he became the first openly gay man to compete in a major North American professional sports league. For much of his life, Robbie Rogers lived in paralyzing fear that sharing his big secret would cost him both his family’s love and his hard-won career as a professional soccer player. He could be a pro athlete. Or he could be an out gay man. He couldn’t do both. Then, at age 25, after nearly stepping away from a brilliant career—one that included competing in the Olympics, playing for Leeds United, and winning the MLS Cup—he chose to finally tell his truth. But instead of the rejection that he had feared for so long, he was embraced by his family, by his teammates, and by his fans. Now, he shares the story of the turbulent years leading up to that landmark decision, and the profound ways in which his life changed in its wake in his new memoir, Coming Out to Play.