He's billed himself as "The World's Strongest Gay." This week @ worlds_strongest_gay (Rob Kearney) opened up in a TV interview about being out, proud, and married to another man while being active in a hyper-masculine sport. Talking with ABC News program Nightline, Kearney recalled that he always knew he was "different" when he was a not-so-athletic kid, but "I never accepted as to why. It was always just pushed to the back of my mind. And I never wanted to deal with it." Kearney said "it was in the weight room where like I really found myself," but it wasn't he was in college and in a relationship with a young woman that he was finally ready to accept himself and embrace authenticity. "I kind of had this epiphany and I was like, 'I can't do this anymore," Kearney recalled. "Here I am thinking I'm living this heteronormative life and going to have that white picket fence life with a wife and kids, and I'm finally realizing that's not what I want, and that's not what's going to make me happy." From there, the strongman told Nightline, it was a short step to another realization: That "if people didn't like it about me, I didn't need them to accept it. I was finally accepting myself. And that was opening up these doors that I never knew existed." Among those doors that were opening up was the door to the closet. As reported at the EDGE at the time, Kearney came out publicly in 2014. "I think all too often gay men are seen as weak," Kearney told Nightline. "And they're typically portrayed as you know, feminine, flamboyant, and that's really it." But, he added, "Gay doesn't have to look a certain way. Here I am as a gay man with a mohawk and these muscles and competing at the highest level of this hyper-masculine sport of Strongman.⁠ ⁠ Tap link in bio to continue on @EDGEmedianetwork⁠ ????⁠ ?: @worlds_strongest_gay

He's billed himself as "The World's Strongest Gay." This week @ worlds_strongest_gay (Rob Kearney) opened up in a TV interview about being out, proud, and married to another man while being active in a hyper-masculine sport. Talking with ABC News program Nightline, Kearney recalled that he always knew he was "different" when he was a not-so-athletic kid, but "I never accepted as to why. It was always just pushed to the back of my mind. And I never wanted to deal with it." Kearney said "it was in the weight room where like I really found myself," but it wasn't he was in college and in a relationship with a young woman that he was finally ready to accept himself and embrace authenticity. "I kind of had this epiphany and I was like, 'I can't do this anymore," Kearney recalled. "Here I am thinking I'm living this heteronormative life and going to have that white picket fence life with a wife and kids, and I'm finally realizing that's not what I want, and that's not what's going to make me happy." From there, the strongman told Nightline, it was a short step to another realization: That "if people didn't like it about me, I didn't need them to accept it. I was finally accepting myself. And that was opening up these doors that I never knew existed." Among those doors that were opening up was the door to the closet. As reported at the EDGE at the time, Kearney came out publicly in 2014. "I think all too often gay men are seen as weak," Kearney told Nightline. "And they're typically portrayed as you know, feminine, flamboyant, and that's really it." But, he added, "Gay doesn't have to look a certain way. Here I am as a gay man with a mohawk and these muscles and competing at the highest level of this hyper-masculine sport of Strongman.⁠
⁠
Tap link in bio to continue on @EDGEmedianetwork⁠
????⁠
?: @worlds_strongest_gay