Gus Kenworthy Quotes

The truth is, I probably would be dead if I had become a star, because at that point I was so closeted and so afraid of people of finding out I was gay. There was no telling what would have happened.

If I remember back to when I wasn't open about my sexuality, I spent a great deal of time worried about it.

All I wanted was to be straight so my parents could be happy. They never, never, never knew.

I was never honest. My father died, and I had never said to him, 'I'm gay.' I knew what I was, but I had to pretend not to be that to avoid the beatings.

At 28 years old, seven years out of college, I was so convinced that my voice outed me as a fag that I had stopped speaking to people I didn't know.

Dating in the closet is torture. It's one of the most difficult things, especially if you are completely closeted.

When you're young and queer and closeted, you can end up in this place where you regard your straight peers as the enemy.

When I was with Ellen, I was telling people, If you come out, it's gonna be better for you. But I honestly don't know that.

I'm a lesbian. Yup. Hundred percent. Hundred percent. I remember being in college, and I had fallen in love with this woman, and I remember sitting in my dorm room saying out loud to myself, like, 'You have enough problems. You are not gonna let this happen.'

When I was 16, I knew I was gay. I loved a lot. But I lived as a straight guy, because there are people in my town who don't understand my story. I never told. I never wanted to show what was inside my heart.

I was raised thinking I'd burn in hell for being gay, but I didn't have a choice. It's just who I am.

When I realised that I had feelings for men as well as women, at first I was worried and frightened, and there was a certain amount of 'Who am I? Am I a criminal?' and so on. It took me a long time to come to terms with myself. Those were painful years - painful then and painful to look back on.

What's it like to figure out you're gay and then begin the process of coming out? Well, for most of my life, I felt doomed. I could imagine no path that would allow me to realize my authentic self. I felt the need to lie, even to myself, insisting: I am straight.

Being unemployed has so many real and palpable ramifications but there are also psychological side effects which you can only understand if you've truly lived through it.

There's so much bullying with young people and them feeling like they can't come out, and they don't know what to do. And it's something that you have to work through. And, you know, for me, it was - I came out, and then I went back in for a minute. And then I came out, and I was like, 'You know what? This is who I am.'

I was pursuing my acting career, but I was silent on the LGBT issue, the issue that was closest to me. I knew if I came out then, I'd have had to change careers.

For some reason, I was deeply ashamed of the theater early on. I think it had to do with this growing sense I was gay, although I couldn't have put a word to it back then.

As a closeted gay man, Jim McGreevey lived a life of presentation, a gay man portraying a straight man.

As someone who was once in the closet, I can tell you it is the most sad, dark, awful, depressing place to ever be.

I've always been comfortable with my gayness, but I was intimidated by the social anxiety.

If I had had someone like me who had chosen to live their lives out and proud, there would be no need for the Tyler Clementis of the world.

I've been uncomfortable dealing with my identity since I was 16 years old.

When you're a young kid and you're gay, you're out there on your own. And you're trying to figure this thing out. And your parents typically aren't gay.

There are still times in my life where I pull back from being totally honest, and I can't imagine a single straight person who would understand that.

My depression at the end of Wham! was because I was beginning to realise I was gay, not bi.