The alternative to suicide? Coming out...

Outsport publishes a great story about a young lacrosse player from New York. There's a lot to say, but my takeaway is the importance of role models, and for athletes young and old to be proud and out: it saves lives. Read it for yourself.

I had just finished my junior-year lacrosse season at Oneonta State University in New York when word came that I was going to be a captain of my team for the 2010 season. I was excited. I was honored. I was depressed.

At home I reflected on my life: How will people remember me after I take this bottle of pills so I can just die and no one will ever know I ‘m gay? I could see my funeral being played out: The images brought me to tears as I watched my father, brother and former teammates as pallbearers, all of them wondering why I decided to end my life. “How could Andrew do this to himself? He had it all.”

I had experienced no lonelier point in my life. I felt no one could understand my feelings. Who the hell is gay and plays sports, especially lacrosse?

Read the whole article, and the preceding ones, on Outsports.