Orlando Cruz came out recently, making him the first openly gay man in professional boxing and one of the very few in professional sports.
Boxer Orlando Cruz (photo: Dennis M. Rivera Pichardo, AP)
At a time when few professional athletes are out in any sport, that is a daring move. As Cruz he told USA Today:
It is a macho sport — there’s a lot of machismo. I was afraid I could be discriminated against because there is a lot of discrimination against the gay community. This fight is important for me because I am now liberated. I made history (but) I want to be respected.
Cruz represented Puerto Rico in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, and now he’s won his first fight since coming out.
These last two weeks have weighed heavily on Orlando Cruz. But as soon as he walked out to a cheering crowd displaying flags of his native Puerto Rico, boxing’s first openly gay fighter could finally breathe and do what he came to do, slugging his way to a victory by unanimous decision over Jorge Pazos. “That was my moment, my opportunity, my event,” Cruz said Friday night after the bout, his mother Dominga Torres-Rivera seated beside him. “And I won.” Cruz was touched by the support on display at the Kissimmee Civic Center outside of Orlando, the latest in a continual outpouring since his announcement two weeks ago that made him the first active male athlete in a major sport to come out. “I was very happy that they respect me. That’s what I want – them to see me as a boxer, as an athlete and as a man in every sense of the word.
And on how it feels being out:
And Cruz seems to be more at ease with his new position as a gay role model, no longer hiding who he is in one of the world’s most macho sports. “I’m only one person,” Cruz said. “I feel happy with where I am. I’m free. I’m more at peace.
Congratulations, Orlando. And keep it up!!!
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