In interviews with The New York
Times and LGBT glossy Out, two-time national ski champion
Hig Roberts announced that he's gay.
Roberts, who started skiing at 2, told
Out editor David Artavia that being in the closet led to “big
bouts of depression” and mental anguish.
“I had moments of standing on the
podium with national titles and still feeling depressed,” Roberts
said. “I was almost in a daze because of the mental anguish I would
feel. I had sleepless nights. I had anxiety attacks. I had big bouts
of depression. I had to closet all of that from my teammates and my
coaches.”
“As athletes, the visibility for
LGBTQ+ people has been very quiet,” he
said. “There hasn't been a lot of representation in the space,
especially in alpine skiing, a very masculine, aggressive,
strength-based sport.”
“I was trying to balance these
feelings of being gay but also not truly believing that [I] could be
successful in such a masculine sport,” he said.
Roberts, who is no longer competing,
added that he feared he would lose corporate sponsors if he came out.
Now, he wants to help more athletes come out.
“I have a firm belief in the goodness
of people,” he said. “You will be OK. Most importantly, you will
be on the way to being a happy person and a better human being and I
think that's a beautiful thing.”
Other skiing athletes to come out
include Gus Kenworthy (slopestyle skiing), Ryan Quinn
(cross-country), and Liam Moya (alpine).