President Joe Biden has applauded the
recent coming outs of athletes Carl Nassib and Kumi Yokoyama.
“To Carl Nassib and Kumi Yokoyama –
two prominent, inspiring athletes who came out this week: I'm so
proud of your courage,” Biden said in a tweet. “Because of you,
countless kids around the world are seeing themselves in a new light
today.”
Nassib, 28, made history with his
announcement, becoming the first active NFL player to come out gay.
(Related: NFL
player Carl Nassib comes out gay.)
Yokoyama, a forward for the Washington
Spirit soccer team, came out as transgender in a video interview with
former teammate Yuki Nagasato.
“I'm coming out now,” Yokoyama
said. “In the future, I want to quit soccer and live as a man.”
The Washington Spirit also said in a
tweet that it was proud of Yokoyama, 27.
“We support and are proud of you
Kumi. Thank you for showing the world it's ok to embrace who you
are!” the team wrote.
Yokoyama, who uses gender-neutral
pronouns, said that they were encouraged to come out by their
girlfriend.
“When my girlfriend said there was no
reason for me to stay closeted, it really hit me,” they said.
“Coming out wasn't something I was enthusiastic about, but if I
think about my life going forward, it would be harder to live
closeted, so I found the courage to come out.”
Yokoyama, who also plays for the Japan
national soccer team, said that they felt a great deal of pressure to
remain closeted in their home country.