Hockey player Jesse Kortuem has come out as gay after being inspired by success Crave/HBO Max Show Heated rivalry.
“I know that many closeted and gay men in the hockey world are being greatly affected by the success of Heated Rivalry,” Kortuem said. outside magazine of Wednesday, January 14. “Never in my life did I think that something so positive and loving could emerge from such a masculine sport”, I have struggled in recent weeks to put these emotions into words, fearing the impact on team dynamics, etc.
He continued, “Today, I took the step to finally tell my hockey journey and my story. I am beyond grateful for all the positive feedback I have received from past teammates and high school classmates.”
Kortuem further opened up his journey in an emotional way Facebook post on Tuesday, January 13, writing how he struggled to reconcile his sexuality with sports when he was younger and spent much of his career in the closet.
HBO’s Heated Rivalry is sparking heated conversations with its steamy sex scenes. Based on the Game Changers book series by Rachel Reid, Heated Rivalry follows two rival professional hockey players Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie), whose animosity on the ice is just a front for a secret and very passionate romance. (…)
Kortuem wrote that “something has awakened in me” to go public, crediting the success Heated rivalrywhich follows the romance between two closeted hockey players, Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie).
“For a long time, though, the runway didn’t feel like a place where I could be all of me. I felt like I had to hide parts of myself for too long,” she wrote. “Growing up as the youngest of four boys in the #StateOfHockey (Minnesota), sports and competition weren’t just what we did. They were who we were. As a young teenager, I carried a weight that didn’t seem to fit in this world, and lived in a constant state of dichotomy. I loved the game, but I wondered with such a masculine, lingering fear to play. sport.”
Kortuem continued, “To my younger self, that identity could never be revealed. I didn’t think those two worlds could occupy the same person, let alone the same locker room. Coming out in the 2000s didn’t seem like an option, especially with so little positive representation in the media at the time, and it would have been a social disaster in such a large high school and high school team. Hockey friendships I had developed since childhood for a myriad of reasons.”
Kortuem said he returned to playing hockey “at a high level” as an adult, although “I still couldn’t be fully on my adult hockey teams.”
Heated Rivalry star Hudson Williams has received messages from closeted athletes since his show became a pop culture sensation. “They’re definitely the people who come up, kind of anonymous, who say, ‘I’m still a professional player and I’m still in the closet,'” Williams, 24, told Andy Cohen in (…)
“Inside, I was still that hidden Minnesota kid,” he explained. “Like a lot of closeted athletes, revealing who I really was on my team would change everything in an instant, their opinion of me, could bring negative attention to the team with the ‘gay player,’ so I never took the chance. I spent every week in the locker room with guys I respected, but I still didn’t feel confident enough to tell them who I really was. Even when the conversation, the family would change the subject or quickly change the subject. Ultimately, I would tell them I was single, even when seeing someone.”
Ultimately, Kortuem said he found community at a gay hockey tournament in 2017, describing the experience as life-changing.
He now plays for the Cutting Edges Hockey Club, an LGBTQIA+ hockey team in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
“It’s been a long and vulnerable road moving past the closeted athlete persona (something I’m still working on today) and finding real peace through the friendships I’ve developed through hockey in Vancouver (Cutting Edges), Toronto (Misfits) and across the States,” the athlete wrote.
Kortuem said he has “finally found my peace” and feels “there is room for all of us on the ice.”
As for athletes who may still be in the closet, she added, “I want you to know that there is hope and that you are not alone. There is life and deep happiness that awaits you on your path. You will get through this and everything will be okay.”
Heated rivalrywhich has catapulted its stars: Williams, Storrie and Francois Arnaud — to fame, has already been renewed for a second season. It is based on Rachel Reid‘s Game changers book series