Scott Frantz, Kansas State Football Player, Comes Out As Gay

While he may have told his teammates last year, Kansas State football player Scott Frantz came out to the world as gay on Thursday.

Speaking with ESPN, Frantz explained the moment when he came out to his teammates and why he has now decided to come out to the world.

“I came out to my out to my teammates and I’ve never felt so loved and so accepted ever in my life than when I did that,” Frantz said to ESPN. “And ever since then it’s been great. I’ve grown so much closer to my teammates since. So it’s been an amazing experience.”

Frantz, now a sophomore, first told his teammates he was gay during a team meeting organized by Kansas State coach Bill Snyder. Snyder had invited a motivational speaker to talk to the team and during his speech, the speaker encouraged players to reveal things about themselves that had never told anyone before.

Frantz, although “scared” and “nervous,” told his teammates and was met with a room full of support.

“I stood up and I felt like passing out. I was crying, I had to sit down on the ground,” Frantz said of the moment before he opened up to his team.

But after getting his secret off of his chest Frantz said he never felt “so loved and so accepted.”

Said the offensive tackle, “Thankfully my teammates embraced me with open arms, and it was great.”

Frantz knew he was gay in fifth grade but didn’t accept it himself until he was a junior in high school.

A week after he came out to his team, he came out to his family, according to the sports site.

Frantz told his story to ESPN because he wanted to help other’s that may be in a similar situation.

Said Frantz, “I want to reach out to all the other kids who are just like me. Who feel that they can’t be accepted, that they can’t be loved because of who they are. I spent my whole childhood hating myself because of who I was … I want to share my message and tell other people in my spot that you can be loved, you can be accepted, you can be who you are.”

Frantz is now one of two openly gay football players playing Division 1 collegiate football – My-King Johnson, an Arizona freshman, came out in February.