F E AT U R E | P L AY I N G TO W I N
P L AY I N G T O W I N By Amanda Younger
FROM FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS TO FIGHTING FOR RIGHTS, WE CHAT ONEON-ONE WITH FORMER NFL PLAYER WADE DAVIS ABOUT THE DIFFICULTIES OF GROWING UP, COMING OUT, THE STATE OF LGBT ATHLETES, AND HOW HE’S SHAPING THE FUTURE OF THE SPORTING INDUSTRY.
Wade Davis grew up in Shreveport, Louisiana. Wade Davis loved football. Wade Davis is gay. As an adolescent he played pickup games with neighboring kids, tested and honed his incredible speed on the field, and learned from rousing games of “Smear the Queer” that to be gay is to be a target. “Twenty to thirty kids, guys and girls, would throw the football up in the air, the queer picks up the ball and runs with it and everyone tries to smear them. It informed my thinking of what you did to those that identified as queer,” says Davis. As his love of football drove him forward
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in life, fear held him back. Creating an illusion of masculinity, he slipped into the role of high school bully. To survive high school, Davis explains, “I created an invisible shield to keep others from seeing the real me, who was suffering a lot of pain.” Wade went on to play football at the collegiate level and his undeniable talent got him transferred to a Division I college in Utah, hiding from his true self by doubling his commitment to a sport he loved immensely. “Football was definitely a hiding place. Out on the playing field with my teammates, I didn’t think about being gay because I was