POTENTIAL OLYMPIAN NICK ALBIERO COMES OUT

Nick Albiero didn’t feel the need to throw a big coming-out celebration, but he also never really tried to hide who he was.

The University of Louisville’s two-time NCAA champion swimmer who is now discussing his sexual orientation because, after all these years, he is finally ready to do so.

According to OutSports, Albiero is one of the most lauded swimmers in Louisville Cardinals athletics history.

All of this leads to a young man who has a genuine chance to rule the world. He will participate in this year’s Team USA trials, which will determine who advances to the World Championships, followed by the PanAmerican Games.

At the University of Louisville, he came out to a few friends and a few close teammates his freshman year, but he had continued to

Love can be an exciting thing, but when you’re in a homosexual relationship and forced to keep it a secret from your religious parents, it can be complicated. And that’s what happens in “Milo and Marcos at the End of the World” by Kevin Christopher Snipes.

The book is primarily inspired by my experiences as a closeted queer teenager growing up in a small town in Central Florida. High school (as I’m sure most people will agree) can be an incredibly fraught period in our lives. We’re still figuring out who we are and what we want, and we’re terrified of getting it wrong. It’s a time when every emotion is heightened. Every choice feels like it’s life or death. You think you’ll die if the person that you like doesn’t like you back. You think the world will end if anyone finds out about your secret. It’s a lot. So I wanted to write a book that captures how exciting/terrifying/earthshattering that time of life can be for a young person — especially a young person in love who is coming to terms with his sexuality.

This is a question I get asked a lot as a queer writer and it always surprises me.

Asking why diversity and inclusiveness are important (either in art or politics or in life in general) feels a bit like asking, “Why are honesty and kindness qualities you want in a person?” or “Why are clean air and unpolluted water a good thing for the Earth?” The answer seems obvious, and yet queer authors (as well as POC authors) are constantly asked to defend diversity and inclusiveness, as if the benefits of these ideas are somehow hard to understand or open to debate.

Instead of asking queer authors why we believe in inclusiveness, wouldn’t it be great if we lived in a world where the writers, publishers, filmmakers, producers, and studios who regularly exclude queer characters and queer content from their books, TV shows, and movies are forced to answer why they don’t believe in inclusiveness. Make them justify their bigotry. Put them on the spot. Maybe then those people and companies might be forced to confront their own prejudices, and concepts like inclusiveness and diversity would become the norm in our industry instead of the exception.

I love a story that keeps the reader guessing until the very last page, so I think people reading my book should be prepared for an emotional rollercoaster.

worry about his entire team finding out about him. His Christian high school and middle school bullies had a significant impact on him. But, according to a TV interview with WHAS11, he has had no negative feedback.