Olympic Gymnast Danell Leyva Came Out

Olympic gymnast Danell Leyva is publicly opening up about his sexuality. 

The athlete and heartthrob, who wowed fans back in 2016 with a steamy, shirtless routine during the summer Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro, recently spoke to the Olympic Channel about how he hopes his journey to figuring out his sexuality helps normalize things for future generations of queer folks.

"I always knew," Danell told the Olympic Channel about when he knew he was part of the LGBTQ+ community. "It was always just very rejected, internally rejected because of the way that we’re all raised. And especially coming from a Hispanic family, it’s very much rejected. As I was growing up, I would always somewhat reject it. But then, the more I accepted myself...I started realizing more and more things. I started realizing how normal it is."

Earlier this month on National Coming Out Day, Danell took to Twitter and expanded on his journey of how he knew he wasn't straight, letting his fans know that identifies as bisexual/pansexual (although he says he's still figuring his exact label out). 

"For a long time I’ve known that I wasn’t straight," he wrote. "But because of certain very personal reasons, I always rejected that side of me. Earlier this year I finally understood that I’m bi/pan (still trying to figure that one out) but I also realized that, as of now at least, I’m not attracted to cis men. (That comes with those personal reasons I just mentioned). But I felt that it was time for me to finally share this with you all." 

He continued: 

"One of the main reasons why I’ve never come out publicly is because throughout my life, for whatever reason, other people’s perception of my own sexuality have always been imposed onto me and it has always made me reject it even more. It made me uncomfortable. Not because I was offended, because being gay is in no way offensive, but more so because it was and always has been/felt very intrusive. So this post, apart from being my way of sharing this with you all is also a reminder. A reminder to check the way we say certain things to people. Because sometimes our hearts and intentions may be in the right place, but we never truly know what they’re dealing with."

Congrats on your coming out, Danell! Welcome to the family!