News
2007-01-26
Out high school
football player dies in car crash
Anthony Castro, a
Southern California teen who came out to his high
school football and wrestling teams, was killed in a car
Anthony Castro, a
Southern California teen who came out to his high
school football and wrestling teams, was killed in a car
crash over the weekend, OutSports.com reports. Castro
was 19.
"Anthony was that
rarest of people—an athlete out to his team,"
wrote Jim Buzinski of Outsports.com. "In Anthony's
case, he was out in high school to his football and
wrestling teams, our two most macho team sports. It
took guts to take such a step, but Anthony never
thought too much about it. He was not ashamed of who he was,
and if you were uncomfortable, that was your problem."
Castro was a
student in Banning, a conservative inland town about two
hours east of Los Angeles. According to Buzinski, Castro had
been rejected by his mother and wound up living with a
legal guardian. Football, he said, was always a refuge
for him. He played in a tournament at the Gay Games in
Chicago where "he caught the go-ahead touchdown in the
gold medal game and added an interception in the end zone to
boot," Buzinski wrote. "Watching Anthony receive his gold
medal from teammate Esera Tuaolo gave me goose bumps;
two out jocks, separated by a generation but bonded
nonetheless." (The Advocate)
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