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AHL announcer comes out as gay

Published October 14, 2021 at 8:40
BY COLTON PANKIW
Jason Shaya, the play-by-play announcer for the Utica Comets of the American Hockey League (AHL), was able to get a massive weight off his shoulders on Wednesday, coming out as gay.

«I've just been waking up after a couple hours and just staying up all night,» Shaya said. «The mental anguish that I went through – when you conceal something for as long as you do from most people, it's really, really scary to then just go – in one fell swoop – ‘I'm going to let everybody in on the news.'

«It's daunting, it's overwhelming, and you're also totally uncertain of how people will react to it.»

The 40-year-old admitted he had been considering coming out for some time, and seeing others in the sports world such as Carl Nassib of the NFL, player agent Bayne Pettinger, and NHL prospect Luke Prokop, made his decision that much easier.

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«My motive was twofold: to just be who I am. That's No. 1,» Shaya continued. «But No. 2 is I felt I had to do it in the manner in which I did it because I owed it to the next person. I think there's a real sense of duty to do that in a way that somebody can look at it and go, all right, I'm going to do it now."

«And that happened because of other people before me.»

Shaya is absolutely right in that his decision will help others who are struggling to come out more comfortable to do so. It was an extremely brave move on his part, and one that he seems quite happy he did.

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