Once he realized he needed to come out, Orlik told his wife and they separated but he still has a great relationship with her and his son. Orlik then fell in love with a woman whom he married and they had a son, now 2. It may sound stupid, but I figured I needed a girlfriend again.” And who should I have talked about bad experiences with? I was alone. You are defenseless because fear always resonates that you are exposed. Getting to know good gays is doubly difficult if you keep your gayness hidden. “I thought if being gay meant you were so miserable, it wasn’t for me. Orlik’s first experiences of meeting other men on apps were terrible. It’s a derivative of folk wrestling where the wrestlers wear special clothes that allow for holds and throws and the action takes place in a circle covered in sawdust.ĭespite the uniqueness of the sport, Orlik’s coming out will resonate with any LGBTQ athlete, especially gay men - the realization at a young age that you are different, the fear and uncertainty of coming out and the emotional toll the closet takes. Swing wrestling is a sport peculiar to Switzerland and very popular, with its champions becoming household names. Sure, nobody really meant that, but if you’re like that yourself, you think, ‘Shit, that’s not a good thing.’ I thought: I don’t want to be gay. I heard things on the school building square ‘you gay pig,’ ‘you faggot.’ Or in soccer, ‘such a gay pass!’ Even when swinging. But I thought: this is wrong, it cannot be. I always knew that I was gay, for sure since I was 12. “I am not someone who kisses in front of people, but I want to lie down with a man and be able to touch him. “For far too long I have pushed out who I really am,” he said.
Orlik, 27, said he decided to come out publicly because ”I’d rather be free than fearful.” “I am like that,” Orlik told Christof Gertsch of Switzerland’s The Magazine in a deeply reported article.
Curdin Orlik, a champion in the sport of Swiss “swing” wrestling, has come out as gay, becoming Switzerland’s first openly gay active male pro athlete.