"I got tired of putting on a straight-acting role," he says. His team-mates responded with attitude. "I was shunned. Even the coach didn't want to know."

Ryan was forced to find himself another team. "Their response upset me. But at the same time I had already prepared myself for it. I've been brought up to prepare for the worst and celebrate anything better."

By coming clean, Ryan became the only out gay snowboarder on the professional racing circuit. He remained the only gay snowboarder or skier to come out until Gus Kenworthy's announcement some 10 years later.

And the faggot certainly started whipping arse on the slopes the year after he changed teams. Ryan was listed sixth in the national championships and internationally was rated at 28.

Along the way, he took a fair few knocks. Travelling at 50mph with only lycra as protection has its hazards. He messed-up a knee, but as soon as he was able he was back on the board. "The rush is addicted," he says. "It's like flying."

Ryan grew up in Pennsylvania. "A small, conservative, tight-knit community where you were expected to get married, have kids and live happily ever after," he says. "The concept of homosexuality was never discussed."

Through Thanksgiving to early April Pennsylvania is smothered in snow. Ryan was practically skiing before he could walk. By 10, he was out on his snowboard seven days a week.

Illustrated diagram of grabbing locations on a snowboard - Click on illustration for larger version
Provided by: Nlin86, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

SCHOOL DAYS

"It still creeps into my head at times when I don't perform well. I can think 'was that because I had a bad day or because I'm gay?".

So when there was no snow, Ryan immersed himself in music instead, playing flute, piccolo, piano and drums. "I've always been an over-achiever".

By 15, the snowboarding had got serious. Ryan became involved with a national ski organisation, helping to set up a snowboarding offshoot. "It all slowly snowballed from there," he says. "No pun intended."

After leaving high school, Ryan moved on to music college. Eventually, the music came second fiddle to the snowboard (pun intended). Playing piccolo just didn't deliver the same rush.

COMING OUT

The friend helped Ryan figure his sexuality out. "He said he wasn't about to make the decision for me," says Ryan, "and suggested I go to the campus gay group to explore my feelings in a safe environment."

Today, "they're the most supportive parents I could wish for". Mum and Dad quickly became his biggest cheerleaders and fundraisers.

As for begging big bucks from brand names, many corporate companies still aren't very comfortable placing their logos on gay sportsmen. "It's hard even to get a return phone call," says Ryan. "The mainstream media has improved dramatically over the years in the way in which they report on gay sportsmen and women, but corporate America needs to recognise that gay athletes are just as viable and valuable as straight athletes."

It would help, says Ryan, if more elite athletes on the up came out. "It's great we have the out gay athletes we have, but the fact is they've all come out after hitting their sporting peak. They've won their gold medals and cups."

Ryan doesn't need a degree in economics to realise that by coming out athletes are taking a chance. "They'd need to be comfortable enough financially in sponsorships to say 'to heck with it, I'm going to do it. And if I lose the last couple of years of my endorsements, so be it'. That happening may actually expose the corporations for the kind of standards they have."

So what are his feelings toward closeted athletes? "It's not my place to tell anyone what they should do," he says. "It's a personal thing, like coming out to family friends. The question is 'can you be happy denying who you are?'"

FUTURE GOALS

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