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Wrestler Curdin Orlik Comes Out as Gay, Makes Swiss History

Curdin Orlik, Swiss Wrestler

He is the first openly gay professional athlete in the country.

MikelleStreet

If you didn't like wrestling before, then it's time to get on board. In Switzerland, wrestler Curdin Orlick has come out as gay in a new feature for The Magazine. The announcement makes him the first openly gay professional male athelete, in history, to do so.

Though the feature is behind a paywall, Outsports has pulled a few of the important points in a story.

"For far too long I have pushed out who I really am," Orlick said in the story. "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. ... I always knew that I was gay, for sure since I was 12. But I thought: this is wrong, it cannot be. I heard things on the school building square [like] 'you gay pig,' 'you faggot.' Or in soccer, 'such a gay pass!' Even when swinging [wrestling]. 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. But it's me. Now it's out."

Orlick is a bit of a champion of Swiss "swing" wrestling. That genre of the sport is a little different than wrestling elsewhere. Basically, the atheletes get dressed up (as opposed to stripping down to a singlet) and throw each other around in sawdust.

Outside of his career, Orlick had tried to meet up with guys off of dating apps, but didn't enjoy the experience. As a result, he went back to dating women, and eventually got married and had a child. He's since seperated from his wife but still maintains a relationship with his son.

RELATED | Olympic Swimmer Markus Thormeyer Comes Out as Gay

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Mikelle Street

Mikelle is the former editorial director of digital for PrideMedia, guiding digital editorial and social across Out, The Advocate, Pride.com, Out Traveler, and Plus. After starting as a freelancer for Out in 2013, he joined the staff as Senior Editor working across print and digital in 2018. In early 2021 he became Out's digital director, marking a pivot to content that centered queer and trans stories and figures, exclusively. In September 2021, he was promoted to editorial director of PrideMedia. He has written cover stories on Ricky Martin, Miss Fame, Nyle DiMarco, Jeremy O. Harris, Law Roach, and Symone.

Mikelle is the former editorial director of digital for PrideMedia, guiding digital editorial and social across Out, The Advocate, Pride.com, Out Traveler, and Plus. After starting as a freelancer for Out in 2013, he joined the staff as Senior Editor working across print and digital in 2018. In early 2021 he became Out's digital director, marking a pivot to content that centered queer and trans stories and figures, exclusively. In September 2021, he was promoted to editorial director of PrideMedia. He has written cover stories on Ricky Martin, Miss Fame, Nyle DiMarco, Jeremy O. Harris, Law Roach, and Symone.