Wrestler Curdin Orlik Comes Out as Gay, Makes Swiss History

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.

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