Young man harrassed for coming out during basketball game

Dalton Maldonado, a young Kentucky high school basketball player was forced to come out when he was slandered out loud with a gay slur.

Maldonado, a senior at Betsy Layne High School in Pikeville, Kentucky, came out in a way that he wasn't prepared for during a basketball game last December, after a member of the opposing team screamed out to him, “Hey, No. 3, I hear you’re a faggot.”

Embarrassed, frustrated and angry not only from the slur, but from the loss of a tournament game that he and his team, the Betsy Layne Bobcats, had played, Maldonado replied, “Yeah, baby, can I have your number?”

Image via Facebook from Dusty Layne

Maldonado thought about it moments later and became emotional because he did not want to come out that way. He had just came out to his parents that week so it had already been a difficult week. He told Outsports that the moment was very emotional for him. “Reflecting back to this moment I realize that there was nothing I could do about it. My coach came back in and said, ‘one of our players is in pain, you all need to be there for him.'”

Image via Facebook from Dalton Maldonado

He felt the pressure and spotlight on him being surrounded by his team questioning him until he finally responded with, “I’m gay, I’m gay, okay?” His teammates showed their support while the opposing team did not. As Maldonado was stepping onto the school bus, the opposing team was harassing him by pounding on the bus windows and yelling gay slurs. The opposing team harassed Maldonado even after the bus pulled off because they got into their cars and chased him and his team’s bus to their hotel. Maldonado and his team stayed put at the hotel until the police arrived. All the teams couldn't go anywhere for the night.

Image via Facebook from Dalton Maldonado

The organizers of the Bobcat team left the decision of whether they go home or continue the tournament to Maldonado because of the scary incident that had occurred. Maldonado told them he wanted to play because he didn't want them to win. He didn't want their bigotry and ignorance to put the fear in him because he was not afraid to be himself. “If we would've went home it would've looked like I was ashamed of who I am, and I’m not ashamed of who I am. I can stand up for myself, and I had my teammates and coaches by my side.” The Bobcats had a police escort to and from every game.They didn't win the championship title in the end, but that didn't really matter to him, what mattered to Maldonado was the love and support he felt in the aftermath of the incident.

“To this day I haven’t lost a friend over coming out,” he says. “I’ve actually become closer to them.” When one of his friends sang “Same Love” to him, it was then that he truly realized how blessed he was.