Heated Rivalry Inspired an Actual Hockey Player to Come Out

Last week, Heated Rivalry star Hudson Williams revealed that the show has been having quite an impact on closeted athletes. In an interview with Andy Cohen on “Radio Andy,” Williams said he’s received messages from anonymous hockey, football, and basketball players who’ve told him they’re “still in the closet.”

Now, it sounds like someone in their ranks has identified himself. On Wednesday, hockey player Jesse Kortuem came out as gay in an interview with Out magazine. “I know many closeted and gay men in the hockey world are being hit hard by Heated Rivalry’s success,” Kortuem told the outlet. “Never in my life did I think something so positive and loving could come from such a masculine sport. I’ve struggled the last few weeks to put these emotions into words, fearing the impact on team dynamics, etc.”

Kortuem never competed with the NHL, but said he played defenseman/center in a handful of leagues after being on his high-school team. Growing up in Minnesota in the 2000s, he said he struggled to reconcile his love for the sport with his sexuality. “I loved the game, but I lived with a persistent fear. I wondered how I could be gay and still play such a tough and masculine sport,” he wrote in a Facebook post the day before his interview came out.

As an adult, Kortuem played for leagues in New York and Atlanta, and despite having come out to a number of people in his life, he said he still feared coming out to his teams. “On the outside, I was still a top-tier player. On the inside, I was still that kid in Minnesota hiding,” he wrote. “Like many closeted athletes, revealing who I truly was to my team would change everything in an instant, their opinion of me, could bring negative attention to the team with the ‘gay player,’ so I never took the chance.”

By 2017, Kortuem said he was debating whether to remain in the closet or quit hockey altogether. Instead, he tried something else — he signed up for the Sin City Classic, an annual LGBTQ+ sports event in Las Vegas, where he met out hockey players. “From that moment forward, my life has never been the same,” he wrote.

Kortuem now plays for the Cutting Edges Hockey Club, an LGBTQ+ hockey team in Vancouver, and said he’s “finally found my peace” knowing “that there is room for all of us on the ice.” “This is my story. It is not everyone’s story, but for what it is worth, I thought I would share because I want to speak to the athletes out there who are still in the closet or struggling to find their way,” he wrote. “I want you to know that there is hope and you’re not alone. There is a life and a deep happiness waiting for you on your path. You will get through this, and it is going to be okay.”

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