Olympic gold medalist Mark Tewksbury surprised the world in 1992 when he surged to the Olympic gold in the 100 meter backstroke. Later that same year, his first book, Visions of Excellence--part autobiography, part motivational self-help guide--was published, and Tewksbury began a career as a public speaker.

Privately, however, Tewksbury struggled with tough issues of identity and relationships. Since a locker-trashing incident in middle school, the talented athlete had felt forced to separate his competitive life from his true personal nature, and the inner alienation caused by this conflict pulled the swimmer down into depression and dejection.

In 1998, after years of tabloid rumors, Tewksbury surprised the world once again by publicly coming out as a gay athlete. Tewksbury saw a major contract slip away when a firm that had been on the verge of signing him to a six-figure speaking deal dropped him for being too flamboyant onstage--something Tewksbury maintains his audience neither especially noticed nor cared about.

His personal life, however, was coming together, and though he had more pitched battles to fight (including an ill-fated attempt to work with the organizers of the Gay Games) by the time Tewksbury sat down to write his new memoir, Inside Out: Straight Talk from a Gay Jock, he had established himself in a happier place. It was from that place that Tewksbury kindly, and with much shared laughter, spoke recently with AfterElton.

AfterElton.com: Having now gone through that coming-out process as a celebrity, where do you stand on the idea that prominent people have a moral obligation to disclose their sexual orientation? I mean, we don't ask straight celebrities to make a declaration of their heterosexuality.
Mark Tewksbury: Right. And that's why everyone assumes that everybody is straight. I certainly would encourage it [coming out] -- it's a personal decision, and not everybody is ready at the same time. Certainly, if somebody isn't ready to speak about these things [they shouldn't be forced.] It would be ideal if I didn't have to declare that I'm gay, and I don't have a wife, I have a husband -- all of these little distinctions. Unfortunately, this isn't the norm, and I think that until it is, visible people can make a difference for sure.

AE: Are the psychological impediments of coming out as a public figure more forbidding than if you were coming out as a private individual? That is to say, are the fears and pressures of coming out to the public at large more intense than coming out to your family and your friends?
MT: Yes and no. And, you know, in that sense it's like sport. Winning as an eight year old in a local sports competition is the same experience as winning the gold medal [at the Olympics]. It's just at a slightly different level, obviously, but the way you feel going through it is very similar. I mean, I was certainly very nervous, and afraid of some of the same things: afraid of rejection, afraid of loss of livelihood, whether that's love or, in a bigger sense, I guess, work. Personally, it's a similar experience, just the level of reaction [is a bit different].

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