Iam one of the most avid gay college baseball fans in the country. That’s why when Wake Forest Coach Tom Walter uttered a homophobic slur during his team’s final game of the season, it felt like a punch in the gut.

That’s because it took me right back to an afternoon at Virginia Tech in 2013 when a Hokie student directed the exact same phrase at me during a game.

And it took me back to another one at Clemson in 2010 where a group of Tiger fans asked me which player was my boyfriend.

In both those cases I don’t think the people directing the abuse to me actually knew I was gay, but that sort of toxic homophobic language has historically been a go-to in the world of college baseball. It’s hard not to take it personally when you are indeed gay. And that culture has made gay people uncomfor

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