Mexico City /
Last Saturday, June 28, on the occasion of the celebration of the movement of the LGTB community, the Mexican taekwondoín Leonardo Juarez, Pan American champion in Lima 2019 and World Champion in the Poomsae specialty, Leonardo Juárez, made his sexual preferences known through an emotional message on social networks, obtaining a very good acceptance by the sports world.
The one born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, made the decision to speak openly about her sexual preferences with a very important purpose, be an inspiration and push for other athletes who have been unable or unwilling to be accepted by the fear of being discriminated within the sport, make the decision to do it without fear of being judged. So Leonardo intends that his message and example reaches both Mexican and foreign athletes of any discipline.
The brave message
“I am 21 years old and everyone can decide if they want to continue in their bubble or want to be able to say and express that they are the same as everyone, there is undoubtedly the fear of saying who you really are, that discrimination begins, but when you trust one hundred percent in the people around you and in yourself, this does not have to be the cause of living a reality that is not yours, ”said the Pan American champion.
Leonardo Juarez who a year ago waved the flag of Mexico at the top of the podium in Pan American Games Lima 2019 Along with his partner in pairs Ana Zulema Ibañez, he expressed that some years ago the specialty of Poomsae suffered discrimination by athletes who carried out combat, a position that has changed and now both specialties are taken equally.
“The discrimination I have suffered within my sport It has been as a society and even to all of us who practice Poomsae, since at the moment when we do not fight, they have always told us that it is a sport for girls, that we are afraid to fight and they consider us as a sport for gays. But with the passage of time this has changed and now everyone sees sport as the same ”.
The Pan American Champion has received the support on the part of his teammates, who have known Leonardo’s sexual preferences for a long time, so he was not afraid to go public and suffer some type of discrimination from his team, but his only mission and reason why He made this decision is to make the sport fair and equal in all disciplines and in the world.
“Sport has been my second family, all those who train with me already knew about me and have always supported me, they have always been with me, it is something that I have always thanked them for. At first it became complicated and more when you start, I started at 6 years old and when I was 11 or 12 years old it was very different to say it compared to now ”.
It must be remembered that in the sport of Tae Kwon Do, Leonardo is not the first athlete to risk making the decision, since a few years ago Ricardo del Real before Mónica del Real, who was the first woman to climb the top of the podium in a World Cup, announced his sex change, which led him to become the first transsexual Mexican Olympic athlete.
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