Va.: State Tennis Champ Comes Out

A state champion tennis player in Virginia came out to his teammates and the rest of his high school on Twitter earlier this month, and he says he's received nothing but words of encouragement and support from his peers.

Michael Drougas, who is from a conservative town in western Virginia, won the Virginia AA state championship last year for Salem High School. He told Outsports that he was initially worried about writing the note, which he posted on Twitter as a screengrab.

"I was anxious to see what people thought," he said. "I [didn't] think people would be mean to me, but I didn't know if people would be awkward about it."

His next goal is to win the championship again as a senior. He said he also hopes to challenge perceptions about what it means to be gay.

"Sometimes I get frustrated by the lack of progress I see regarding tolerance," he wrote. "Although writing this note is scary, I think only good can result. I hope people see me as just another teenager figuring things out and having fun in the meantime. The only way for progress to be made is by people like myself speaking up."