Israeli wrestling champion Nir Rotenberg came out as gay and the league is being completely supportive.
Nir Rotenberg, otherwise known as Rixon, came out recently and became the first openly gay wrestling champion in Israel.
Not only does the Tel Aviv resident share that he’s happily committed to a wonderful man named Ronen, but that he is raising two children through his partner’s prior marriage.
Although Israel doesn’t perform same-sex marriage, the country recognizes same-sex marriage performed elsewhere. Rotenberg shares that he plans to marry his partner and perhaps he’ll use that legal loophole to do so. Afterwards, he hopes to have kids of his own with his soon-to-be betrothed.
In addition to that, Rotenberg wants to act as a role model for younger athletes.
“I understood the extent of the responsibility and the influence that my actions have now that I am a champion, and I knew that it was time to come out of the closet in public,” he said, according to A Wider Bridge. “If I had a gay role model as a young wrestler, the fears I’ve had in the past would have been avoided.”
“My goal is to use the wrestling platform to convey messages and to create visibility and representation of the community in a field where it has not existed to date. In addition, it’s important for me to make it clear to everyone that all our successes and achievements as a community are not self-evident and that we have much more to achieve.”
Thankfully, the Israel wrestling league has been supportive of Israeli, at least from an outward glance. The league changed the logo on its official Facebook page to rainbow colors.
In addition, Nir says that he’s been supported by his friends and coaches since coming out.
Congrats to Nir Rotenberg.
