While everyone is congratulating Collins on his announcement and patting him on the back for having the 'courage' to come out to the world, all I can think about is his girlfriend and ex-fiance of eight (yes eight) years, Carolyn Moos. I put courage in quotes because by his own admission, Collins says he always knew he was gay. If this is so, then why mislead Moos for so many years? I think it would have been courageous of him not to enter a heterosexual relationship knowing that he was homosexual. Even after entering the relationship, I think it would have been courageous of him to admit to himself that he was deceiving this woman and to end the relationship, instead of dragging it out for 8 years. Courageous would have been NOT proposing to a woman you are having heterosexual relationship with, knowing full well that you are homosexual. Courageous would have been giving Moos a valid explanation for why he called off the wedding after having been in a relationship with her for 8 years (he at least owed her that). Instead, he left Moos wondering what went wrong (and probably blaming herself as we women sometimes tend to do), until he decided to come out to Sports Illustrated, 4 years later. According to Moos, she just found out that Collins was gay last week, instead of being bitter about the situation and having a few choice words for Collins ( I, myself, would have been shaking some tables) Moos seems to be taking the high road, with the following statement:
"It's very emotional for me as a woman to have invested [eight] years in my dream to have a husband, soul mate, and best friend in him. So this is all hard to understand," Moos told TMZ. "I care about [Jason] tremendously and only want the best for him. I want Jason to be happy for a lifetime and stay true to who he really is, inside and out." (Huffington Post)
Now that's courageous!
Although I do understand why some people are proud of Collins for coming out, I personally feel that his actions leading up to this announcement (specifically his relationship with Moos) was anything but courageous. I think it was selfish and deceitful. This woman spent 8 years of her life building a relationship and making plans to spend the rest of her life with a man who never had any real intentions of being with her. Add another 4 years for the time she probably spent wondering why he called off the wedding (I know I surely would have wondered). It seems as though Collins used her as a cover until he finally realized that he had gone too far. Also, one has to question his fidelity and whether or not he was leading a double life since he has admitted always knowing he was gay.
So, as Collins goes down in history as the 1st openly gay athlete in American sports, Moos will be the poster child for collateral damage. I really hopes she finds everything she thought she found in Collins (and more) and I hope she has found some closure in finally knowing why he called off the wedding. I also hope that Collins can inspire others to be true to themselves. I hope that people will hear his story and realize that although Collins found his happiness he robbed another person of theirs by living a lie and being deceitful.
Had Collins not been in a committed relationship and living on the down low this post would have gone in a much different direction. However, I have no respect or sympathy for people living a lie and bringing unsuspecting individuals into their web of deceit. If you are going to live a lie, live it alone.
How do you feel about Collins's actions? What do you think Moos is really feeling after this announcement? Please leave your comments below.
Corrin K. Jones
twitter: @SweatHeartBoss
www.shopsweatheart.com
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