Within his first week attending Campbell University in Buies Creek, North Carolina, Herald Alvarez heard about a fellow classmate being sexually assaulted for being gay. Alvarez stayed in the closet from that point on.
Even his teammates on the university’s track and field team would never know Alvarez was gay. They would instead continue to throw gay slurs around the locker room and say things such as “being really grateful and happy no gay athletes were on the team because they wouldn’t feel comfortable in the locker rooms.”
Not being able to express a part of his identity led Alvarez to ultimately be unhappy during his time at Campbell.