>> ‘He said yes!’: Michael Sam reveals he proposed to longtime boyfriend from atop Catholic church overlooking Vatican City
Promesse réciproque de mariage ? Après les rumeurs, le couple qui passait quelques jours de vacances à Rome a posté ce vendredi sur les réseaux, des clichés qui ne laissent plus aucun doute. Michael Sam agenouillé devant son compagnon, lui tenant la main, plan sur l’alliance, regards complices avec en arrière plan la très symbolique Basilique Saint-Pierre et ce premier message sur Instagram : « Merci d’avoir fait de mon 25éme anniversaire ce moment très spécial », avant d’ajouter sur Twitter, « Merci d’avoir dit oui. »
Rapidement ensuite, Vito Cammisano, publie sur son compte en réponse, une image, tout sourire et dents bien blanches : sa bague au doigt. Michael et Vito ne se quitteront plus.
Et pourtant, les choses n’ont pas commencé tout simplement.
Ils se sont rencontrés lors d’une soirée thématique pour étudiants, alors que Michael entrait en première année à l’Université du Missouri. Vito qui s’était costumé en lapin et n’avait pas su modérer sa consommation de liqueurs.
« Il était en train de vomir, rien de très gracieux, et je me suis approché pour voir s’il avait besoin d’aide. Il m’a dit d’aller me faire voir en me demandant si je savais qui il était. »
Malgré le déguisement, évidemment Michael avait bien reconnu la star de l’équipe de natation mais à ce moment précisément, quelle importance : « Je lui ai seulement répondu qu’il était quelqu’un de détestable. Comme quoi. Et puis, on ne s’est plus parlé pendant presque deux ans. » Jusqu’à ce que Vito fasse son coming out et que les deux étudiants se découvrent autrement et finissent par sortir ensemble. Et si les premiers rencards discrets, pour éviter que Michael ne dévoile sa propre orientation sexuelle, aura parfois un peu éroder le couple, depuis qu’il s’est affranchi, le jeune homme est bien plus heureux et son couple au beau fixe.
Terrence Katchadourian
@stop_homophobie
>> He made headlines the world over by coming out last year, and then even more by kissing his boyfriend on live TV.
Now Michael Sam, the first openly gay player to be drafted into the NFL, has taken another leap of confidence – and likely controversy – by proposing to his longtime love from what is renowned as one of the holiest Catholic sites.
Sam confirmed his engagement to college sweetheart Vito Cammisano on Twitter on Friday and posted a photo of himself getting on bended knee at St. Peters Basilica – one of the largest church’s in the world – in Vatican City.
The move is yet another step the 25-year-old has taken into uncharted territory and is sure to anger church officials and their strict opposition to gay marriage.
The announcement coincided with a visit to the Philippines by Pope Francis, who said in a speech today: ‘The family is threatened by growing efforts on the part of some to redefine the very institution of marriage.’
TMZ first announced last week that Sam and Cammisano were engaged after rumors surfaced on social media.
Sam posted the photo of the proposal with the message: ‘Thankyou for saying yes.’
Sam is thought to have popped the question on his 25th birthday on January 7.
He and Cammisano were on a European vacation together in Italy, having spent New Years in Spain.
At Christmas, Sam also posted a photo to his Instagram of a ring, where he thanked his boyfriend for ‘a great Christmas gift’.
The couple met when Sam was a freshman at the University of Missouri, during one of his first college parties.
It was a lingerie party and Cammisano was dressed as a rabbit, complete with a tail, which Sam told Out magazine he remembered because Cammisano – a star swimmer from 2009 to 2012 – was drunkenly vomiting over a railing from a second-story deck.
‘I went up to him to ask if he was OK, and he started cursing at me, screaming, »F— off — do you know who I am? » ‘ Sam told the mag.
‘I told him I didn’t care who he was. We didn’t speak again for two years.’
When Cammisano came out to his swim team in 2011, they started dating, however it was secret, because Sam was closeted.
‘Early on, it was awesome,’ Sam said during a recent documentary on his life produced by the OWN network.
‘And then bad things started to happen.’
‘When Vito came to my house, he had to sneak through in and out of the window.
‘Vito was getting really tired of that.’
The pair broke up for a few months, until the holidays, when Cammisano realized Sam didn’t have anywhere for Christmas.
‘So Mickey came to Kansas City for Christmas and that’s when (we realized) we missed this,’ Cammisano said in the doco.
‘It really was Christmas that brought us back together.’
Controversial: Many viewers erupted in anger after a televised kiss was shown on ESPN in May as Sam was drafted by the St. Louis Rams
The pair have been together since, but were not captured in public together until earlier this year.
They hit international headlines in May, when Sam – who had come out in February – made history as the first openly gay NFL draft pick.
The moment he was told he had been drafted by the St. Louis Rams was televised live on ESPN, and an emotional Sam kissed Cammisano in celebration.
