Soccer coach comes out to team as transgender, video goes viral

(CBS) Kaig Lightner is the founder and director of coaching at the Portland Community Football Club in Portland, Oregon. Over the past five years, he and the club have been committed to making low-cost, high-quality athletics available to the area’s underprivileged youth. They provide equipment and coaching to give every kid in the community a chance to be active.

Coach Kaig's truck/taxi…love these guys!

A post shared by Portland Community FC (@pcfcsoccer) on Mar 14, 2016 at 8:07pm PDT

Lightner can often be seen driving players to and from practice or games, and is active on the club’s social media accounts. He also happens to be a transgender man, a fact about himself he hadn’t shared with many of the kids at the club — that is, until now. After one recent practice, he called his team into a huddle and came out to them in an inspiring speech that has since gone viral.

“Some of you may or may not know this, but I am transgender,” Lightner says in a 7-minute video posted to YouTube on May 3. Throughout the video, which has over 52,000 views, the players on screen listen respectfully, and one can be seen walking up to Lightner to give him a hug.

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