Ryan Laplante Gives a Heartfelt Speech Over Orlando Shooting
7 years ago
13 Jun
When Ryan Laplante took down the biggest non-hold’em event in WSOP history yesterday, it should have been the happiest day of his life. Instead, the openly gay poker pro found himself torn between his precious victory, and his sadness and grief over the homophobia-inspired massacre in Orlando this past weekend.
Accepting his gold bracelet, Laplante took to the stage with fiancé Chris Katona and explained he felt “compelled to speak out” about the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando that was "so sad, so shocking, so terrible".
"I am so proud to call myself a World Series of Poker champion. I'm proud to call myself an openly gay man. I encourage all of you to be proud of who you are," stated a tearful Laplante, who topped a field of 2,483 entries in the $565 PLO event - the largest live non-hold’em tournament in history - to win his first WSOP gold bracelet and the $190,328 first-place prize.
The massacre which targeted the gay community has so far claimed 49 lives, with 53 injured, some of whom are not expected to survive according to medical staff. Friends and co-workers have described the attacker, the Islamic State-inspired Omar Mateen, as “homophobic” and "mentally unstable," while his ex-wife said he was violent and had bi-polar disorder.
Ryan Laplante, from a small town in Minnesota, says he had very few gay role models growing up – and came out as a gay man shortly after finishing high school. "I just wanted to be completely open," stating that the poker community has been “very accepting” of his sexuality.
Claiming that the USA has made “considerable progress” in the fight for LGBT rights, he explained that winning the bracelet means "you get to have a moment," a responsibility that he takes seriously.
As a poker player, that's the only way I'm going to have a positive impact."
His winner’s speech also focused on the poker aspect, with Laplante explaining:
I decided at a pretty young age that I was going to do what I loved for a living and not really care about the money. Every time there was a new WSOP episode on TV I was watching it, and re-watching it, and re-re-watching it. The World Series of Poker is the biggest thing in the game, and if you don’t have a bracelet, to some degree, people don’t consider you as big of a name. For them it’s like, ’He’s so good, but he’s still missing this.’ To get something like this when I have been working so hard for it for so long and have had so many big sweats it’s just incredible.”
Poker presenter and 888Poker pro Kara Scott tweeted in support of Laplante:
@Protentialmn Congratulations for the bracelet, the gorgeous fiancé and the wonderful speech. 💖
— Kara Scott (@KaraOTR) 13 June 2016
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