Ben Larison, a former college baseball player and one of the first to come out publicly as gay, married his now-husband, Francisco León, on March 17 in New York City.
The two met… well, we’ll let Larison tell the story…
Frankie and I met last winter. A few weeks prior to our first date, I was lying in bed with Covid, bored and scrolling mindlessly on Instagram. While scrolling, I came upon a cute guy, and I did not hesitate to insert myself into his DMs. All I wrote was, “Hi sir” (why!?). He responded, we chatted, made plans to meet for dinner after I recovered, and then he ghosted me for several days (I sent THREE messages which were left unread).
Because I am persistent, I followed up with a fourth message a week or so later, to which he responded and apologized for his unresponsiveness, blaming it on his sleep schedule being out of sync due to spending a month in Mexico with his family. I didn’t buy it, especially because the time difference is only an hour, but we planned to meet for dinner the next week anyway.
And what a great first date that proved to be! So great, in fact, that just a year later, at that same restaurant in the West Village of NYC where we first met, we found ourselves celebrating our marriage with our family and closest friends.
What is that little West Village restaurant? La Contenta Oeste, a Mexican place at 11th and Eighth that gets high ratings on Google.
The marriage was a mutual decision — no proposal — and, according to Larison, “a no-brainer.”
Larison is now a high school guidance counselor just north of New York City. He played baseball for Coe College in Iowa, where he was publicly out on the team for two seasons.
León, originally from Sonora, Mexico, is a mechatronics engineer and an aspiring project manager.
Outsports congratulates the two men and wishes them all of the wonder that marriage has to offer.
You can follow Larison on Instram. León is there as well.
