Gareth Thomas, an ex-Wales and ex-lions (a team made up of the best players from england wales scotland and ireland, for those that don't follow rugby, which could be many on this site ) has just come out as gay. Obviously rugby is a very macho sport so im not sure what sorta reaction he will get when he goes to play in front of large crowds. Nonetheless its a huge step forwards, as hes the first openly gay rugby player im aware of. I think its also very important that he is a very big player. He isn't just a small unheard of player, he is arguably one of the best players to ever represent Wales, and holds the record for the most appearances, as well as winning the grandslam (again for those that dont know this means beating England,Scotland,Wales,Ireland,France and Italy all in one season) with them. I found the article quite moving, especially when he talks about considering suicide. Lets hope he gets a good reaction and spurs other gay sportsman to have the courage to do the same Well done Gareth http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/welsh/8421956.stm
I think the whole story it brilliant - he is also the most capped welsh international by the way! I am a huge rugby fan and have seen him play on many occations. The welsh really seem to be leading the way in terms of gay visibility in the sport with their top, and one of the top in the UK, rugby referees Nigel Owens also being out as gay (which was a few years back and at the time he was probably the only out guy in the game which, as a ref and therefore subjected to quite a lot of harassment anyway is pretty brave!). I first saw this on the guardian website and it was really amusing reading all the comments by people who obviously have very little experience of homophobia and how scary it is to actually come out, saying how it was "no big deal" and wondering why everyone was making such a fuss! I don't know about any of you but I for one think it is a really big deal. There are so few positive images of out gay sports people, and so many people that have such a hard time with their sexuality that to have someone of such a high profile, in such a macho sport to actually do this is amazing - hopefully others will follow and we can finally get to a point where someones sexuality really is no big deal. Anyway, rant over and well done to a very brave guy!
i feel sorry for gay guys in sport ... all this yea its a working class macho straight thing >.> .... i remember teh last time a sporting guy i remember coming out... football was very cruel to him
About time some sports people started to come out. It might help to convert the many homophobic sports followers. Shame that the footballers aint gonna follow suit anytime soon.
Ian Roberts, Australian representative rugby league player did the same thing a good while back, i was impressed that The Footy Show embraced his coming out with a gay tolerance campaign at the time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Roberts_(rugby_league)
That is a great story! I hope that since he is a role model for many it will help those that are struggling to come out. Also its important to show the general public that being gay is no big deal and will help break the gay sterotype.
Gay Rugby Player This was in the Toronto paper, but it might have been linked already here... http://www.thestar.com/sports/article/741700--rugby-icon-gareth-thomas-s-outing-a-shocker?bn=1 Very cool.
Sweet! I like "Why didn't you tell us sooner?" Now THOSE are great mates. :eusa_clap WOOOO, Gareth Thomas!!! ...mmm, rugby player...:rolleyes:
I saw him give an interview on This Morning where he said that he wanted to break the taboo of homosexuality in sport. Thye were really grilling him about it being fair to his wife if he knew all along. But he seemed to handle it well and said that even if it helps one person out there who is struggling with who they are then it will be agood thing.
What a beautifully and sensitively written article! And everything Gareth said in it was spot-on: "Just because you are gay, it doesn't mean you fancy every man who walks the planet" "I don't want to be known as a gay rugby player. I am a rugby player first and foremost. I am a man." "I just happen to be gay, it's irrelevant."
This is a clip from CNN> http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/sports/2009/12/22/gareth.thomas.gay.rubgy.player.cnn
Hopefully this is just the first step and we will see more sportsmen come out in the future. I have actually been waiting for something like this. Just to see if once a well known sportsman comes out their career goes down hill. Now to just wait for an AFL player to come out. However that could be decades away..
I wish there were more big time gay athletes. As somebody in highschool sports I avoid the topic of my sexuality as much as a can unfortuantley. It would make things easier on alot of people with there were people like him.
Three cheers for Gareth, he's a stand up player, even if he is Welsh He's a world class player, I'm very glad for him.
Apologies ColdSnap, I was referring to the team, not the people. I'm just biased towards the team to the west.
This is astounding. How many openly gay athletes are competing in major sports, not just Olympic sports that people follow every few years, but in sports that are followed by people all year? Not enough!