Mickey Rourke Takes Gay Role to Heart

Mickey Rourke is taking his new role playing Gareth Thomas the gay rugby player very seriously.  They have become good friends as he learns the ins and outs of playing the game.  I'm most impressed because they recently started hitting up gay bars in London so he can have the full gay experience.  I'm glad he is open minded but what I can not wrap my head around is how a 60 year old Rourke is going to play a 38 year old Thomas?  Something to ponder....

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Mickey Rourke to play Gay rugby star

Mickey Rourke will be playing gay British rugby star Gareth Thomas in a new film. Rourke went to London to talk to Thomas about the courage it took to live with the secret of his sexuality, then coming out while remaining a professional rugby player. I'm impressed he is putting so much into this role.
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Gareth Thomas On Coming Out and the Rest of Life.

The Guardian has done an article about out gay rugby star Gareth Thomas. Much like the earlier Sports Illustrated article, this is a great account of both the support and challenges Thomas faces as the only out male athlete on a major sports team, and also talks coming out to his parents, his divorce from his wife and switching teams (in the sports sense.) I would recommend reading the article in it's entirety, but here are a couple of good quotes if you're too lazy:

I love the Crusader lads to bits. They're brilliant. But for two weeks me being gay wasn't mentioned. That means it's lurking there. Our captain, Ryan O'Hara, is a real good bloke, an Aussie, and we get on great. But we were all standing around the physio room and Ryan said: 'Did anyone hear about Ricky Martin [the singer who came out in March]?' One of the other guys jumped in and said: 'Ah, we've got rugby this afternoon.' It was his way of changing the subject but the whole room went quiet. I got up and walked out because it felt uncomfy.

Then, three days later, we all went out for a beer and Ryan sat me down and said: 'Mate, how are you being gay – and all the boys knowing?' I just shouted: 'Halle-fucking-lujah!' The boys looked over and I shouted out to them as well. 'Boys,' I said, 'I so respect the way you've handled this. But it's OK – you can talk about it.' It was such a respect thing they showed me but it's much better now. Since then many of them have sat me down, one to one, and said: 'Mate, we've got so much time for what you've done. It's so brave, so powerful.' But I love them taking the piss.

The full article (it's a short one - read it!) can be found here.

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Gareth Thomas Is Tougher Than America.

Sports Illustrated published an article on out rugby hero, Gareth Thomas, in which he questioned why he's a pioneer - and Sport's Illustrated did, too. It's a long and well written article that covers the issue in depth, and leaves both Thomas and SI asking why Gareth Thomas is the only out man in a major team sport.

So how do we answer Gareth Thomas? Where is our pioneer? Why hasn't one gay male athlete in a major professional team sport in our country—one who's still playing, not one retired—ever come out?

The article is well worth a full read through - so click here.
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