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.