I like all codes of football, but Welsh Rugby Union is rather far off and obscure to me.
That said, even I know who Gareth Thomas is. He's the most capped player in Welsh history. A very tough customer in a very hard sport.
That said, even I know who Gareth Thomas is. He's the most capped player in Welsh history. A very tough customer in a very hard sport.
What I didn't know - till I was casually scanning for Rugby news today - was that he outed himself as gay in December 2009, although his closest friends and team mates have known for years.
This is the news item.
This is the news item.
His onfield brilliance.
It's probably not everyone's cup of tea ( and, no, I'm not gay ) but I found it an interesting tale of a man in a very macho world coming to terms with something he's denied all his life.
Very notable is how his team mates reacted. Thomas' worst fears... were not realised.
It's probably not everyone's cup of tea ( and, no, I'm not gay ) but I found it an interesting tale of a man in a very macho world coming to terms with something he's denied all his life.
Very notable is how his team mates reacted. Thomas' worst fears... were not realised.
For generations, the stereotype of "gay" was a drag queen in a tootoo with makeup and breast augmentation, a sort of ultra-feminine individual with no balance in life at all; ignorance in a most despicable form. For professional sports figures to come out, the pressure must be enormous.
ReplyDeleteI ask; who has the more brass? Those who sit back and ridicule in the comfort of their world, or one who fights the odds and the self-preservation instincts to remain quiet to tell the world about something that truthfully is not the world’s business to begin with.
It's odd, many of the citizens of the U.S. boast of their knowledge of the Roman Empire (although I believe most of those boasting know very little). They rage over the manliness of the gladiators, the political skills of the Roman Senate, the sexual prowess of the Roman men. Yet, they look at you in disbelief when you tell them how Romans, during much of their history, were openly gay and very accepting of homosexuality.
It's the dogma of fundamental religions that changed the attitudes over centuries.
If you get the time, check out my article on health care in the U.S. on Open Salon. It made the front page of Salon.
ReplyDeletehttp://open.salon.com/blog/boomer_bob/2011/01/06/rw005s_trojan_horses
I suspect a lot of the persecution of homosexuality by religious authorities - and the totally unjust association with pederasty - actually derives from centuries of priests, bishops, cardinals, popes diverting their own guilt and projecting their own predatory behaviour onto completely innocent people who happen to be same sex-attracted.
ReplyDeleteIt's not all the fault of religion though. Ordinary people have to develop the emotional competencies not to be afraid of people who are different, and the Right is mostly inhabited by people who just can't be bothered.
I read your article. Very impressive. So much I didn't know.
ReplyDeleteI didn't comment there because I think you've already heard everything I have to say about the subject.