Dan Palmer, former pro gby player, out as gay - Outsports

Contents:

• THE URAGEO JOURNEY OF IAN ROBERTS, GBY LEAGUE'S FIRST OPENLY GAY PLAYER
• COREY PARKER: GAY PLAYERS STILL FEEL THE NEED TO HI NRL AND ’S TIME TO DO BETTER
• RUGBY LEAGUE PLAYERS ATRALIA TO BOYTT KEY MATCH OVER GAY PRI JERSEY
• 10 GAY RUGBY PLAYERS WHO MA THEIR COME OUT
• GAY RUGBY LEAGUE PLAYER SAYS HE'S SEEN MUCH 'GAYER' THGS IN SPORTS CHANGG ROOMS
• DAN PALMER PRAISED AFTER BEG FIRST WALLABI PLAYER TO E OUT AS GAY
• DAN PALMER, FORMER PRO GBY PLAYER, OUT AS GAY TEAR-JERKER OP-ED
• LESTER’S NICK MCCARTHY OUT AS GAY AND THANKS CLUB FOR THEIR SUPPORT
• GAY ATHLET ATRALIA GET SUPPORT OM PRO SPORTS LEAGU
• RUGBY ATRALIA STRIK ALLIANCE WH ATRALIA'S GAY AND CLIVE RUGBY CLUBS

THE URAGEO JOURNEY OF IAN ROBERTS, GBY LEAGUE'S FIRST OPENLY GAY PLAYER

Aborigals, Polynians, Melanians and Southern European migrants provid the game’s first diversy om s Anglo-Celtic base and the terlopers were accepted if they plied wh the and “pped sweet” had no place for homosexual men and to be labeled gay was a slur implyg weakns. And that’s the way remaed until a pneer smashed the stereotype, beg the game’s first openly homosexual player, a precursor, a full 20 years before Keegan Hirst, the Batley Bulldogs player who this weekend beme the first Brish player to do likewise.

COREY PARKER: GAY PLAYERS STILL FEEL THE NEED TO HI NRL AND ’S TIME TO DO BETTER

“Until Ian Roberts me out we thought all gay guys were weak, ” says Mar Fenech, the former South Sydney Rabbohs pta and Roberts’s team-mate.

His father Ray was his bt iend and was openly speful about anythg gay he saw on televisn. Stereotyp mean ls thkg and for the league muny, surround by a ep emotnal moat, there was no way he uld be tough and father always advised him to “go for the biggt guy” and, crippled by a life nial, he uld sublimate his rage and claw back self-worth by excellg at everythg physil, cludg was all a smokcreen for a new phase of his life, glorly gurated at Sydney gay pub The Exchange. “I had a sh of eedom and belongg and saw my first role mols, livg openly as gay men and women.

RUGBY LEAGUE PLAYERS ATRALIA TO BOYTT KEY MATCH OVER GAY PRI JERSEY

Roberts would nvce them that he was gog to “50-50 clubs”, further throwg them off the trail by paradg wh betiful “girliends” at club 1984, an unlikely hero emerged for 19-year-old Roberts the form of New South Wal premier Neville Wran, who passed a law crimalisg homosexualy. ”It was the same year that Bronski Beat’s tortured g out anthem Smalltown Boy stormed world dancefloors, crystallisg the horror experience which a young suburban man is bashed for attendg a gay club and disowned by his father. Neher had any ia he was gay.

Eventually old school Souths ach Gee Piggs nonted Roberts about his sexualy, pleadg wh him to stop gog to the gay clubs. Early the 1989 season a gossip em wrten unr a nom plume appeared the Sun Herald statg Roberts had been spotted a gay club. In the followg game Roberts was baed by Bulldogs players and openly vilified by fans, the thought of a gay player fuellg the passns of the wilst Jack, pictured after a brawl wh Roberts 1991.

Roberts was bone tired om pretendg, but they both advised him to keep a fay secret until after his years later Roberts tormented gby league media and fans further by agreeg to a nu shoot Blue, a new gay magaze, but did not fively say he was gay. The opposg crowds went wild and the homophobic abe grew to new heights. For the gay muny, sexualy was a matter of life and ath.

10 GAY RUGBY PLAYERS WHO MA THEIR COME OUT

Gay bashgs and killgs were rife across Sydney, creatg a siege mentaly. Many the muny viewed Roberts’s g out as a way to save liv, particularly wh high rat of gay teen suici blamed on a lack of posive role mols. Roberts appreciated the honty but uld not buy to the belief that the fans and sponsors would not tolerate a gay man.

GAY RUGBY LEAGUE PLAYER SAYS HE'S SEEN MUCH 'GAYER' THGS IN SPORTS CHANGG ROOMS

Peter FzSimons the Sydney Morng Herald was clear on the impact of the announcement: “Roberts is not the first gay footballer, but the first wh the urage to live openly. “In the 90s gay men were murred and bashed by vigilant.

“It mt have been difficult for him to adm he’s gay, om a tough town wh zero tolerance, ” he says. ”Moments and events accumulate to create change and as the first gay ntact sport player to e out durg a reer, Ian Roberts ss wh sports diversy pneers Jackie Robson and Marta Navratilova. Former Manly forward Ian Roberts, who the 1990s was the first high-profile gby league player to e out as gay, said he was not surprised by the players’ cisn.

DAN PALMER PRAISED AFTER BEG FIRST WALLABI PLAYER TO E OUT AS GAY

“As an olr gay man I’m ed to this. The top eight teams qualify for the was the only club planng to wear a pri jersey this Manly forward Ian Roberts, who the 1990s was the first high-profile gby league player to e out as gay, said he was not surprised by the players’ cisn.

DAN PALMER, FORMER PRO GBY PLAYER, OUT AS GAY TEAR-JERKER OP-ED

It tly pas me to thk that wh our game, gay players still feel a need to hi.

I n only image how mt feel to be a gay gby league player today’s tly pas me to thk that wh our game, those players still feel a need to hi. Yet gay players and the LGBTQI+ muny more broadly … that’s one group we’ve mostly left alone. I n only speak for myself, but if a guy me out my team and said, ‘I’m gay’, personally I wouldn’t give a sh.

LESTER’S NICK MCCARTHY OUT AS GAY AND THANKS CLUB FOR THEIR SUPPORT

If the young men who are refg to play wh rabow strip on a jersey later have a child who is born gay, do they disown them? Image the stris that uld be ma terms of unrstandg and acceptance, not jt wh gby league but wir years, the NRL have had a float at Sydney’s Gay and Lbian Mardi Gras.

GAY ATHLET ATRALIA GET SUPPORT OM PRO SPORTS LEAGU

Image that we n help break remag stigmas around homosexualy.

RUGBY ATRALIA STRIK ALLIANCE WH ATRALIA'S GAY AND CLIVE RUGBY CLUBS

That we n help end the cycle of gay people havg to hi themselv away, and all the emotnal damage that would be groundbreakg.

Seven players om an Atralian Natnal Rugby League (NRL) team will boytt a key champnship match this week over their team's cisn to wear a gay pri jersey, promptg cricism om the club's first openly gay Manly Sea Eagl's one-off jersey has rabow strip and a rabow llar - place of the regular whe sectns - to support LGBTQ cln sports, and the club planned to e for one game agast Sydney Aloiai, Jason Saab, Christian Tuipulotu, Josh Schter, Hmole Olak’atu, Tolu Koula and Toafofoa Sipley are the players standg down for Thursday's match, which uld prove pivotal to the club's chanc of makg the NRL fals.