The only gay on the pch | LGBTQ+ rights | The Guardian

Contents:

• CRAIG MAXWELL-KEYS: PREMIERSHIP GBY REFEREE ME OUT AS GAY VIA WHATSAPP
• WHO IS GBY REF NIGEL OWENS? WELSHMAN BRAVELY ME OUT AS GAY, FOUGHT BULIMIA AND OVERME SUICI
• ‘I NSIRED CHEMIL STRATN,’ SAYS GAY GBY REFEREE NIGEL OWENS
• GAY RUGBY REFEREE
• GAY REFEREE REQUTED TO BE STRATED
• DISMANTLG STEREOTYP: 10 INSPIRG GAY RUGBY PLAYERS AND PERSONALI
• THE ONLY GAY ON THE PCH

CRAIG MAXWELL-KEYS: PREMIERSHIP GBY REFEREE ME OUT AS GAY VIA WHATSAPP

Craig Maxwell-Keys explas a cisn to Exeter Chiefs' Jack YeandleProfsnal gby has ntually embraced morn technology - so 's no surprise that Premiership referee Craig Maxwell-Keys took a siar approach towards g out as gay.

"Gunng over prejudice to chase Olympic dreamMaxwell-Keys drifted towards beg a match official by chance - he broke his wrist playg for Lichfield as a youngster and, while reverg om the jury, he enrolled on a refereeg and tly bten by the refereeg bug, he took charge at the Staffordshire Unr-12 Ftival at the age of 17 and worked his way up the ladr to bee a full-time referee urse, Maxwell-Keys is not the only openly gay gby referee - Nigel Owens, who me out 2007, is one of the sport's hight-profile officials and has featured at three World Cups. In 2007, the Mynyddcerrig-native shocked the sports world by g out as gay. 6 In 2007 Owens shocked the sports world by g out as gayCred: SWNS:South Wt News Service.

WHO IS GBY REF NIGEL OWENS? WELSHMAN BRAVELY ME OUT AS GAY, FOUGHT BULIMIA AND OVERME SUICI

It's such a big taboo to be gay my le of work, I had to thk very hard about bee I didn't want to jeopardise my reer. A GAY REF IN A MACHO SPORT. "It's such a big taboo to be gay my le of work, I had to thk very hard about bee I didn't want to jeopardise my reer, " he nfsed.

"When I beme a referee, beme clear that there was nobody the sport who was gay. "Although that’s not to say that the sport is openly homophobic. Owens knew he was gay his late teens.

Rugby referee Nigel Owens is one of the most proment gay men sport. As an openly gay figure one of the most mascule of sports Nigel Owens is a rary – but he might never have achieved his inic stat gby unn if he had gone ahead wh plans for a chemil stratn.

‘I NSIRED CHEMIL STRATN,’ SAYS GAY GBY REFEREE NIGEL OWENS

“I didn’t want to be gay, ” Owens, who me out 2007, told CNN.

“I actually went to the doctor at one stage to see if I uld be chemilly strated any way, if would get rid of me beg gay. They n’t tell other people they’re gay bee they’re fightg themselv.

However, he believ the mcular world of gby unn is way ahead of other global sports when to acceptg gay stars, although Gareth Thomas beme the first profsnal player to open up about his sexualy as recently as 2009. “It annoys me sometim when people say gby is homophobic.

GAY RUGBY REFEREE

He’s om Wal, his name is Nigel Owens and he’s openly gay.

"'I didn't want to be the token gay referee'A reer as long as Cecch's don't e whout challeng, and some of his most memorable moments have been acpanied by ntroversy. "I've always been gay, but I didn't know until I was 25, " Cecch says.

I didn't want to be known as 'Matt the gay ref', and to eher miss out on gam or be given gam bee I was the token gay referee.

GAY REFEREE REQUTED TO BE STRATED

"'I feared havg to al wh homophobic abe on the pch'Cecch tablished himself as an NRL referee durg the 2000sCecch told his refereeg lleagu about his sexualy 2001, soon after his NRL but.

DISMANTLG STEREOTYP: 10 INSPIRG GAY RUGBY PLAYERS AND PERSONALI

"But the fear I had was a gay ment to me by a player on the field that I'd have to al wh. Nigel Owens has said he was "not surprised" to hear that homophobic language was allegedly ed by a former Welsh Rugby Unn (WRU) employee to refer to the former gby unn referee told Sky News that he is nfint the alleged cint "would have been alt wh" had the WRU been ma aware of .

THE ONLY GAY ON THE PCH

Mr Owens, who me out as gay 2007, says that gby "has changed" s attus towards members of the LGBTQ+ muny - but that there is still "a lot of work to be done" the specific claims of homophobic language ma about him, Mr Owens said: "There are dividuals or mori wh anisatns, wh sport, wh our fai, wh our society, who maybe are jt not nice people, who e that language rogatory to people... "Martyn Lewis, a referee until 2016, told BBC Wal that he rells hearg a lleague repeatedly refer to Mr Owens as "the gay boy". The allegatn me after a BBC Wal Invtigat programme revealed allegatns of misogyny, sexism, racism and homophobia wh the unn's chief executive officer, Steve Phillips, rigned the aftermath of the documentary.