BBC Sport - Rugby Unn - Ex-Ln Gareth Thomas reveals he is gay

Contents:

• WAL GBY LEGEND GARETH THOMAS OUT AS GAY
• EX-LN GARETH THOMAS REVEALS HE IS GAY
• WHO IS GARETH THOMAS? OPENLY GAY WAL GBY UNN LEGEND AND REALY STAR DIAGNOSED WH HIV
• WELSH GBY STAR REVEALS HE IS GAY
• GAY GBY PLAYER GARETH THOMAS 'PRAYED TO BE STRAIGHT'
• GAY GBY PLAYER GARETH THOMAS HOP TO FD LONDON CLUB
• WELSH GBY STAR REVEALS HE IS GAY
• PRCE HARRY PRAIS GAY GBY STAR FORCED TO DISCLOSE HIV STAT
• 10 GAY RUGBY PLAYERS WHO MA THEIR COME OUT

WAL GBY LEGEND GARETH THOMAS OUT AS GAY

The former Wal and Brish Lns pta Gareth Thomas has surprised the world of gby by g out as gay.

I feel I have achieved everythg I uld ever possibly have hoped to achieve out of gby and I did beg gay. I want to send a posive msage to other gay people that they n do , too. "Jt bee you are gay, don't mean you fancy every man who walks the pla, " Thomas told the Daily Mail.

EX-LN GARETH THOMAS REVEALS HE IS GAY

"I don't want to be known as a gay gby player. " Cardiff Blu utily back Thomas said he had been through "all sorts of emotns" over the issue, sce first knowg he was gay his late teens. He revealed that he was "anx about people's reactns" to him beg gay and that he felt he uld not have e out earlier his gby reer.

He feels attus have changed and the time is right for sport to start acceptg openly gay people the same way other profsns have recent years.

"I jt happen to be gay, " he add.

WHO IS GARETH THOMAS? OPENLY GAY WAL GBY UNN LEGEND AND REALY STAR DIAGNOSED WH HIV

"Statistilly I n't be the only one, but I'm not aware of any other gay player still the game.

"Jemma and I were spltg up, and I was sred of the future and beg sgle aga as a gay man. "I thk people will rpect him as a person and as a player - he's a person jt like anybody else, who jt happens to be one of the great players Wal have had over the years and who jt happens to be gay.

"'In 2009, when he was Wal’s most pped player, Thomas received praise after beg the first Rugby Unn player to e out as gay - sayg at the time that he hoped he uld help pave the way for others like he wants to be able to do the same for his illns, and hop that his openns will help end the stigma around the sportsman now tak one tablet ntag four meditns each day, and doctors have said his ndn is unr ntrol to the pot that is nsired "untectable" and nnot be passed said that his partner - Stephen - who he met after his diagnosis and married three years ago, do not have former gby star add: "I'm speakg out bee I want to help others and make a difference.

WELSH GBY STAR REVEALS HE IS GAY

"Gareth blazed a trail by beg the first gby player to e out as gay and has done so much to enurage cln and diversy wh the sport.

"The former Cardiff Blu player won 103 ps and sred 41 tri for Wal between 1995 and 2007, and he is 13th on the all-time ternatnal tt try-srg November, he was attacked Cardiff cy centre a homophobic hate crime, but asked South Wal Police to al wh the 16-year-old assailant by way of rtorative n ntact the Samarans by llg them for ee om any phone for ee on 116 123, email or vis to fd tails of your neart follows….

GAY GBY PLAYER GARETH THOMAS 'PRAYED TO BE STRAIGHT'

One gay gby player retir and another out! Jed Hooper, a gby pta for the Wal’ Old Redcliffians, has publicly announced that he is a proud homosexual. I said that if the club don’t want a gay man as s figurehead I would unrstand and step down.

We hope his urage will spire other gay profsnal athlet to not only step out of the closet, but break out — LOUD and PROUD! Thomas announced he was gay 2009Gareth Thomas donned his bt grey Welsh Rugby Unn su and his ft patent sho before headg for his swimmg pool the hope of beg a "betiful rpse" pta of Wal both s of gby had wrtled wh his sexualy for his whole reer; now he had reached the end of the wife Jemma, a childhood sweetheart, had left Thomas three months after he told her he was gay.

GAY GBY PLAYER GARETH THOMAS HOP TO FD LONDON CLUB

"Thomas was voted top of the 2010 Pk List, which intifi the 101 most fluential gay people BraIt is now five years sce the 36-year-old, who retired 2011, beme the hight-profile sportsman the UK to reveal he was gay. "I'm not sure if was bee I was gay that I felt such prsn, was jt that I was lyg to everyone. "Thomas also admted his first gay enunter as an 18-year-old workg as a postman left him feelg "disgted" and how he ed away gam and fake stag weekends to pick up men London's gay 100th and fal match for Wal was the feat to Fiji the 2007 World CupHidg behd 'Alfie'Thomas was known gby unn by his nickname 'Alfie', but to him was an opportuny to hi behd an image he uld said: "Alfie was an archetypal gby player.

WELSH GBY STAR REVEALS HE IS GAY

"Thomas, pictured here wh Prime Mister David Cameron, is an ambassador for the fight agast homophobia and transphobia sport'Comg out' to his Wal team-matThomas says he was at his lowt ebb after leadg Wal to a 29-29 draw wh Atralia at the Millennium Stadium 2006, wh the anxiety over his sexualy havg ed him to lose 14 pounds the game Atralia assistant ach Stt Johnson walked to the drsg room to shake his hand and, holdg back the tears, Thomas told the former Wal and Ospreys ach that his wife had left him. Sign up today for our ee To TopWorldWelsh Rugby Capta Jed Hooper Com OutThe pta of the Welsh gby team, the Old Redcliffians, me out as gay after a potential suor he met said he uldn't date someone who was closeted. "I said that if the club don't want a gay man as s figurehead I would unrstand and step down, " Hooper said.

He me out as gay 2009, makg him the first openly gay profsnal gby unn player - and will be a star on ITV's new show The Real Full Monty on Ice. 2 The former Welsh ternatnal me out as gay after his marriage broke up and said he hoped would enurage other young gay gby playersCred: Getty Imag. When did Gareth Thomas e out as gay?

PRCE HARRY PRAIS GAY GBY STAR FORCED TO DISCLOSE HIV STAT

In December 2009, Thomas announced publicly that he is gay. He said he did not want to be known as a "gay gby player" but simply as a "gby player". He was also the first profsnal gby unn player to announce that he was gay, when he me out 2009.

Thomas married his wife, Jemma, 2002, but they later divorced before he announced that he was gay 2009.

Wal gby unn ternatnal Gareth Thomas has announced that he is gay an terview Bra's Daily Mail Cardiff Blu full-back, 35, says he has been through "absolute spair" and did not want to be known simply as a "gay gby player" former Wal and Brish and Irish Lns pta is Wal' most-pped player and nth the all-time Tt try srg list. I jt happen to be gay.

10 GAY RUGBY PLAYERS WHO MA THEIR COME OUT

Athlet across the untry will wear multi-loured lac this weekend to support Stonewall's mpaign to kick homophobic prejudice out of sportPublished: 18:05, 23 Nov 2018Updated: 18:17, 23 Nov 2018A NUMBER of the Wal gby squad will not be wearg rabow lac for their match agast South Ai tomorrow. Athlet across the untry will wear multi-loured lac this weekend to support Stonewall's mpaign to kick homophobic prejudice out of sport. Former Welsh ternatnal and pta Gareth Thomas beme the first gby player to e out as gay 2009.

3 Rabow lac are to support Stonewall's bid to kick homophobic prejudice out of sportCred: Rters. Image ptn, Gareth Thomas has always said he is a "gby player who happens to be gay"Ex-Wal gby pta Gareth Thomas has been speakg on a popular Amerin chat show about the stggle he faced before publicly clarg that he was Csars star told host Ellen DeGener this week that before his marriage he ed to vis church and "pray to be straight" ma the public admissn about his sexualy follows Mickey Rourke sayg he hop to play Thomas a Hollywood actor was speakg on a Christmas edn of the Channel 4 talk show Alan Carr: Chatty Man and hted should the film be ma, he would even learn Welsh for the, who is nicknamed Alfie, and grew up Sarn, near Bridgend, appeared on the DeGener show ont of a TV dience of lns to talk ankly about his g out ptn, Gareth and Jemma Thomas were iends as teenagers before marryg Augt 2001He related how the first person he told was his wife, Jemma, who he divorced earlier this year, before broachg the subject wh his he also spoke of his stggle to nceal his secret om his Welsh said: "I beme the master of playg the straight bat- I would go to bars wh the boys, I would always be the one to start a fight, to be outrageo and drk the most.

"The player admted that other gay sportspeople had nfid him sce his public ptn, Mickey Rourke wants to play Thomas a bpic of the gby player's lifeHe said: "I don't try and ax people to e out bee needs to be right for them as an dividual but when I speak to some people I realise that the power and fluence that famo sportspeople have is amazg and to show such a posive msage n change the world.

"After the show DeGener, who is herself openly gay, posted a msage on Twter sayg: "Gareth Thomas is the first openly gay male athlete on any pro team. "Thomas has always said he don't want to be known as a gay gby player and is a gby player who "jt happens to be gay" view was echoed by Rourke when he spoke to Alan add: "To be a man who plays gby who is gay and to live wh that secret for the amount of years that Gareth had, to perform at the high level that he performed at, tak a lot of urage.