With the DADT policy appearing to be on it's last legs a lot of non-traditional gay men are going to be facing tough decisions and confusing questions about what to do now or in the future about their status toward being open.

Many will be in the military though most will not. But almost all of them will identify with athletes.

Perhaps the best advice will come from athletes who have come out. And one of the recent examples is Welsh rugby player Gareth Thomas.

He is already offering refreshingly sound advice that should be useful to many.

I hope they will read it carefully.

Best line:



Thanks for the link, Sportinlife!

I think Thomas is making a huge contribution to changing the self-image of gay men from the "stereotypical".

And the way he "came out" to his coach Scott Johnson is made for Hollywood (though I hope a better movie is made of it first).

But his biggest contribution to making it easier for non-traditional gay men to come out may be as a kind of heroic erastes to the millions of eromenos out there; terms that I think have unfortunately been confined to a traditional interpretation of the Greek tradition of pederasty, though it involved much more than sex and probably more often involved young men very near the same age than we acknowledge today according to an impressively researched book that I am currently reading The Greeks and Greek Love by James Davidson. In fact a modern version of this sort of mentorship could have either the erastes or the eromenos being of any age and either sexual orientation as long as one is gay. The essential act in modern times would be one masculine male teaching another to deal with the truth: self-acceptance. Men tend to be risk-takers. But risk must be based on facts.