The life of Gareth Thomas who recently came out as gay reads like a Logbook of the Closeted Homosexual - difficulties with marriage, violent behavior on and off the field, dramatic controversy with coaches - all can be signs of some sort of dysfunctional instability in ones personal life.

And being closeted is dysfunctional. Gay men should know that regardless of what psychologists or psychiatrists may say.

But Thomas has embarked on a very public challenge to the exceptance of that status as the only way that a gay man can survive in a ruggedly male environment.

He has no doubt steeled himself to the merciless ribbing that is inevitable from fellow players, the kind prominently on display in this players' union blog where everything from being overweight to hair styles is fair game.

But I suspect the official line will be quite respectful given the frequency with which a search brings up the name Gareth Thomas in this blog. And I am sure that he is far from the "Only Gay in the Village" in the game of rugby. So here's a big ole "Ayatollah" to the latest in a chain of openly gay athletes that should grow longer.

I just read the Daily Mail for the pictures.


(Note: sportinlife's "committed homosexualist" comment is a reference to the BBC comedy series Little Britain.)

Woof!!!

Here's what Gareth Thomas' ex-wife had to say. She is one incredible, compassionate, understanding and remarkable woman, if this is any indication.
From Towleroad.com --- http://www.towleroad.com/2009/12/i-still-l...ced-he-was.html

"I still love Gareth and I will never stop loving him,' says Jemma, in her first interview since he publicly announced he was gay. 'What happened to us is just so terribly sad. He really was the perfect husband in every other way.

"I'm incredibly proud of him for coming out and if anyone thinks any less of him because of it, then they are stupid. I know it was a massive relief when he told me, his family and close friends three years ago, and it will be even more of a relief now that everyone knows.

"He is now free to be who he is and I, and everyone else who knows and loves him, am happy for him because he is a very special person. I don't feel angry, embarrassed or humiliated, nor do I regret marrying Gareth for a second. I know with all my heart that he adored me as much as I adored him on our wedding day, and I had the most fantastic years of my life with him.

"It would be easy to wallow in self-pity and dwell on the negatives, but I am a positive person and I'm grateful that he loved me so much he had to tell me the truth because he felt I deserved better.

"He released me and in doing so he released himself. Gareth could have waited for years to tell me, wasted my life, and where would that have left me? I was only 30 when he told me, still young enough to meet someone else and have children."

Wow!!! Just wow! What an incredible human being.

I've read quite a few articles about Gareth, and I think that he is incredibly brave to come out while still playing. I guess it goes to show that once again, Europe and European sports attitudes are light years ahead of us here in North America.

And I agree with everyone that Mr Thomas is SMOKING HOT!!!! If I were younger there wouldn't be a lot I'd say no to with him.

But if you ever get a chance to watch the Cardiff Blues play, (mostly available on satellite over here) you will see that he is also one VERY good player, and there's a reason he has had over 100 caps. He's that good.

And now he's a good role model.

What's a cap?

It's a tremendous achievement. Thomas has been asked to be on over 100 international teams. He achieved this between 1995 and 2007.

Great Welsh Pride!!!
The Man's Got Balls!!

The Times' Editorial

I liked the last bit in The Times column about fools with megaphones and runny mouths not counting.

This article detailing the coming out is dramatic and revealing - as well as emotional. It was actually engineered by Wales national team coach Scott Williams when he noticed Thomas' emotional distress about being in the closet was affecting his game, as well as the rest of his life. Two of those players, Stephen Jones and Martyn Williams were first in paving for Gareth to come out. Thomas was prepared for the worst..And the official responses from Wales rugby Chief Executive Roger Lewis and Blues Chief Executive Robert Norster set the stage for a classic "How To On Coming Out."

Fenway, a "cap" is a term to say that a person has played an international test (match). I think the term refers to the old days of actually getting a cap for each international test. So, a player with 100 caps has played 100 international tests. It would be like a representative US baseball team playing the Japan representative baseball team. It is, then, the best of the nation's sports code. In the case of Gareth, he not only played in many games but he captained the teams for some, like the Lions tour of New Zealand in 2005 that I saw.

It may not be making much of a splash on this side of the Big Pond but Gareth Thomas has certainly gotten his due from British sites like this brief photographic retrospective to the very avid European participation in this discussion of him on an apparently US-based site. From that triptych of articles comes a lockerroom photo of Thomas that you do NOT wish to open up at work, a short tutorial on why his coming out is such a big deal, and a smackdown of US sportsfans that sets up some interesting comebacks in the commentaries like this exchange between a Euro who calls himself "Alex" and an American going by the tag "SteveO":Gosh it's nice to know someone cares. As for Gareth he's just looking "to cuddle up to somebody". Now seriously, can that be so difficult for him? I know quite a few....

Attitude magazine held a coming out party for Gareth Thomas the other night. Thomas said he had invited another sports figure still in the closet, but he declined. Thomas did not name him, saying that he does not believe in outing individuals. There was a great deal of support from his fellow rugby players who attended the event!
From The Independent

Thomas is also embracing his position as a role model! And he is at that! Bravo, sir!!!
LGBT Patron

In an obviously unscientific - but still surprising - poll on Facebook Thomas was chosen as the most positive influential Welsh celebrity internationally known.

More importantly he is still just another player for the Cardiff Blues, though the only one to have had a gay "coming out" party.

And he's considering coaching.

Thomas' openness about his sexual orientation may already be having an effect on the culture of the sport, even more so than that of a rugby referree who came out earlier.

Neither of them took umbridge at the homophobic banter of a colleague on Twitter. But that colleague's reaction and later statements demonstrate a widening awareness and sensitivity to the casual homophobia in societies on the part of those who take their "right" to say such things for granted.

Here's an update on how Gareth Thomas is faring since coming out and switching to rugby league:
Interview with the Guardian

Thanks for that article BBC.

Great story; he's amazingly open about himself. It is odd, though, that nothing was said about dating or what he's thinking, relationship-wise, if only to say it's too early to say.

Anyway, he's a hero in my book.

This picture says it all. It demonstrates how an openly gay player can be accepted by his teammates. It is of Gareth Thomas with Nick Youngquest. Thomas has been on twitter saying how much support he's getting from Youngquest, and they are kidding that they will be playing Naked Twister next!

The incredible aspect of Gareth Thomas is he is a man being himself and not a cliché. Unfortunately, too many gays push the envelope on being gay. Being gay is no big deal. It's a fact of life, but there are just so many gays that get on a soapbox about being free, but at the same time downgrading gays with parades and feather boas! Thomas is a true display of a gay man is a man. I believe he does not think he is brave or a cut above. He is just a man.

Thank you, Cyd, for the blog entry on the HBO Sports piece on Gareth Thomas. If you didn't see it, catch it. It was well done, and he was terrific.

Didn't see the interview but it seems strange to me that it was conducted by Bernie Goldberg, who is a conservative media analyst on Fox News

An interview with the BBC. And remember that before there was Gareth there was Daffyd.

Maybe we need a Daffyd before we can have a Gareth.

The rugby league is showing no tolerance for verbal gay-bashing while a former NFL player says there would be no tolerance for an openly gay NFL player, because the locker rooms are "pretty intimate".

I guess NFL locker rooms are more "intimate" than those in the RFL.

So exactly what are those guys doing in the locker rooms in the NFL?

That's an interesting thought, sportinlife! Just what are football players doing in the more "intimate" space of their locker rooms?

On a more serious note, why the divide between the rugby world and the NFL one? Are Europeans more worldly or tolerant? Not necessarily.

The average NFL player went to college. In theory, he was exposed to different ideas and people. Wouldn't that make him more likely to be open, at least, to a player who is gay?

I get more hope about welcoming the first openly gay NFL player, when I read comments from a player like Scott Fujita, rather than Marcellus Wiley.

You would think college would expose normal people to differences in culture and ideas.

But athletes aren't normal. I lived in the dorm where most of the athletes were housed in the late 70s and we "normal" people had little contact with them beyond occasionally espying one in the hall with a towel on coming back from the communal showers (This WAS the 70s. Now Terp athletes probably live in some veritable mansion off-campus.)

Even track stars - who are somewhere low on the athlete totum pole - turned their noses up at us. They had their posses of worshipers - of which i was not one - and their harems of golddiggers.

Not that some weren't nice people if you got to know them. I just didn't have the pleasure, or time.

This sounds ridiculous. This is more your own perception than reality, and probably a result of your own insecurities or inferiority complex about competitive athletes or something.

The inside joke in the blogosphere is that the posters at the Outsports discussion board weren't ever real athletes themselves (and gay volleyball leagues and gym bunnies don't count). Postings like this don't help with that generalization.

Totally confused.

I wasn't an athlete in college, and never pretended I was then or now. I just happened to have gotten a room in that dorm with a straight friend who was an admirer of athletes - mostly because he thought living near them would get him into the good parties with the hot chicks where he'd get the leftovers.

For me it was a chance to get out of the "country" dorms in the south (literally and figuratively) side of campus and - yes I proudly admit it - an opportunity for eye candy which there was plenty of.

But my comments about their shallowness was - and is - what I expected and observed.

Sorry if you were one of them. As I said there were exceptions. I just never got to know them. I didn't have the time or opportunity.

Welcome back to the board.

For me it is thoroughly engrossing to watch the first openly gay male currently playing in pro sports deal dealing with the hypocrisy of the sport world.

But it is clear that his broad shoulders have managed to hold up so far. And other athletes are keeping a close eye on his progress to read his own comments:He is obviously keeping the confidence of these athletes and maintaining their trust.

Hopefully he will not be alone for long. I suspect most, if not all, of these "10 people" are European-based. Both the traditional and MSM factions within the USA gay community have become cynical about the possibility of a gay male athlete coming out while playing in this country.

I think the difference is not the greater homophobia as much as a different culture toward money.

If they manage without it why bother with the stress of being the new big target of the Tea Party movements.

Interesting that Thomas will be nearly 40 by the time the 2013 rugby league world cup roles around. And he may have absorbed a lot of hits by then if he plays instead of being injured most of that time.

I just hope he doesn't pull a bunch of Brett Favre-style retirements. At 40-something it aint pretty to act like a queen in sports.

Gareth Thomas on Ellen.

Tracking the worlds most courageous gay male team athlete in photos

Popular at the bars


Flashing that bicep that sets hearts aflutter in may


Popular with teammates in France


Sharpen your suspension of disbelief for the movie


Hanging out at his hotel in October after coming out


Making the talk show rounds as a hero named "Alfie" in the USA

Video interview with The Advocate.

Excellent interview.

I wonder about Mickey Rourke's ability to convey the character of Gareth Thomas on the big screen.

Gareth is gracious and flattered that someone would make a movie about him, but I suspect this will be a limited cinematographic achievement due to the inability of most movie viewers - especially those in the USA - to suspend disbelief and see the inner character rather than the visual instructor.

Cinema - like the graphic arts and photography before it - are inherently visual arts. And as in those arts, realism is the most difficult goal to achieve. A good impression(ism?) however is well within its means.

Rourke as Thomas will be at best an abstraction that requires much of the viewer in seeing or imagining the reality and depth of the original while viewing that brief and selective summary.

But like abstract art it may reveal things about the subject that less observant people would not take the time to see in the complex reality. I hope the movie will advance the cause of gay rights in that same sense.

The Crusaders massacred the Salford City Reds earlier today, 42-12. Gareth Thomas played well! Mickey Rourke was in attendance at his first ever Rugby League Match. During the half, Mickey Rourke was interviewed along with the boxer Joe Calzaghe. Along with discussing the movie project of Gareth Thomas's life, Rourke said that Joe Calzaghe would be involved in getting him back into shape. Rourke was amazed at the size and shape of the players. Here are a few pictures from the match and an article, which discusses Alfie and Mickey Rourke's Movie project:


Rourke Prepares to play Gareth Thomas!

Playing Thomas will take a guy who is already fit and is very intelligent - two key qualities Thomas already possesses - rather than an actor who needs to work out IMO.

But I'm hoping I'm proved wrong.

Welsh Australian actor Andy Whitfield who already has a lot of practice at nude lockerroom scenes would be a good choice if he did not have cancer.

I thought of Clive Owen or Eric Bana for the role

Welsh actor Hymel Simon (here on the left) has played gay roles. Another Welshman Ioan Guffudd of Fantastic Four fame probably has the acting chops to pull it off.


But his co-star in that movie, American Chris Evans, has a knack for a rebellious personality and combativeness - not to mention the body - to really capture Thomas.


If you've ever heard Thomas's salty language and quick ripostes - not to mention extensive knowledge - when arguing rugby with a sportscaster you would know what I mean. And Thomas probably had to fake it as a woman-chaser for some time, a role Evans played well in FF.
Edit to Add: At the very least a potrayal of Thomas's life would have to capture the nature of his relationship with Jemma or her male equivalent in look.

Fergie may be out with HM The Queen, but Alfie's in!!!!

Gareth Thomas tweeted that he had received an invitation to the marriage of Kate Middleton and Prince William of Wales.

Gareth Thomas wrote an op-ed piece for The Telegraph February 27, after steven Davies coming out. Apologies, if this was posted elsewhere:

"When you can be 100 per cent honest with everyone, it makes you a better person, and a better player."

In other news, because he is still playing, Gareth Thomas has had to put his new foundation on the back burner for now. I'm not worried, because he's a man of his word. He's committed to helping others, so his foundation will be all the stronger, when he can devote his energies to it!
"Hello-Alfie Here"

It's great that he can now say to a heckler who calls him gay that "Yeah, I know that. I told the world already." But just as important, any young player who is openly gay and is heckled can now say "Yeah, and so is Gareth Thomas."
Hopefully Thomas has built a legacy. The great thing about legacies is that, if they are built on sound principle, they can outlive the builder. In fact, unlike material things, they can last as long as there are people who believe in those principles. For that reason, I am not so much concerned that Thomas can not devote so much time to his foundation. He does it the most good by continuing to be a rugby player who is a confidant to fellow athletes.

Mr. Thomas attired for The Royal Wedding:



Makes David Beckham look like chopped liver, IMHO.
And note, NO DATE !! !!! Is there hope???

A suddenly-interested-in-rugby SFD

Hubba Hubba...

Gareth Thomas may be happy to be at "bottom", but he'll always be top of League.

His teammates have his back.


And that's all that really matters.

Here's a picture of Gareth Thomas and David Cameron at no. 10 Downing Street for the conference that Jimwrote about here:
David Cameron to Host Conference on Homophobia

Alfie and the PM (Next stop will be Betty's Place! ):


I wonder, if his mother will tell him that he should have worn a tie, when meeting the PM!

Watching this vid of trys by Gareth Thomas I noticed the two-handed head tap and had to look up that it's the Ayatollah begun when fans started to do it to imitate grieving women at Ayatollah Khomeini's funeral.

Now it's become a way of mocking grief and celebrating a score - a not uncommon inversion among the Brits.

But what struck me even more about the trys in the vid is the virtually unconcious abandon with which Thomas hurls his body into the game. It's something every great athlete achieves - making the extremely difficult look easy.

Even hurt, Gareth is hot.

This is a great pic and Cameron is kind of sexy in a destroy Britain's economy kind of way.

Gareth Thomas Strikes A Pose!