Rugby Leagus Star comes out

JupiterKid

England Rugby league star Keegan Hirst has come out as gay. Brave man!

http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/world-news/rugby-league-star-keegan-hirst-6260707

suicide_circus

Pfft, Rugby League

Valetta

JupiterKid wrote: »

England Rugby league star Keegan Hirst has come out as gay. Brave man!

http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/world-news/rugby-league-star-keegan-hirst-6260707

Why brave?

Specialun

Whats with the article..he likes men so the fcuk what...his hardly going to be trying to touch some dudes ass in a match

Dirty Dingus McGee

When will this stop being a news story.

It's not really a big deal being gay anymore regardless of what a persons job is.Nobody really gives a toss whether a sportsman is gay.

2 high profile Gaelic Games players came out as gay in recent years and nobody involved in the sports batted an eyelid.

osarusan

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

When will this stop being a news story.

It's not really a big deal being gay anymore regardless of what a persons job is.Nobody really gives a toss whether a sportsman is gay.

2 high profile Gaelic Games players came out as gay in recent years and nobody involved in the sports batted an eyelid.

Rugby ref Nigel Owens has been the target of homophobic abuse more than once.

Donal Og Cusack's mother stopped going to games for a while because of the abuse he was getting.

It is a big deal to some people, or, at least, they will use it as a way to taunt/abuse.

Mr_Muffin

I didn't think this kind of stuff even made the news anymore.

conorh91

Respected prop Keegan, 27, reveals the secret torment of dealing with his sexuality while carving out a career in one of the world’s most macho sports

Up there with waterpolo and synchronised swimming.

Fair play to him all the same.

Dirty Dingus McGee

osarusan wrote: »

Rugby ref Nigel Owens has been the target of homophobic abuse more than once.

Donal Og Cusack's mother stopped going to games for a while because of the abuse he was getting.

It is a big deal to some people, or, at least, they will use it as a way to taunt/abuse.

Was that homophobic abuse or just general abuse because he would have got plenty of abuse if he was gay or not.

osarusan

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

Was that homophobic abuse or just general abuse because he would have got plenty of abuse if he was gay or not.

Homophobic abuse.

His account of the anti-gay abuse directed at him is the latest revelation to come from his forthcoming autobiography, Come What May. He is due to talk about the book on the Late Late Show on Friday.

Donal Og recalled the moment he was waiting to take a free at a championship game in Semple Stadium, when a man started up a hate-filled chant on a megaphone.

http://www.herald.ie/entertainment/around-town/gay-slurs-have-driven-my-mother-away-from-games-says-donal-og-27929766.html

Cold War Kid

conorh91 wrote: »

Up there with waterpolo and synchronised swimming.

Fair play to him all the same.

I dunno. Where he grew up seems macho. Rugby might be the preserve of posh boys in well-to-do Dublin and the south of England but it's far "tougher" in tougher areas.

Look at him too - hard-looking bastid (and... hubba hubba!)

conorh91

Cold War Kid wrote: »

I dunno. Where he grew up seems macho. Rugby might be the preserve of posh boys in well-to-do Dublin and the south of England but it's far "tougher" in tougher areas.

Look at him too - hard-looking bastid (and... hubba hubba!)

ah yeah, I'm just making a boring rugby league vs rugby union joke... in my defence it is my bed-time...

suicide_circus

Cian Healy won't like this!

JupiterKid

In an ideal world that would not be news but Hirst felt the need to conceal his true nature due to the heteronormative world we live in.

Even to the degree of getting married to a woman and having kids.

I have to say he's well hot!

Wang King

Looks a bit like Peter O'Mahony

Stheno

Nigel Owens recently did an interview with the Indo about how he felt like committing suicide when he realised he was gay

http://www.independent.ie/sport/rugby/i-left-a-note-for-my-mum-and-dad-popular-ref-nigel-owens-opens-up-about-suicide-attempt-31448596.html

The man has reached some of the highest accolades that can be accorded a ref in the sport, yet still felt like this at a very young age.

PTH2009

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

When will this stop being a news story.

It's not really a big deal being gay anymore regardless of what a persons job is.Nobody really gives a toss whether a sportsman is gay.

2 high profile Gaelic Games players came out as gay in recent years and nobody involved in the sports batted an eyelid.

I knew Donal Og cusack came out who was the other one ??

DEFTLEFTHAND

Gareth Thomas also came out when he was playing Rugby Union for Cardiff and the Welsh national team. I know League is seen as a northern working class pursuit in England so fair play to the guy, because that must be even harder.

It's a tough road, they'll accept you to your face but the jokes and slurs will be flowing at a fierce rate behind your back. Being bent will never be fully acceptable to certain males unfourtanely.

Sever Tomorrow

suicide_circus wrote: »

Cian Healy won't like this!

Serious? It's quite obvious Healy isn't homophobic if you look at his stances during the referendum.

Dirty Dingus McGee

PTH2009 wrote: »

I knew Donal Og cusack came out who was the other one ??

Valerie Mulcahy.She's won 9 all irelands with the Cork womens football team.

freshpopcorn

I don't know will there ever be day when people won't have to come out. It is getting easier than it was before. Technically we all come out as gay or straight when you entire say you have a boyfriend/girlfriend to our family/friends.
I do think people in the media often have to come out tough instead of being outed.
Regarding homophobia in Ireland I do think it has decreased a lot over the last decade or so but it's still their.
There are two types of homopobia. Young lads often say the word gay/f*g/pu*f/fa**ot in a jokingly way but these people change when somebody close to them comes out and they accept them. Often they meant no harm in the first place.
The worst kind I experienced during the referendum were people who are about 40+ both men and women. Who were often religious. These are the people who are "loving and caring people" these people happily post on social media comparing gay men to pedophiles and saying we'll be legalising bestiality. These are real facebook pages and can be viewed by their kids/grandkids/family/etc. This is why I think it's great that their are people coming out in the media still to give people who are struggling with their sexuality a bit of hope.

NotASheeple

Not surprised to hear this OP. Because as a former Rugby player myself, I always thought Rugby League players were pansies anyway...:pac:

One eyed Jack

JupiterKid wrote: »

In an ideal world that would not be news but Hirst felt the need to conceal his true nature due to the heteronormative world we live in.

Even to the degree of getting married to a woman and having kids.

They don't come ready for purpose off a shelf y'know! They're people too, and would you not think his wife before she became his wife deserved to know he was gay?

I have to say he's well hot!

Ahh well sure as long as he's hot, sure that excuses everything... like hell it does :rolleyes:

The problem isn't any "hetronormative world", it's people who can't be honest with themselves, and then they are selfish enough to drag other people into their mess without making them aware of what they might be letting themselves in for.

But he's hot, so it's ok.

JupiterKid

Of course a heteronormative world is at least partially responsible for this rugby league captain staying deep in the closet until now. Do you really think he would have married a woman and had kids if had no problem with his true sexuality?

Society expects everyone to be straight. You have to fight against that, struggle with that when coming to terms with being gay. I certainly know that I did.

I do feel sorry for his wife but she's young enough to find and meet someone else and move on with her life.

pauliebdub

JupiterKid wrote: »

I do feel sorry for his wife but she's young enough to find and meet someone else and move on with her life.

I'd feel very angry and used if I was in her position and of course it's much harder to move on and meet someone else now that she has two kids with this selfish tosser. It's the 21st century not the 1950s, how hard is it to acknowledge that you are gay without having to involve other people.

One eyed Jack

JupiterKid wrote: »

Of course a heteronormative world is at least partially responsible for this rugby league captain staying deep in the closet until now.

No, the world isn't responsible for this man staying in the closet until now. Only he is responsible for that.

Do you really think he would have married a woman and had kids if had no problem with his true sexuality?

I only know he married a woman and had children with her while hiding his sexuality from her. He used someone else to provide cover for himself because he was worried about people finding out he was gay, meanwhile his wife was blaming herself for the eventual breakdown of their marriage.

Society expects everyone to be straight. You have to fight against that, struggle with that when coming to terms with being gay. I certainly know that I did.

No it doesn't. People have more important things to be thinking about than you or anyone else's sexuality. The only people that make an issue of it are individuals themselves with all this 'coming out' nonsense.

I do feel sorry for his wife but she's young enough to find and meet someone else and move on with her life.

Oh well that's fine then, their marriage never happened and they never had children together and she'll be fine because she can find someone else anyway.

I really don't think you're able to grasp the concept that he should have been honest with himself in the first place, because however difficult that is for him, it doesn't excuse him inflicting that lie on anyone else, or blaming anyone else, because of his own prejudices about himself and his chosen profession.

alias no.9

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

Was that homophobic abuse or just general abuse because he would have got plenty of abuse if he was gay or not.

He got a lot of homophobic abuse for years before he came out publicly

JupiterKid

One eyed Jack wrote: »

No it doesn't. People have more important things to be thinking about than you or anyone else's sexuality. The only people that make an issue of it are individuals themselves with all this 'coming out" nonsense

Coming out is nonsense, then? I presume that in your happy hetero world you've never had to deal with homophobic abuse or being discriminated against or shunned.

It's a bloody big deal for gay people and while its a lot easier now to come out, it's still not easy. Perhaps you would think differently if you were gay.

TheLastMohican

Specialun wrote: »

Whats with the article..he likes men so the fcuk what...his hardly going to be trying to touch some dudes ass in a match

Wha? Not even in a scrum? Oops, no scrum there.

dd972

The players a Yorkshireman so we can't entirely rule it out as a double-income-no-kids scam :P

fleet_admiral

I always had a felling ****** **** knows whats in his flower beds. Anyone agree?

One eyed Jack

JupiterKid wrote: »

Coming out is nonsense, then? I presume that in your happy hetero world you've never had to deal with homophobic abuse or being discriminated against or shunned.

Yes, that's what I said - 'coming out' nonsense. Feel free to presume what you like, but then don't tell me about what society 'expects' simply because you assume things about other people.

It's a bloody big deal for gay people and while its a lot easier now to come out, it's still not easy. Perhaps you would think differently if you were gay.

It's a bloody big deal for some people, would be more accurate. Perhaps you would think differently if you thought of other people and what they have to deal with that you don't. Perhaps if your hot looking hero had thought of other people besides himself, he wouldn't have put them in the humiliating position they're in now thanks to his selfishness.

frostyjacks

I feel sorry for the wife and kids. He's putting them through hell, making them feel totally worthless and then being applauded and hero-worshipped for it. I don't buy his excuses, there's absolutely no stigma about being gay anymore.