Friday, December 18, 2009

Rugby star comes out, journos giggle


The UK Daily Mail has always been a middle-of-the-road tabloid and a primary source for gossip and entertainment news, sho it's a little surprising today to see the old school homophobia popping up in its exclusive report that a rugby star has announced that he's gay.

Yes, British Lions legend Gareth Thomas is a poof. And what are you going to do about it?

The Daily Mail will report the news about the 35-year-old former Wales and Lions captain, uh... straight-faced:

"...he has one of the fiercest reputations on the field, and a row of missing front teeth to prove it.

"At 6ft 3in and 16st of pure muscle, his masculinity has always been an absolute given."


The notion that masculinity and athletic prowess are somehow at odds with same-sex preference is quaint to say the least, but the old-school double standards rears its head there, but it's the punning that follows that belongs back at boarding school where the older boys-- you get the picture:

"...But, as he admits in the Daily Mail today, it was all a pretence, a fragile artifice - and one which came crashing down around his ears on November 4, 2006, following a Wales game in Cardiff...

"Breaking down in tears in the changing rooms of the Millennium Stadium, Gareth finally realised he could not go on living a lie. Keeping his true sexuality a secret was destroying him."


Really? A 'fragile artifice'? 'Crashing down around his ears'? (as in 'arse'?) The big macho rugger weeping like a ninny? Really?


Three cheers for Gareth Thomas.

Give him a hand. It must be hard for him. No pun intended.

No comments:

Post a Comment