"Sports Illustrated" Does Major Story on Welsh Rugby Player Gareth Thomas

In what has to be one of the lengthiest, most in depth articles from a U.S. publication on a gay athlete's coming out journey, the May 3rd issue of Sports Illustrated has a feature story on Welsh rugby player Gareth Thomas. Readers might recall that Thomas came out late year to much fan fare in Europe.

Written by Gary Smith, the SI article not only delves in great depth into what the thirty-five-year-old Thomas endured living his entire adult life in the closet, but also wonders when an American athlete of Thomas' stature might ever show the same courage. Writes Smith near the start of the feature:

So how do we answer Gareth Thomas? Where is our pioneer? Why hasn't one gay male athlete in a major professional team sport in our country—one who's still playing, not one retired—ever come out?

Even the U.S. military is preparing to cross the line that 25 other countries' armies already have. Will team sports be the last place in the U.S. where a gay man feels he must hide and lie?

Maybe, when we sit down in front of our games this weekend, if we peer into the players' eyes and realize that one of every 10 of them may be living the nightmare that Gareth Thomas has lived, the spell would be broken. Unless, of course, the one in 10 has long since been frightened away from our playing fields and courts and rinks and been winnowed to the one in 20 or 30.

Maybe, if we really understood what hiding and lying does to a man, what's still happening in American sports couldn't possibly happen.

The article then concludes:

Someday, a gay male athlete in a mainstream U.S. sport will step forward and cross the threshold that lesbian athletes did long ago. And when that day finally dawns, Alf has this crazy idea. He'd love to go to the U.S. and climb onto the highest rooftop with that guy. Not to jump off. To stand tall beside him, to break the link between homosexuality and weakness, and to scream, "I'm gay! He's gay! We're gay!" And see how far the echo carries. 

Wouldn't that be something.

What you'll find in the pages in between is one of the more remarkable pieces of sports journalism about how horrible the closet is for those who find themselves trapped in it. Smith notes the irony of how fitting Thomas' nickname of "Alf" was given that he felt like such an outsider, an "alien" in every sense of the word,

He also details the awful sense of isolation that Thomas, arguably Wales' greatest rugby player ever, felt under the weight of the expectations he felt to live up to what it means "to be a man."

Smith details how Thomas wound up married to a woman — "He'd met her a few years before at a friend's birthday party. No, his knees didn't go rubbery, the way other blokes' did for girls..." — and how he eventually grew so miserable and fearful of being found out, that he actually suffered a mini-stroke that threatened to end his career. 

But unlike the terrible ending to the story of Justin Fashanu, Thomas came out thanks in part to a  wonderfully supportive coach anamed Scott "Johnno" Johnson as well as his teammates. Smith details how Thomas first came out with Johnson's help:

Johnno entered the Welsh dressing room. "What's going on, mate?" he asked softly.

Alfie blinked up at him. The little black ball, like an embolism, had traveled to a place where it would kill him if he didn't get it out, but ... but this was baring himself to rugby now, risking everything.

"Jemma and me have split," he murmured.

"Look, it's one of two things," said Johnno. "Do you want me to make it easier on you, Alf? Do you want me to say it for you?"

Alf nodded. "Either you cheated on her with another woman, which I don't think you have...."

Silence.

"Does it have something to do with your sexuality, mate?"

Tears filled Alf's eyes. "You knew all the time," he said.

"So ... you're still Alf, right? We love you. This doesn't change anything about you as a person or how the boys feel about you.... But you'll need support, mate. You can't hold this alone. I'm going to speak to a few of the boys. They need to know."

Most of us know the rest of Thomas' story by now — the near unanimous acceptance by his country, how much happier he is today. But the SI article has details I didn't know and is truly worth reading for how fully it captures the damage the closet wreaks not just on gay men, but the women and family who become collateral damage from the closet.

I don't know whether or not this will be a Sports Illustrated cover story or not (here is hoping!), but Smith's intent seems to be to both educate SI's mostly male readership on the reality of gay athletes, and to hopefully make it a little bit easier for a professional male athlete to come out in America.

Here is hoping that day comes sooner rather than later. 

Note:  Our photo retrospective of Gareth Thomas' rugby career can be found here.