Former Wales and Lions Rugby legend, Gareth Thomas has broken one of the major taboos that surround sport by revealing he is gay. The 35-year-old came out with an interview in a British newspaper. "Just because you are gay, it doesn't mean you fancy every man who walks the planet," Thomas told the Daily Mail. "I don't want to be known as a gay rugby player. I am a rugby player first and foremost. I am a man." Thomas said he had been through "all sorts of emotions" over the issue, since first knowing he was gay in his late teens. He revealed that he was "anxious about people's reactions" to him being gay and that he felt he could not have come out earlier in his rugby career. "It is the toughest, most macho of male sports, and with that comes an image," Thomas said. "In many ways, it is barbaric, and I could never have come out without first establishing myself and earning respect as a player. Rugby was my passion, my whole life, and I wasn't prepared to risk losing everything I loved." Thomas went on to win 100 caps for Wales and 3 for the Lions, and has played for Bridgend and Cardiff and spent 3 years in France with Toulouse, before returning to south Wales in 2007. He feels attitudes have changed and the time is right for sport to start accepting openly gay people in the same way other professions have in recent years. "I just happen to be gay," he added. "It's irrelevant. What I choose to do when I close the door at home has nothing to do with what I have achieved in rugby. It's pretty tough for me being the only international rugby player prepared to break the taboo. Statistically I can't be the only one, but I'm not aware of any other gay player still in the game. I'd love for it, in 10 years' time, not to even be an issue in sport, and for people to say: 'So what?'" Thomas retired from international duty after captaining Wales' exit from the 2007 World Cup. But he admitted it was on Wales duty at an earlier time when he first broke the news to former Wales caretaker coach Scott Johnson over his sexuality and the break-up of his marriage to his wife Jemma. "Somehow, the coach had guessed," said Thomas. "He took me out of the team room to the medical room, locked the door and I told him everything. After keeping it secret for so long, I felt a huge rush of relief. Scott said: 'Right, I've got to speak now to 3 or 4 players in the Welsh team because you need the boys to surround you and support you. You can't cope with this on your own,' and he was right. He told 2 of my team-mates, Stephen Jones and Martyn Williams, and as I sat in the bar waiting for them, I was absolutely terrified, wondering what they were going to say. But they came in, patted me on the back and said: 'We don't care. Why didn't you tell us before? 2 of my best mates in rugby didn't even blink an eyelid."
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