Donal Og Cusack Comes Out As Gay In his New Come What May Autobiography
Posted: 21st Oct 2009 Author: Michelle Penny Topics: News, Sports
All-Ireland sporting hero, Dónal Óg Cusack, has revealed in his autobiography, Come What May, that he is gay.
A leading star in the ancient game of hurling, Dónal writes about his confused feelings as a teenager, and how whilst he tried going out with women, he always knew he “wanted something else. I get more out of men. I just do“.
Whilst writing that he is at peace with who he is, Óg Cusack’s coming out of the closet is likely to get him a lot of attention, especially with Times Online describing him as the “Europe’s first openly gay elite sportsman”.
Reactions to Óg Cusack’s revelation have generally been positive, with the Dublin’s Irish Independent highlighting how it shows the progression within the GAA, a sporting body that was so heavily ruled by the Catholic Church that Dónal’s sexuality, in the past, would have been seen as anything but acceptable.
This doesn’t mean though that there hasn’t been any homophobia in response to Dónal’s coming out. Admitting prior to the release of his autobiography, he had been the subject of homophobic attacks, the serialisation of his book in the Irish Daily Mail has sparked many discussions, with one radio programme admitting “we are getting a lot of anti-homosexual texts”.
And there’s still plenty of homophobia to beat out of the terraces too, with Dónal writing about how his mother no longer attending matches, after a spectator at a Tipperary match used a megaphone to lead an abusive chant.
(Via The Times)
