Gareth Thomas is the first Welshman to have played in 100 rugby union test matches for his country. He also played in three tests for the British and Irish Lions on their tour of New Zealand in 2005, captaining the side in two of those matches. The 6'3", 226 lbs. utility back now plays for the Cardiff Blues. At one point, the Welsh rugby legend held the try-scoring record for Wales. In today's Daily Mail, Thomas revealed he is gay. [more inside]
posted by jleisek on Dec 19, 2009 - 51 comments

"This is for the guy who needed a card to come out to his parents." (Youtube) David Ellis Dickerson draws on his previous job as a Hallmark greeting card writer to create funny, poignant cards for people with unconventional greeting card emergencies (but he won't do cards aimed at making people feel bad). [more inside]
posted by cybercoitus interruptus on Oct 12, 2009 - 46 comments

Jamiel Terry, the gay son of charismatic anti-gay activist and Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry, wrote an article for Out magazine about growing up in a fundamentalist household. Randall Terry responded to his son's article. Interviews with Randall and Jamiel about the exchange.
posted by Falconetti on Nov 17, 2006 - 106 comments

The Fine Art of Being Come Out To: A Straight Person's Guide to Gay Etiquette - yes, it's a bit dated, and no, I don't think too many people on MetaFilter need it. But it's a genre classic, with comprehensive coverage including advice for detailed coming out scenarios, weddings (both yours and theirs), and those ever-pesky language issues, all with good humor and a distinct lack of scolding.
posted by brett on Sep 19, 2006 - 55 comments

Boston Herald sports reporter outs himself in print and asks why people in the world of sports still have to hide. Frankly, I'm out because I can't come up with a single logical reason why I should have denied myself the right to live and work as openly and freely as everyone else. Nor should anyone find a reason why an openly gay athlete should be denied the right to play a team sport without fear of becoming a target of prejudice or physical harm. See Outsports for more info on the subject, and an interesting pro and con on whether gay baseball players should come out.
posted by amberglow on Sep 30, 2003 - 59 comments

There is a conspiracy theory that has been making the rounds on the net for quite some time now. In it, the actor Elijah Wood (Frodo) and Dominic Monaghan (Merry) are a gay couple that have been together since the filming of The Lord of the Rings. And they want to come out...but contracts and a whole lot of money at stake are keeping them in. So what do they do? Start testing the waters by infiltrating a gay gossip site called Data Lounge. Test the waters. Get media attention brought to them so they can out themselves as smoothly as possible and not get in trouble. Going on for some time now, the saga is up to thread 14 and shows no sign of slowing down. There are cryptic posts, shoutouts through clothing, PR beardings, interviews, sheep, photographs, insiders and trolls. And the strangest thing of all is that some of the proof is strangely compelling. Examples of all this and the "proofs" can be found here.

So after looking at many of the "facts", do you think it possible that two young actors might be trying to test the waters to come out in a novel fashion? And more importantly this all raises the question; do you think mainstream America (and the world in general) is ready to accept young openly gay men in cinema as leading men? Or is it career suicide?
posted by Windigo on Feb 4, 2003 - 54 comments

Do Gays in powerful positions have obligation to "out" themselves? "It's time for our public figures to stop hiding [in the closet] and for journalists to stop helping them."
posted by darren on Mar 2, 2001 - 55 comments

Here's an 'update' on the gay highschool football capitan that decided to come out of the closet and was warmly accepted, blah blah blah. I was reading this and I realized that I have absolutely *no* idea how my friends would react if I, or anyone else, 'came out'. Although I knew a few gays while I was growing up in the states, I do not know a single gay person in Poland. It made me think...
posted by jedrek on Apr 27, 2000 - 1 comment

A popular highschool student comes out and recives a lot of support from his fellow students, parents and teachers. Now, is this really SO strange in American that it deserves an article of this lenght? The strangest thing is that it reads like a piece from The Onion.
posted by jedrek on Apr 7, 2000 - 18 comments