Irish Sports Star Says He is Gay

As BBC News reports, Donal Óg Cusack (pictured at left), one of Ireland's best-known sports stars has announced that he is gay and has sparked widespread debate and comment across that country. While in some ways the UK is ahead of the USA in terms of gay acceptance and domestic partner rights for same sex couples, Ireland tends to lag behind in the realm of gay acceptance - largely due to the anti-gay Roman Catholic Church's past dominance of Irish society. However, with the Church's reputation and status in shambles from serial reports of sexual abuse and brutality against children, the Church's toxic anti-gay influence has plummeted. In an editorial, the Irish Times takes note of Cusack's admission and likewise looks at the growing tolerance in Ireland. First some highlights from the BBC:
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Donal Og Cusack, the goalkeeper of the Cork hurling team, is on the front page of most Irish newspapers, and every radio phone-in programme has been dominated by discussions about the player. It is rare for elite sportsmen in any country to talk so openly about their homosexuality. This is particularly true in Ireland - and especially in the macho field of hurling, one of the world's oldest sports.

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In an interview on Ireland's prime-time entertainment programme, The Late Late Show, he gave his first live TV interview about the recent revelations. He admitted he was taken aback by the media frenzy his announcement had created. "The scale of it has surprised me. It's hard to believe really", he said. Although he has waited until now to speak publicly about being gay, he told his family four years ago.

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Shane McGrath, who writes about Gaelic Games for the Irish Daily Mail, said: "In national terms this is huge. Hurling is bigger than politics, music, everything. Its hold on rural Ireland is supreme.

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Here are some highlights from the Irish Times' take on the story and other recent events involving gays in Ireland:

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THE LAST fortnight has been a quietly momentous one for gay men and lesbians in Ireland. We may indeed be passing a watershed in the acceptance of homosexual people as full and equal members of society. The first open conference of gay, lesbian and bisexual primary school teachers was held in Dublin. The funeral of Stephen Gately was notable for an affection and admiration that went beyond his status as a pop star and embraced his life as a pioneer for gay men in the music industry. Donal Óg Cusack’s decision, elaborated so eloquently in today’s Weekend Review , to be open about his sexual orientation broke through another barrier of silence. It should not require courage to be honest about one’s own identity, but Cusack’s declaration is as gutsy as anything he has done on the field of play.

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There will always be bigots, but the public reaction to these three events has been pleasingly low key. Most Irish people understand quite well that teachers, even in small rural schools, are as likely as anyone else to be gay. They understand instinctively that the grief of Stephen Gately’s civil partner is no less profound than that of anyone who has lost a beloved spouse. They know that the manly virtues of the hurling field – strength of body and character – are incompatible with stereotypes of gay men but not with the reality of their lives and talents.

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Yet we need to remember that these breakthroughs in respect and acceptance come against a continuing backdrop of fear. Both Stephen Gately and Donal Óg Cusack came out as gay at least in part to pre-empt being “outed” by the tabloid press or rumour-mongers. Many of the teachers at the conference still find it impossible to identify themselves in public.

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Unless society as a whole wants to demand that a large minority of its citizens be condemned to living a lie, it has to be prepared to treat sexual orientation for what it is: a natural, and naturally varied, part of human identity. For citizens to be equal, they do not have to be the same.

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Would that more Americans understood the last paragraph quoted from the Irish Times. Equality does not mean that were all must be alike, but it does mean that we must all be afforded the same civil legal rights.