Gus Johnston, a former professional
Australian hockey player, came out gay last month in an emotional
video posted on YouTube, The
Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Johnston, a goalkeeper, “represented
Victoria for 12 years and was vice-captain of his local club Essendon
for seven,” the paper said. He retired from the sport earlier this
year.
In his 12-minute video,
titled The Reality of Homophobia in Sport, an emotional Johnston announced
his sexuality for the first time publicly.
“My name is Gus Johnston, I'm a
writer, art director, filmmaker and a hockey goalkeeper. I'm also a
gay man – and that's something I never thought I would say in such
a public forum like this,” Johnston said.
Johnston added that he regrets not
coming out before his retirement. He said he's doing so now to let
young gay athletes know that they are not alone.
“The longer I played sport and the
more I hid from who I was the more difficult it became to tell my
teammates and tell people around me the truth about myself,” he
said.
“It's not something that I'm proud
of, but for a long time there would barely be a week that would go by
when I wouldn't contemplate taking my own life.”
“I regret immensely that I wasn't
brave enough, that I wasn't a strong enough leader, that I didn't
step up when I was playing and share this about myself.”
“If you [young gay people] feel
alone, hopefully in watching this and hearing my story you feel less
afraid and I hope that you believe that you can find a place as
yourself in your sporting community.” (The video is embedded in
the right panel of this page.)