Scottish cyclist Graeme Obree has
announced he's gay.
The 45-year-old athlete told his story
to The
Scottish Star.
“I was brought up by a war
generation; they grew up when gay people were put in jail,” Obree
told the newspaper. “Being homosexual was so unthinkable that you
just wouldn't be gay. I'd no inkling about anything, I just closed
down.”
Obree, who attempted to take his own
life in 1998 and again in 2001, linked his suicide attempts to his
sexuality.
“I was brought up thinking you'd be
better dead than gay,” Obree said. “I must have know I was gay
and it was unacceptable.”
But it wasn't until 2005 that Obree
began to accept that he was gay after he sought therapy.
Telling his parents, he said, was
particularly difficult.
“It was difficult and there were lots
of tears. It wasn't easy. But the relationship with my parents has
been improved by it. We talked about it and discussed things and
we're a lot happier,” Obree said.
Obree, who twice broke the world hour
record, was inducted into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame last year.