English cricketer Steven Michael Davies
says the time was right for him to come out gay.
The 24-year-old Davies became the first
professional cricketer – and one of only a handful of professional
athletes that have come out gay during their careers – to publicly
out himself.
In an interview last Sunday with UK
paper the Daily Telegraph, Davies announced he's gay.
He told the paper that he had the
complete support of his family, who learned he was gay five years
ago, and has received nothing but support from fellow team-mates.
Davies added that he was inspired to
come out by Welsh rugby star Gareth Thomas, who
came out gay nearly two years ago.
“Gareth Thomas' story helped me,”
Davies said. “It just showed me it can be done. He was brave
enough to stand up and say who he was.”
In a new interview with CNN, Davies
said he hasn't received any negative feedback to his announcement.
“So far, so good,” he said. “Like
I said, I'm very grateful, and I've got to thank those people who
have shown their support.”
“The time was right for me,” he
added. “I'm really relieved to get it off my chest.” (The video
is embedded in the right panel of this page.)