UK rugby star Ben Cohen's campaign to
support gay charities and groups kicks off next month in Atlanta.
The Atlanta Bucks rugby club will host
Cohen's first stop on his U.S. tour to combat homophobia.
“It is to promote anti-bullying,”
the
openly straight athlete told ESPN. “We want to use rugby clubs
to send an olive branch to people to join a rugby community, not
necessarily just to play. The gay-friendly rugby clubs have really
turned it around. They want to be more accepted in the community
because they are perceived to be different, which they are not.”
“There are a lot of straight rugby
players playing in gay-friendly clubs,” he added. “Rugby accepts
all shapes and sizes, genders and colors and that is its beauty and
why I love the game so much.”
Tickets for all Atlanta area Ben Cohen
Acceptance Tour 2011 events are now on sale at AtlantaBucksRugby.org.
Six events are scheduled from Thursday,
May 19 to Saturday, 21 in Atlanta.
Cohen, also known as Big Ben or Benji,
will also stop in New York, Washington and Seattle later this summer.