Skip to main content

Home Culture Culture Film & TV

Keegan Hirst reflects on the impact of his coming out

By Josh Lee

Keegan Hirst was the UK’s first rugby league player to come out as gay.

Back in August 2015, the rugby player came out as gay. He spoke to the BBC recently in an interview to talk about his experiences since he as come out.

In the radio clip he says how he got “letters upon letters and they range from congratulations to thank you’s which is nice to hear.”

He then talks about some of the letters he got saying: “It took me a long time to come to terms with it so these people who had to wait 50 or 60 years, that’s really sad.”

Keegan then goes on to explain about his experiences since coming out, saying “It would be easy to get ridiculed for it, but no one did and it means a lot to me.”

The clip ends with Keegan saying “If its not an issue, no one’s talking about it and they’re treating me the same, that’s the best form of acceptance I could ask for.”

Since coming out Keegan has done many things, one of which was appearing on Celebrity First Dates back in July.