Rugby has a long and proud list of openly gay players, referees and personalities. They've become beacons for others, because they faced down stereotypes and challenges that gay athletes still meet far too often.

We first wrote this piece in 2018, after Israel Folau's social media posts about gay people caused a storm in the game. In this updated version we look at ten of the most notable gay rugby players and personalities, what they achieved, and how they've changed how people see gay athletes in rugby and beyond. Everyone on this list has spoken publicly about their own sexuality.

Diversity and inclusion in rugby

Rugby prides itself on fair play, discipline and respect. But because of its physicality, it has long been seen as a "macho" sport, which has made it harder for gay players to be open about who they are.

Folau's posts in 2018 and 2019 were widely condemned across the game, and Rugby Australia terminated his contract in 2019, which shows how far the sport's governing bodies have moved.

In 2015, World Rugby and International Gay Rugby (IGR) signed an agreement to work together to tackle homophobia and promote inclusion in the sport. IGR now represents gay and inclusive clubs around the world, and its biennial Bingham Cup is one of the biggest amateur rugby tournaments anywhere.

Notable gay rugby players and personalities

Here are ten of the most notable, and how they've shaped the game.

Ian Roberts

The first high-profile rugby player in the world to come out publicly as gay was Australian rugby league forward Ian Roberts.

Born in London in 1965, Roberts moved to Australia as a child and became one of the most respected forwards of his era, playing for South Sydney, Manly, Wigan and North Queensland, and winning 13 Test caps for Australia.

He came out publicly in 1995, while still playing. He was later named in the South Sydney Dream Team and among the 25 greatest New South Wales players, and was awarded the Australian Sports Medal in 2000.

Keegan Hirst

In August 2015, Keegan Hirst became the first British professional rugby league player to come out as gay, in an interview with the Sunday Mirror, while playing as a prop for Batley Bulldogs.

He went on to play in Super League for Wakefield Trinity and later for Halifax, and has spoken in many interviews since about the response to his coming out.

Sam Stanley

Also in August 2015, Sam Stanley became the first English professional rugby union player to come out as gay. A back who had played for Saracens and in the World Rugby Sevens Series for England, he comes from one of rugby's best-known families: his uncle is Joe Stanley, who won the 1987 Rugby World Cup with New Zealand.

Stanley has since spoken openly about how afraid he had been that coming out would end his career, and about the support he received when he did.

Louisa Wall

Louisa Wall made her name on two pitches before entering politics. She played netball for New Zealand's Silver Ferns and rugby for the Black Ferns, winning the 1998 Women's Rugby World Cup.

As a Labour MP she sponsored the bill that legalised same-sex marriage in New Zealand, which passed in 2013. She left Parliament in 2022 to become New Zealand's first Ambassador for Gender Equality in the Pacific.

Jen Kish

Jen Kish captained Canada's women's sevens team from 2012 to 2016, leading them to silver at the 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens and to a bronze medal at the Rio 2016 Olympics, the first Olympic women's rugby sevens tournament. She also played for Canada at the 2010 Women's Rugby World Cup.

Kish retired in 2018. She is openly gay and has spoken publicly about her wife and her life after rugby.

Jillion Potter

Jillion Potter was part of the USA's Olympic women's sevens squad at Rio 2016 and is widely known as the team's captain at the Games. Her story is one of remarkable resilience: she came back from a broken neck in 2010 and from cancer to make it to the Olympics.

Potter has spoken publicly about her wife, Carol, whom she met through rugby, and the role Carol played in her recovery.

Phaidra Knight

Phaidra Knight is one of the greatest forwards in the history of American women's rugby. A flanker, she played in several Women's Rugby World Cups for the USA and was inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame in 2017.

Knight is openly gay. In interviews she has described sexuality as just one part of who she is, and she has worked to build LGBTQ+ inclusion in sport.

Mark Bingham

Mark Bingham never played professionally, but he became an iconic figure for gay rugby players and sportspeople around the world.

Bingham played for the San Francisco Fog, one of the first gay-inclusive rugby clubs, and was one of the passengers on United Airlines Flight 93 who fought back against the hijackers on 11 September 2001.

The Mark Kendall Bingham Memorial Tournament, better known as the Bingham Cup, has been held since 2002 and is now IGR's biennial world championship, hosted in cities around the world.

Gareth Thomas

Gareth Thomas is one of the greatest players in Welsh rugby history. He captained Wales and the British and Irish Lions, and won 100 caps for Wales.

Thomas came out publicly in December 2009, while still playing, becoming one of the first elite rugby union players to do so. He has since spoken about the pressure of living a double life in professional sport and, in 2019, about living with HIV, work that has helped challenge stigma well beyond rugby.

Nigel Owens

Everyone who knows rugby knows the name Nigel Owens. The Welshman refereed the 2015 Rugby World Cup final and in 2020 became the first referee to take charge of 100 men's Test matches, a record since passed by England's Wayne Barnes.

Owens came out publicly in 2007. He's also a TV personality and a committed campaigner against homophobia, and was named Stonewall's Gay Sports Personality of the Decade in 2015. He was appointed MBE in 2016 for services to sport.

Since we first wrote this

More players have followed. In January 2023, former prop Campbell Johnstone became the first former All Black to come out publicly as gay, in an interview on New Zealand television. Each story like this makes it a little easier for the next player, at every level of the game.

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