Is Ian Thorpe Gay? Does it matter?

[Graeme]

After years of denying it, apparently he's admitted being gay in an interview that's due to screen tonight.

Ian Thorpe reportedly set to reveal homosexuality in tell-all interview with Sir Michael Parkinson

This guy's been harassed for years on the subject. If he's actually gay, I feel sorry for the way he's been hounded. If he's not, I feel sorry for the constant questioning that's going to continue.

Do I care if he's gay? Not really. I think it would be great as a major sporting role model, but I don't want him to come out because of that. I'm still waiting for the day when it doesn't matter.

[Lugnutz]

I don't care. He is what he is.

[Cole Parker]

Isn't he the one with abnormally large feet?

C

[DesDownunder]

Yep that's him, big foot himself.

Rumour has long been that he's gay.

[Graeme]

A collection of media reports on the subject...all from before the interview with Ian Thorpe actually airs

Who cares is Ian Thorpe is gay? 15-year-old closeted me, that's who

Ian Thorpe's courage will inspire others, says Matthew Mitcham (Matt Mitcham was openly gay when he won a gold medal in diving at the Beijing Olympics)

Despite Ian Thorpe's announcement, 'poofter' remark from commentator shows how far we have to go

Ian Thorpe reveals he's gay

Ian Thorpe acknowledges he's gay, let's hope he's happy as well (this is the one I most agree with)

Some of those articles refer to another incident that happened this weekend:

AFL commentator Brian Taylor slammed for homophobic slur on Geelong's Harry Taylor

The juxtaposition of the two events is going to make Brian Taylor's mistake very long lasting....

[Cole Parker]

Brian's apology sounded very much like he had no idea what he was apologizing for. Glad he's receiving a bit of censuring. Now, how about his cronies who laughed at his idiocy on the air?

C

[DesDownunder]

Here is a link to Part 1 of the Parkinson / Thorpe interview...it may not be available for very long.

I can't find part 2!

What I found with part 1 is that I just wanted to go give Ian Thorpe a great big hug. He is totally human and honest in his personal revelations.

The gay issue pales into insignificance alongside his discussion of his depression and thoughts of suicide. I think he knows how important that discussion is to any one in the grip of depression.

What a marvellous young man on so many levels.

Addition: See full transcript of the interview, here.

Some of the comments on various sites are just plain nasty, let alone bitchy.

[Nigel Gordon]

I've got to admire him, not for the gay issue but for being open about his depression and other issues. We need people to talk about this as so many youngsters, especially gay ones, keep things totally bottled up until it becomes too much for them and it is to late. What we need is a society where everybody can be open about who and what they are and nobody passes judgement.

[colinian]

The link worked but the video didn't play. I'm working on a project with a client in Perth, and to access the application on their server I have a proxy service for Australia. I thought that maybe the video was limited to Australian IP addresses, so I loaded the proxy service and it worked. Now I can view all three of the interviews.

Colin

[Merkin]

I admire Thorpe for his ability to make his way through the interview gracefully and with control, in spite of Parkinson's various tries at headline-grabbing questions.