The captain of Bristol rugby team Old Redcliffians has become the latest athlete to publicly revealed his sexuality.
Peter Lloyd at 12.34 GMT
26 October 2011
Jed Hooper, 22, came out to family and friends at the start of 2011, but only disclosed it to the media with an interview with the Bristol Evening Post, this week.
The rising sports star, who has been playing rugby since the age of six, now joins the likes of Nigel Owens and Gareth Thomas, both of whom have helped evolve the culture of gay people in sport.
"I met someone earlier this year who said he could not be with someone who was in the closet. That, basically, was the catalyst that I needed," he said.
"I was never going to do it bit by bit, that would have been too drawn out, so I decided to text everyone and also put it on Facebook. I was horribly nervous. I wrote and rewrote the text four or five times, and I had my finger on the 'send' button for ages before I finally pushed it.
"The text basically said something along the lines that 'I've been hiding it and fighting it for too long, and I can't hide any more. If you can accept me this way then great ... and if you can't then I don't need you and you can get lost!'
"I then cried my eyes out as I was thinking to myself 'what have you done?, but very quickly I must have had 40 replies and all of them were positive."
Ironically, the announcement of Hooper's sexuality coincided with the announcement of Gareth Thomas' retirement, yesterday.
The back row forward says he first thought he might be gay at fourteen, but tried to deny it. He later admitted to self-harming with a knife ""because I thought I might be able to cut this out of me."
Now, however, he says the ability to be open also changed him as a person.
"A massive weight came off my shoulders. If I couldn't accept myself the way I am, how could I expect my friends to?
"I'm a very aggressive competitor, someone who hates losing and has a win at all costs mentality, but I'm a much nicer bloke in the bar after. If anyone is reading this and they're in the same situation as me, all I want to say is don't bottle things up because, trust me, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
"The world's not against you. If my story can help one person then this has been worth it."
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