The Bingham Cup, the gay-inclusive tournament which numbers over a thousand players, is heading to Manchester, UK on June 1, and anti-bullying rugby icon Ben Cohen says he is looking forward to it:
"We'll be celebrating with a sport I love, which is rugby. Rugby is very diverse anyway; it takes all shapes and sizes to play. It's a sport that's played by all and it's very good to see that it's really big in the gay community."
Cohen is spearheading a new campaign to tackle homophobia in rugby, Pink Paper reports:
Supported by World Cup-winning former England player Ben Cohen, gay dating website Gaydar and a number of the Aviva Premiership clubs, the “Let's Kick Homophobia Into Touch” campaign calls for players and supporters to eradicate homophobia in the sport…The public can pledge their support for the campaign via Twitter by using the hashtag #kickintotouch.
Gay rugby icon Gareth Thomas (he posted the unrelated photo on his Twitter feed this morning), who championed bringing the tourney to Manchester, spoke out in an interview with Project Publicity:
Below, the interview with Thomas about the importance of gay rugby teams, and coming out in sport: