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Ex-British rugby star opts for apology not charges after homophobic attack

By Hugo Greenhalgh

 

Athletics - Gold Challenge - London 2012 Test Event - Olympic Stadium, London - 1/4/12 Former Rugby Union player Gareth Thomas Mandatory Credit: Action Images / Paul Childs Livepic - MT1ACI9308154

 

LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A former British international rugby star said on Sunday he had chosen to ask for an apology rather than criminal charges after being attacked for being gay in a bid to send out a "positive message".

 

Gareth Thomas, former Wales rugby captain, posted a video on social media, sporting cuts and bruises to his face, in which he said he had been attacked on Friday in Cardiff, his home town.

 

Thomas, who came out as gay in 2009 and retired in 2011, said he was attacked for his sexuality but he decided to opt for "restorative justice" with a 16-year-old boy involved, which meant he could address his attacker rather than press charges.

 

Thomas, 44, said he wanted his social media post to spread a "positive message" which comes as figures show hate crimes against the LGBT+ community are on the rise in Britain.

 

"Last night I was a victim in my home city of a hate crime for my sexuality," Thomas said in the video.

 

"I want to say thank you to the police, who were involved and allowed me to do restorative justice to the people that did this because I thought they could learn more that way.

 

"And also to the people of Cardiff who supported me and helped me because there's a lot of people out there who want to hurt us. But, unfortunately for them, there's a lot more who want to help us heal. So this, I hope, will be a positive message."

 

A 16-year-old youth, who cannot be named, has since apologised, according to local police.

 

Since coming out as gay, Thomas has campaigned on gay rights issues.

 

Government data shows that reports of hate crimes against people on the basis of their sexuality jumped 27 percent last year, with almost 12,000 incidents lodged with the police.

 

The British government in October announced plans to enhance training for police handling hate crime, which includes offences motivated by hostility on the grounds of race, religion, disability, sexual orientation and trans identity.

 

(Reporting by Hugo Greenhalgh @hugo_greenhalgh, Editing by Belinda Goldsmith; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters that covers humanitarian issues, conflicts, land and property rights, modern slavery and human trafficking, LGBT+ rights, climate change and resilience. Visit http://news.trust.org to see more stories)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-11-19

[geriatrickid]

I don't understand how a kid who attacked him was still breathing after the attack. I thought Rugby players were strong and lethal.

[darksidedog]

Defamatory troll posts and replies have been removed.

[Phuketshrew]

 

[sirineou]

I don't know the man but it seems to me that Gareth Thomas is more of a man than any of his attackers ! 

[ballpoint]

2 hours ago, geriatrickid said:

I don't understand how a kid who attacked him was still breathing after the attack. I thought Rugby players were strong and lethal.

Physically strong and potentially lethal, but smart enough to know how to behave in a civilised manner off the field.

 

The top rugby referee in the world is also openly gay, and controls the respect of all players on the field, unlike in football (soccer), where the referee is argued with, hounded, and often jostled by the players when a decision doesn't go their way.

 

Rugby: A thug's game, played by gentlemen.

Football: A gentleman's game, played by thugs. 

 

 

Edited November 19, 2018 by ballpoint

[seahorse]

3 hours ago, ballpoint said:

Physically strong and potentially lethal, but smart enough to know how to behave in a civilised manner off the field.

 

The top rugby referee in the world is also openly gay, and controls the respect of all players on the field, unlike in football (soccer), where the referee is argued with, hounded, and often jostled by the players when a decision doesn't go their way.

 

Rugby: A thug's game, played by gentlemen.

Football: A gentleman's game, played by thugs. 

 

 

Rugby is a hooligan's game, played by hooligans.

Only people who can't play football play it, like its cheating "inventor", William Webb Ellis.

[Baerboxer]

1 hour ago, seahorse said:

Rugby is a hooligan's game, played by hooligans.

Only people who can't play football play it, like its cheating "inventor", William Webb Ellis.

 

Yeah right, and soccer is played by prim donna actors who are as soft as the gel on their hairstyles. 

 

How long would a soccer player last in a Rugby match?

Edited November 19, 2018 by Baerboxer

[Krataiboy]

Gareth Thomas is to be commended for his restraint and opting for an apology rather than pressing charges against his alleged assailant(s).

 

Violence and/or incitment to violence against any individual or group is intolerable in a civlised society - and rightly proscribed for many years under existing legislation.

 

However, I for one am uneasy with the invention of a new category of "hate" crimes with harsher sentences for offences against specified categories of citizens based on their sex, religion and ethnicity.

 

We are all supposed to be equal under the law. Should this change, we are on a slippery slope, as is becoming clear in the increased use of "hate speech" laws to protect selected so-called vulnerable minorities from having their feelings hurt.

 

Free speech is essential for the development of any civilised society. Without it, women in the UK would not have the vote, child slavery would still be rampant and the US civil rights movement would never have got off the ground.

 

Unfortunately, UK citizens do not have the same protection as their American cousins, whose constitution enshrines free speech as an inalienable right no government may usurp.

 

Allowing political leaders to dictate what we can and cannot say and to whom is a dangerous step towards the kind of regimes run by the kind of people we ALL love to hate - the likes of Hitler, Stalin and the current dictator of the Democratic (sic) People's Republic of Korea. 

 

Do we really want to risk ending up there?

Edited November 19, 2018 by Krataiboy

[Becker]

32 minutes ago, Baerboxer said:

 

Yeah right, and soccer is played by prim donna actors who are as soft as the gel on their hairstyles. 

 

How long would a soccer player last in a Rugby match?

Not that I disagree with the primadonna thing but a football player would be as useful in a rugby match as a rugby player would in a football match. Apples and oranges.

[Scott]

Troll, off-topic posts and replies removed. 

 

[StreetCowboy]

8 hours ago, seahorse said:

Rugby is a hooligan's game, played by hooligans.

Only people who can't play football play it, like its cheating "inventor", William Webb Ellis.

I feel sorry for Wayne Rooney.  If it wasn't for the money he gets playing soccer, he'd probably be in the first team at Wigan, or The Red Devils.

[Aussieroaming]

Good onya Gareth, at least you are honest about who you are. I hope the kid learns a lesson and I am sure you could have given him a flogging if needed but decided on a different path. 

[AlexRich]

I'm puzzled by this ... Gareth Thomas should have put the little rat in A&E ... he exhibits a self-restraint that I do not possess. The only lesson the 16 year old learned is that he can do these things and get away with it.