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Groundbreaking former Wales rugby union captain Gareth Thomas, the first professional player in the sport to come out as gay, has claimed his husband is publicly shunned because of his health condition.
Thomas disclosed his HIV status in 2019 through an interview with the Sunday Mirror. Now at age 50, nearly six years on, Gareth has opened up about the ongoing stigma surrounding HIV, witnessing its impact on himself and his husband, Stephen Williams-Thomas.
Speaking to The Mirror, he explained: “In a way, sadly, my family are sometimes guilty by association with me. You know, my husband sometimes has difficulties at work or difficulties in society because he’s married to me.
“My husband is HIV negative, but because I’m HIV positive people assume that he’s bound to be HIV positive because they don’t understand treatment. They don’t understand that, on effective treatment, I can’t transmit through sexual contact.”
Since revealing his status, Thomas has embraced activism and is at the forefront of the Tackle HIV campaign, which aims to dispel myths and support individuals living with HIV.
He has candidly discussed the ongoing requirement for better understanding of HIV, revealing how stigma still impacts routine social encounters. He explained: “When you walk into a restaurant, people will leave. People don’t want to share the same glass as you or use the same cutlery.
“They don’t want to shake your hand, they don’t want to give you a hug. They don’t want to give you a kiss. So many people, as well as myself, have had these stigmatised lived experiences when there’s no need to. Science and medicine is so advanced now, you know. I live with HIV and I take one tablet a day. I live a normal, happy, healthy life.”
He also lauded Prime Minister Keir Starmer for breaking new ground by being the first leader of his stature to take an HIV test publicly.
He added: “I think it is a positive thing. Anybody with a public platform who can grab attention to testing and the ease of testing is good.
“I think by him doing something like this so publicly will help in the amount of tests being done and also eradicate the stigma around testing. Hopefully it eradicates that and gives people the confidence to be able to test..”
As someone who came out as gay nearly two decades ago, Thomas recognises the dearth of openly gay athletes globally and the significant impact that role models have within sports.
He said: “Even as we approach 2025, society still falls short of equality. Where is the defence argument to say that we’ve come a long way since 2019?
“As much as we’d like to say as a society, we’ve moved on, we’re accepting, we’re equal and we’re diverse, well, within sport, you can’t name me five openly gay male participants out of millions and millions of people.
“Then, really, is that equality? There’s definitely a long way to go and sometimes the reason we’re not moving forward is because we think we move forward.”
In an effort to combat stigma and engage with a broader public, the ex-Wales captain has partnered with Tackle HIV for their upcoming Challenging Stigma Garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show this May.
He expressed hope that it will facilitate new discussions, noting: “The garden is a great way for us to be able to deliver the same message against stigma that we’ve been delivering for the five years the campaign has been going, but in a really unique way that can captivate an audience of a diverse nature that outside of the garden show we might not be able to grasp.”
This article originally appeared on the Mirror
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