All black gay rugby player

Former All Black Campbell Johnstone on coming out as gay. Former New Zealand prop Campbell Johnstone hopes to "take away the pressure and stigma" after becoming the first All Black to come out as gay. The year-old, who played in three Tests in , decided not to come out publicly during his playing career but had told his friends and family. Johnstone, who also made 72 appearances for Canterbury and 38 for the Crusaders before retiring in , told current affairs TV program Seven Sharp how he had been "living a lie" and leading a "double life".

Support Star Observer. Campbell Johnstone, former professional rugby player and first New Zealand All Blacks team member to come out as gay, has married partner Ben Thomson in a mountaintop ceremony. A video of the ceremony was projected onto a big screen at a later celebration with family and friends. The pair got engaged in July , and have been together since meeting in a Cambridge pub in

Earlier this year, former All Black Campbell Johnstone came out as gay - the first top-tier Kiwi male rugby player to do so. Why, in , was it such a groundbreaking moment for the men's game? Back in the s, Victoria University associate professor of law Dean Knight was a part of rugby history. He organised the world's first gay rugby match: Wellington's Krazy Knights faced off against the Ponsonby Heroes.

Campbell Johnstone, the trailblazing former All Black, has swapped the rugby pitch for wedding bells. In January, the year-old, unrecognisable from his playing days, officially tied the knot with partner Ben Thomson. Helicopters and History: A Grand Entrance The wedding took place at The Flaxmill in Oxford, New Zealand, and kicked off in dramatic fashion with the newlyweds arriving by helicopter. Our parents congratulated us, people swarmed to take photos, then the wedding kind of kicked off from there.