Dismantling Stereotypes: Eight Inspiring Gay Rugby Players and Personalities

Dismantling Stereotypes: Eight Inspiring Gay Rugby Players and Personalities

3. Isadora Cerullo

Following the final of the women’s rugby sevens at the 2016 Summer Olympics Cerullo’s partner of two years, Marjorie Yuri Enya, walked onto the field at Deodoro Stadium and publicly asked Cerullo to marry her.

The proposal was widely reported in the media, with Cerullo being the first athlete to accept a marriage proposal at the Olympics


4. Mark Bingham 

Not a professional but deserves a special mention.

Mark, a gay rugby fan and sportsman, was a passenger on Flight 93 on September 11th, 2001.



Bingham is widely credited with helping prevent further deaths when he helped lead a passenger revolt against hijackers who had seized control of the plane and begun to direct it towards a target in Washington DC.

Rushing the cockpit and risking their own lives, the passengers successfully overthrew the hijackers and managed to bring down the plane in a field.



All 44 people lost their lives aboard Flight 93, but their actions likely saved hundreds more – and Mark Bingham is remembered as one of the many heroes of 9/11.

The Bingham Cup, a biennial international rugby union competition predominantly for gay and bisexual men, was established in 2002 in his memory.

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