In an Australian Football League first, former player comes out as bisexual

Former defender Mitch Brown became the first Australian Football League player, past or present, to come out as bisexual on Wednesday, saying he hoped he would encourage other footballers to come forward.

MELBOURNE — Former West Coast Eagles defender Mitch Brown became the first Australian Football League player, past or present, to come out as bisexual on Wednesday, saying he hoped he would encourage other footballers to come forward.

Until Brown, who played 94 matches for West Coast for a decade up to 2016, no male player had publicly identified as gay or bisexual in more than 100 years of the top flight of Australian Rules football.

Brown told the Daily Aus website he had kept his sexuality secret during his playing career in part because of a “hyper-masculine” culture in the AFL environment.

“I remember two people having a conversation around how they would feel having a shower next to a gay man, and one of the players said, ‘I’d rather be in a cage full of lions than have a shower next to a gay man,'” Brown said.

“There’s been so many times in my life that I’ve seen things or heard things and not said anything, in fear of people thinking that I was gay or bisexual.”