So,to the Manly club,thank you for the initiative on the jerseys. Your heart was in the right place,and you operated from a place of love. We need more initiatives exactly like this and it is through such actions that we change the world.
Sport is political,and it can change the world,the way the Olympian Peter Norman did supporting the Black Power salutes,the way Nicky Winmar did,the way Cathy Freeman did. This is our turn.
Yes,Manly,there has beena backlash to your actions on the jersey,but it does not change the fact that your intentions were good.
To Des Hasler,the Manly coach and my old teammate – you couldn’t have done more. You supported me when I came out as gay long ago,though you’d known about it before that,and you have supported me since. This must have been very difficult for you,and I appreciate how you’ve done everything you can to put it right.
To all the people in the gay community who have reached out to me on this issue,thank you,and I understand your outrage. I feel some of it too,but we have to contain it. We have to keep having this conversation. We have come so far,and the only way forward in situations like this is to keep moving without giving way to too much anger. We need to make people like these players understand that we are not a threat,that we are people just like them.
To the NRL,I confess my disappointment. You have been so strong in so many areas,and never more than back in 2017 when you had Macklemore singSame Love at the grand final. I will never forget the 80,000 NRL fans singing along. As I said to the NRL CEO Todd Greenberg immediately afterwards:“This will save lives!”