Kevin Penrose: ‘It's still the last real taboo in the sport'
It may be over three years since Aghyaran footballer Kevin Penrose came out as a gay man to his friends and family but it's only over three months since the news truly broke in the GAA world.
For Kevin, whose brother Martin helped Tyrone win the All-Ireland Senior title in 2005 and 2008, it was during a holiday in Thailand back in 2022 that he finally broke the news to his mother on FaceTime.
He would later inform his aunts, uncles and cousins before making the decision to take to social media, where he had built a sizeable following from posting travel videos, to let the public know once and for all.
Upon returning home to Castlederg, Ronan McNamee, who won an All-Ireland title with the Red Hands in 2021, soon got in touch in an effort to convince Penrose to return to club action after years of limited involvement in the sport he loves, brought about by fear over the reaction he would receive.
Fast forward to the present day and Penrose is a key component in the Aghyaran senior squad, all the while making a living from posting travel videos across his various platforms.
But the story of his courage and his bravery is again doing the rounds in recent weeks following his appearance on a couple of GAA podcasts before he took to the stage at the Gaelic Players Association Pride brunch, which also featured Armagh footballer Mark Shields and was moderated by Tyrone half-forward Conor Meyler.
'It's still the last real taboo subject within the sport,' admitted Penrose, who is hoping his story will encourage those that are currently in a similar situation to the one he was in previously to come out.
'If you look at the women's sport, for example, the amount of women who are so freely and openly out and proud… it's weird because they are celebrated for it whereas in the men's changing rooms, or the men's scene it's the complete opposite.
'With Mark Shields, I think that's amazing to have that at a county level and how well Armagh have made him feel comfortable for so long and so many years.
'I feel like having the representation of myself at club level, him at county level, referees like David Gough, it's good to have those people out there and the visibility is still there.
'But I think there is still a long way to go to really highlight it and make people aware that it still is a problem.
'For example, we had the pride brunch at the start of this month down in Dublin and 95% of the people in the room were women.
'It's crazy to see you are setting up these workshops and people might say 'ah this is great' when they send you a message or whatever, but they don't realise that's not enough.
'They need to be there and present to really take it in and hear the experiences. If a straight man was to be seen to be going to that, then there's still that fear of 'ok, is his sexuality going to be questioned because he is going to support these events.' 'That's still the fear which is a shame in itself so I still think there is a long way to go in the men's side.
'For the lads that are still not out and have wasted so many years getting away from the GAA, it makes you feel sad, and I don't know what to tell them.
'But I'm glad they can get some sort of comfort and encouragement through my story. I think now my story is no longer my story, in a sense, it's someone else's.'
Kevin Penrose was speaking at the launch of a new limited edition tote bag which forms part of SuperValu's #CommunityIncludesEveryoune campaign.
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