Ex-Wales rugby captain Gareth Thomas reveals he has HIV

Just beautiful. Let's fucking canonize him now.

[quote] Wish him all the best

Being HIV positive with modern medicine isn't really that scary. As long as you take your meds you will be fine.

He'll likely stay (sort of) healthy, and continue to whore his way around. And the gay-bashers just got another big round of ammo thanks to his stupidity.

Fuck. I know that having HIV is no longer a terminal diagnosis, but I wish to hell that it had been eradicated by now. I hate that guys are still contracting it, especially when it’s easy to stay negative. I feel for him. He’s a lovely man who’s done so much for gay men.

[quote]I hate that guys are still contracting it

Athletic people are whores. He's probably had it for a /while/ now.

Does that mean he's a bottom?

^^^ probably

He's one of those guys that just has that HIV look. It's a certain je ne sais quoi.

He is obviously very reckless. He was also sleeping with men when he was still married to his wife. She’s lucky she didn’t get anything.

I wish this nonchalant attitude about HIV didn’t exist. People still die from other complications brought on by it, yet people think of you just pop a pill everything will be OK.

I bet he looked HAF while catching it!.

People are dying from HIV because of non-compliance r9. Non compliance with your medical plan is a huge problem and can lead to a lot of complications.

If you do what the doctor tells you to do, it will be managed fine.

[quote]Being HIV positive with modern medicine isn't really that scary. As long as you take your meds you will be fine.

Yeah if you don’t mind possibly having several side effects from the medication.

People want to act like HIV is no big deal, yet nobody mentions the outrageous medical costs a person will have if they get this disease.

9 years no side effects and hardly a dime of cost

I want to hear the story of how he got HIV. I bet it was hot

He has an unbelievable body.

Karma.

Butt

R18 so that's the scene of the crime?

R1. I'm not sure what you're saying.

sounds like a smarmy slut shaming

So nine years.... he got it at 37?

Does this guy have Undetectable HIV or genuine Detectable HIV?

My twink friends (who say they're UHIV) insist there's a big difference between the two.

[quote]My twink friends (who say they're UHIV) insist there's a big difference between the two.

Isn't one like an undercover cop and the other is like a cop in a uniform?

His husband, who's 56, claims that he was ignorant when it came to HIV? How the fuck does that happen? The AIDS epidemic happened when that man was in his 20s.

I'm saying it's pathetic that in this decade people are still seroconverting, r20. PREP has been around for years, in addition there's the apparently mystical concept of not spreading your cheeks for everything with a cock. The Jesus freaks use shit like this to show that we can't keep control of our urges, and then use that to fuel their sick fantasies about us going after children.

And for the dude who called it "smarmy slut shaming", actually smarmy is bragging about how HIV treatment is "free". It may be free for the sluts, too bad about everyone else's insurance premiums going up because of it.

If someone ate themselves into a heart attack or diabetes, smoked themselves into lung cancer, or offed themselves by "accidentally" overdosing on opioids, nobody here would be congratulating them. Yet for some reason becoming poz makes you a brave hero. I don't get it.

I want his cum in me

nice segue R28 off of R27

I was diagnosed 12 years ago, take my one Atripla a day (totally Free in the UK) and I'm fine. The side effects went away after about 6 weeks.

I have 2 appointments per year with the HIV clinic, I go to my dentist more often and I dread that.

Gareth is being a bit of a Drama Queen.

He's probably been advised to be like that to feed the traditional narrative.

I can pretty much guess how the tabloids found out.

Because HIV is now treated at open Sexual Health Clinics in the UK it's always pretty obvious who the HIV patients are, because the staff all know you by name and you don't wait around in a queue like everyone else. You walk in at your scheduled appointment time and are called straight in. It's a dead giveaway, everybody else is sat around waiting for hours.

He was threatened:

Lightly shaved:

Damn that sucks, I hope he stays positive !

r34 I love that shaved regrowth look.

Gareth looks a Oriental Shorthair cat.

He does!

He needs to stop with the tattoos. They're hideous.

"Gareth looks like a Oriental Shorthair cat."

Sorry, I'm old.

One pill a day and he can live up to 80 as long he takes good care of himself. Be strong!!

R27 We can still be compassionate, regardless. Nothing uglier really than to suggest someone "deserves" it or had it coming.

And again, r42, would we be as compassionate to any of the other people I mentioned. If Chrissy Metz keeled over from a massive heart attack, would anybody here be compassionate?

I'm pretty sure staying positive isn't going to be a problem for Gareth anymore, r35...

R43 = borderline sociopath

He is so sexy because he is so scary (and I'm talking BEFORE the hiv diagnosis).

He looks like he'd brutally rape you and then break your neck afterwards as soon as look at you.

I would love to fuck him from behind

R43 Yes I would feel bad for her. I don't revel in a "Told you so" moment of schadenfreude myself, regardless of whatever cause and effect or responsibility someone played in their own misfortune. I don't think people are praising him at all for contracting a virus, yet how he's handling it in the press. I suppose you feel he should be so ashamed, he must go crawl into a dark hole to die. It's one thing to preach safe sex and educate, yet completely another to kick an old chap when he's down. The Rugby community is strong and very loyal, I suspect he's getting good support from them, he doesn't need people like you anyway R43

He looks HIV positive. I know its awful to say but there is a look in the face they all get. I know there are drugs that combat wasting if that is an issue nowdays but there is still a facial giveaway.

R26 I agree with you in saying it's pathetic that ignorant, over-entitled twinks are still seroconverting in this decade DESPITE me and my fellow-taxpayers paying MILLIONS every years for over 30 years telling ignorant, over-entitled twinks about what is healthy and what is not.

'Throwing good money after bad' is not good!

R48 it’s a stupid thing to say

r49 Honestly I'm in my 20s and it's not that bad, yeah some boys are stupid but let's just say that natural selection will take care of them. Most of us are aware.

[quote] And the gay-bashers just got another big round of ammo thanks to his stupidity.

R3, Sod off! He contracted a virus. It could have been from one encounter. Stop shaming people for contracting a virus or getting sick. You're no better than the anti-gay imbeciles from the eighties onward who blamed the "gay lifestyle" on Aids. Sod off!

He has a scorpion tattoo so that’s kinda fitting.

[quote] I agree with you in saying it's pathetic that ignorant, over-entitled twinks are still seroconverting

You think Gareth Thomas is a twink???

How old ARE you???

He looks it.

Raif Derrazi's video on Gareth

"If Chrissy Metz keeled over from a massive heart attack, would anybody here be compassionate?"

Yes. We would be drowned out by the asshole trolls but that's life.

It's not an excuse to be an asshole. How old are you, may I ask?

Twitter compassion = No compassion.

Digital compassion costs nothing and has no value.

Watched his documentary on homophobia, boring as fuck.

Can famous homos not get Aids, it is just so tacky and backward. Just use condoms, bozos

What a waste. Looking like that and being a bottom.

^^^^^ that's what makes him so damn sexy

His whole endlessly covered by the press journey of coming out has just been misery from start to now.

All the hand wringing at the start about his 'betrayal' of his wife and suicide attempts as he hated being gay, blah blah,

Dating that fat short pig Sean Smith, who was an obvious son man, and never distancing himself from the trash

All media coverage of him has been him pushing a miserable life view. And now dumb ass is positive. Hope it makes the endless self loathing cunt actually postive/happy, cause his journey has just been an endless miserable carcrash

Don't forget when he was the victim of a homophobic attack last year

His life may be 'an endless miserable carcrash' but he was given lots and lots of money for his ability to kick a ball around on the grass.

R64 And yet. He has never known any joy from his sexuality, every interview, always a big ginga misery guts

Jesus, does this guy have a dark cloud following him around ?

R65 Lots of gays don't like anal. They just do it out of peer pressure. This Gareth person may be weak-willed and lame-brained.

Why do so many DLers WW such hateful retarded nastiness about HIV?

^ HIV is nasty! It can kill you, R68.

I hope he's fine, I have no problem with people with HIV, I just wish they weren't so many representing gay men, it gives us a bad rep and it's depressing as fuck. Also according to CDC most people getting aids these days are straight, time to show some straight people living with HIV.

most people getting AIDS these days?

Is there a source to that claim R70?

R68 Damn, fine question.

I'm sorry, majority of people living with HIV worldwide is straight, in America gay men still make the majority but it's declining.

[quote]His husband, who's 56, claims that he was ignorant when it came to HIV? How the fuck does that happen? The AIDS epidemic happened when that man was in his 20s.

Typical case of someone thinking something like that could NEVER happen to them, so no need to learn about it.

Do you know the difference between getting HIV and developing AIDS, R70.

HIV is the virus AIDS is the disease. No need to school us on the words.

R42 Why should we be compassionate for a man who was sleeping with men behind his then-wife’s back? He is an asshole for putting her health at risk. Thank goodness they got divorced before he caught HIV.

Do we know when he was infected. There are plenty of women who did NOT get hiv despite poz men splooging their pussies. Of course some women get infected this way but it's possible not be infected.

[quote] If Chrissy Metz keeled over from a massive heart attack, would anybody here be compassionate?

I would feel sorry and as I scroll down further I am glad a few other posters would be, too. There is a difference between schadenfreude for a fall from conservative grace like Aaron Schock (or the death of a real enemy of the gay / lgbtq community) and an actual death of a woman who isn't known as anti gay or anti lgbtq. There is a line a shady bitch like me wouldn't cross.

Regarding Gareth Thomas. Maybe it's because I am just binge watching Pose's first season again that his HIV announcement feels like a punch in the gut. It's horrible that assholes would use such information in 2019 to blackmail him.

There is nothing wrong with showing compassion and maybe realizing that celebrity culture creates a toxic environment where people are put on a pedestal only to be under scrutiny and ready to be dismissed for being not the right kind of role model.

R78 I'm not in the business of telling people they [italic] should [/italic] be compassionate, as I leave that to parents of young children, teachers, ministers, priests. and rabbis. What I did say however was "we can still be compassionate". You live your life your way, and I shall remain non judgemental and compassionate. I think I may have enough compassion to cover your deficit I suppose; don't trouble yourself by my remarks.

R80 Cheers for your compassion.

So even if it's just one pill per day now for the REST OF YOUR LIFE, what are your plans for the zombie apocalypse?

I do not need daily or regular medication so I often wonder what people will do after a natural disaster (like the people on the Bahamas right now), political unrest, shortages (after Brexit for example) or financial crises. I know this applies not only to HIV, but do people with chronic diseases make plans for that? There are also currently shortages for many drugs (even for antibiotics or cancer treatment) bc it just isn't lucrative enough for companies to produce them anymore. If someone contracts HIV in his early 20, he could need medication for 60 years or more (unless they find a cure). With climate change and everything else going on right now, this would worry me.

Gods, he is such a fuckwit, everything ever out of his mouth is just so stupid.

Public information campaigns in the 1980s, warning people to take precautions against Aids, have left a legacy of misunderstanding, he says. Advances in medicine now allow people who are HIV positive to live long healthy lives. With effective treatment, the virus cannot be passed on.

.........Or, the stupid cunt could have just used a condom, which which have known about for 30 fucking years, and then he would be not be positive.

"When I first found out that I was going to have to live with HIV, the first thing I thought was straight away: I was going to die," he said.

.....................Just pig ignorant, they only person pushing stereotypes and misinformation, is him

I hate this ' HIV is not a death sentence anymore ' because it sends a message to young people that getting HIV is just like a cold, you take a pill a day and you'll be fine. I dont agree with this normalization, it's still a serious disease and if you live in certain parts of the world getting the drugs is not easy, specially in homophobic countries like Russia.

r83, you die either way. When you worry, you die. When you don't worry, you die, too. To control the circumstances of your death (like when you die) is kind of moot when the end result remains the same.

Do you want to live a life of constant worry? Because there will always be something you are not prepared for.

That's an ugly old 45. Looks like he's been in a fire.

You let someone ejaculate up your butt what do you expect?

It's very sad. He certainly should have known to take precautions. My ex-BF is HIV positive. I only found out by accident (I work in health insurance) and I cried and mourned for weeks. He'll never know it. I tried to tell him what I knew (he could get me fired, pronto, for HIPAA violaions). He just slammed the phone down. He's still my best and closest friend. But we've never talked about that.

R89 Your post makes no sense, how does he not know?

r90 I think it's kinda like he knows he knows (yeah I know) but doesn't want to hear it out loud. That's what I understood from that anyway.

He's like Prince and George Michael, except he didn't take that to the grave.

I assume blackmail is the reason these athletes come out in the first place. NOT out of some sense of obligation.

Saw a pic and he had like two teeth missing.

[Quote] I tried to tell him what I knew (he could get me fired, pronto, for HIPAA violaions).

What did you say? "I condole you." You shouldn't have even broached the issue of what you were not supposed to know. You sound like a twit.

Shame on all of you passing judgment on this man's status. You do not know how or when he contracted HIV. Or whether he was still with his wife or not. Gareth Thomas has been a positive role model to men everywhere, especially in the sports world in Britain, that can be brutally homophobic. Since his retirement from rugby, Thomas has kept in the public eye, demonstrating that a gay man can have a successful career in rugby union (at the club and national levels), do well in rugby league, and then go on to participate in local and national pastimes.

Educate yourselves. It could happen to any of us.

Bunch of Pat Robertsons!

R96 I did educate myself. And I didn't do foolish things.

How can anyone be so stupid to catch HIV nowadays ? You're either a bareback slut or dumb as a rock .

Remembered reading this gossip about him on LPSG

[quote]I've been shown a photo by a couple that have met him, pretty big and he's apparently a mega bottom according to them...

[quote]My mate met him on Grindr at his house. He had his door open and was on all fours on his bed. Total bottom...oh and confirmed he has a huge cock, but not really interested in using it.

His dick

His dick

That's not a big dick.

I'd be more interested in discussing the risk taking than the actual sexual practices that brought him HIV (we all know about that side of things). On all fours waiting for someone he met online to arrive... there's planning to all that. It's not an "oops" moment. He wasn't simply "in the heat of the moment."

Prep’ers are delusional. More than 50% of people don’t take medication regularly rendering it completely ineffective, and that includes people with chronic life threatening conditions like cancer and HIV. 30% of prescriptions are NEVER FILLED.

People lie all the time. You think an oversexed Grindr homo is going to tell you the truth about taking Prep? Laughable. Wake up. If you think Prep is going to save you, you’re a fool.

Wow @ the gay’s nastiness towards other gay fellows. You all must be all saints. 🙄

r105

You make me sick.

This is why I only do dogging.

[quote]Being HIV positive with modern medicine isn't really that scary. As long as you take your meds you will be fine.

Research reports from 2019:

HIV infection and antiretroviral therapy are associated with increased risk of cartilage damage in the knee associated with osteoarthritis

Anal cancer treatment less effective and more likely to cause side-effects in people with HIV

Sudden cardiac death is more common in people with HIV

Nicotine metabolized at a faster rate among HIV-positive smokers

Smoking cannabis is an independent risk factor for lung disease in people with HIV

Fatty liver disease a rising cause of liver problems in people with HIV

HIV infection an independent risk factor for poorer survival from liver cancer

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: a growing health problem in people with HIV

Higher mortality in elderly HIV-positive people with prostate, breast or colorectal cancer

I believe some of the above and expect I will pass in my late 60's or early 70's from one of these "co-morbidities" as my doctor calls them.

R108 All of that is probably true and it is why somebody with HIV has a huge panel of very expensive tests at least one a year. Luckily for Gareth they are Free in the UK as is all of his HIV treatment.

People like Gareth who are Undetectable (the virus is suppressed) suffer very few complications.

Again: why do we say "seroconverting" instead of "becoming infected". Is this more "stigma-feels" bs?

While I do have sympathy for Gareth, I have to admit R43 has a point. If Chrissy Metz died from an illness in which obesity is a factor, DL would be fucking merciless.

He's not dead. He needs no one's compassion. And his "come and get it, boys" pics suggest he's continued to have a gay old time. Storm in a teacup.

I must admit, it makes me smirk that some of the people who likely typed their fingers raw about having an out masc role model are probably mute right about now...

I find it endlessly frustrating that people are acquiring HIV in these days, but I do think he was in a particular situation. A lot of guys who come out later in life go on a spree - finally being able to experience gay life and they go overboard, like they're in their 20's.

Add in the fact that he's famous, he had a LOT of guys going after him - if only to say that they had him. A lot of these guys are the more loose types - lots of drugs and indiscriminate sex.

It can provide a very skewed view of gay life. I know of guys who came out late in life who think that this is normal behavior - or expected behavior. When I tell them it isn't, they honestly seem shocked. They throw themselves into the deep end - but it's not where you should start swimming.

The majority of gay men live relatively normal lives - with maybe more sex than straights - but not THAT much more. Then there's a very active 20% or so - which is a large group but still a minority - that are sex and other kinds of addicts who seem to control the view of our scene.

What I don't understand is his older and unattractive partner had no knowledge about HIV and the worse side of being gay. That's just stupid.

I don't believe that claim from his partner. I think it's meant to paint him as an innocent, and thus a wholly "good" gay ("He's probably never even heard of frottage, never mind cottaging" etc.), while Gareth is "good but lost his way." It's a load of bollocks how thinks are framed in the media for the straights.

"If someone ate themselves into a heart attack or diabetes, smoked themselves into lung cancer, or offed themselves by "accidentally" overdosing on opioids, nobody here would be congratulating them."

It's the other way around. Conservatives bash people for dying of AIDS and say "they deserved it" but don't say the same thing about people who smoke and get lung cancer or fat people who get diabetes or heart disease

So how’d he catch it by being a bareback whore or by trusting a loving partner?

R118 barebacking whore see R99

Never mind his dick pic in R100 - what the fuck is going on with that rug / carpet thing?

So why isn’t he selling his story as “I was irresponsible and this can be the consequence of being irresponsible, so gay men should still take every precaution they can if there going to have sex with multiple partners”

r121

That angle doesn't work. See: condom usage stats.

R97, you needn't do "foolish things" to acquire HIV.

Accept yourself, and accept others as they are. You are shaming, stigmatizing, and ostracizing this man from the very community that should embrace him. Gareth Thomas like countless gay men before him and today contracted a virus while searching for a human, emotional connection and attachment. It is much of the time not rational. Of course, we must be do everything possible to reduce the risk of HIV, but Gareth Thomas (and other gay men who are HIV +) should not be stigmatized and shamed, because he caught a virus in seeking emotional connections through his sexual expression.

The shame is on those who are judgmental, holier than thou, moralists.

Surely he got HIV from being embraced.

You don’t have to bareback to have human contact, though you’d think by now they would have invented an all in one whore pill that protects you from HIV and all other std’s.

Why find a cure when you can profit from medication?

So we're so supposed to start worshipping drag queens now, r114? I'm going to go out on a very wide limb and suggest that most of the names on the quilt weren't "straight-acting". R115 nailed it - he was closeted, came out and then sexually went nuts. It's a story older than time. It doesn't have jack shit to do with how masculine he was, other than the fact that it apparently made him a snank-magnet.

It doesn't change any of the dynamic that a masculine professional sports star coming out would be a game-changer for gay rights. I just hope the next one (or really the first one here in the USA) has more common sense than Gareth had.

That Sean Smith business partner of his seems to have had a rough time (see link)

[Quote] So we're so supposed to start worshipping drag queens now, [R114]?

Or maybe, ya know, relax about how people present? You're all sucking dick.

Snank?

Abso-fucking-lutely, r129. Tell it to r114 and her apparent hatred of masculinity.

[Quote] It doesn't change any of the dynamic that a masculine professional sports star coming out would be a game-changer for gay rights. I just hope the next one (or really the first one here in the USA) has more common sense than Gareth had.

Would you be comfortable if they guy also comes out as a total bottom?

That would be amazing, r132. It would break some of those bullshit stereotypes about topping and bottoming versus femininity. Plus is there anything hotter than the image of a (legit) masculine, ripped muscular jock bent over begging for it?

R132 / R132 A few people on this thread have already outed Gareth as a total bottom, on the mistaken assumption that only a bottom can get HIV.

Isn’t it statistically harder for tops to catch it? although it does happen.

[Quote] A few people on this thread have already outed Gareth as a total bottom, on the mistaken assumption that only a bottom can get HIV.

Aren't people assuming because of the "on his back, presenting hole" pic above?

I’m grateful for this thread, which has enabled me to block so many wretchedly self-righteous and hypocritical frauen, prisspots, and Borises.

I hope someone blackmails you all into revealing personal health information, thus causing your loving, tolerant, compassionate gay brethren and sistren to blame you for being sick.

R136 Surely that's not really Gareth "on his back, presenting hole". Anyway, he's probably uncut so there we are: much easier to get HIV, or so the theory goes.

[quote] It doesn't change any of the dynamic that a masculine professional sports star coming out would be a game-changer for gay rights. I just hope the next one (or really the first one here in the USA) has more common sense than Gareth had.

Yup, just blame the man for getting a virus. It must be nice never making a mistake!

r138

Are there higher incidences of HIV in countries where the men tend to be uncut?

Some of you really need to give the hand wringing a rest. Gareth Thomas now has a new avenue to exploit for celebrity.

What I don’t like about this story is the half truths, yes it’s sad that he caught it but he could go into how he caught it, the reasons why (if he was from irresponsible behaviour) he acted like that. If he told his story from a POV of “I was in the closet for so long that when I finally came out I went a little crazy and had unprotected sex with multiple partners”. I’d respect him for owning that story (as repression and shame can really fuck with your sense of self) and for being able to educate younger men who watch gay porn see barebacking everywhere and think its all good, if your on prep it still doesn’t protect you from all the other nasties out their.

You might respect him, but the str8s would leap on it to promote stereotypes.

R143 the str8 always act like they are above us, ethically and morally.

I’m interested to know when he seroconverted - the assumption in this thread is that it was relatively recently.

If that’s not correct I’m just waiting for one of the tabloids to try and connect the dots to see if he was positive while playing rugby at a time when treatments were still being developed.

It's crazy that he's getting so much attention just for getting his hole filled with poisoned cum. If he had the clap you would see the pearl-clutching and Prince William and Jez Corbyn would be much less friendly about it.

How vivid, R146.

R146 I'm not sure what you're saying there.

Is Jeremy Corbyn and Prince William involved in this mess too?

Yes.

"Writing through the Kensington Palace Twitter account on Sunday, William said: "Courageous as ever - legend on the pitch and legend off it. You have our support Gareth." He signed off with his first initial "W"."

I wonder if gareth thomas' "enormous strength" has "offered any hope and resolve" to Jeremy corbyn and all his multiple messes.

Hey Jezza, I've got the syph: can you praise my enormous strength in declaring myself clapped out please?

Jeremy, I have a crippling addiction to empty-headed, mega-bottomed Jamaicans!

Will you praise me?

[quote]Surely that's not really Gareth "on his back, presenting hole".

Of course that's him, taken from people that was messaging with him on the apps. Are you blind? I mean you can make him out pretty clearly.

What is Gareth Thomas living on nowadays?

His savings? We know he he gets free treatment from the NHS for his HIV.

He almost looks like the robot from Red Dwarf.

[quote] yes it’s sad that he caught it but he could go into how he caught it.

We all know how he got: from riding a tractor in a Speedo.

R154 I don't have the leisure to study such things like you with a magnifier: when I saw it, I thought, "Could be almost anyone." Still, he's obviously been fucking around without due care and attention and now has ... support from the Royal Family and from Jezza and others. R155 Gareth is living off his fame as an HIV survivor-warrior. As the great, late Dame Barbara Cartland said, "You are either in show business or you're not." Gareth is definitely in show business.

He seems pretty ok

Is InstaHo his new job? Great. This is exactly why they hate us.

R155 It seems that he is fairly wealthy from rugby and investments and he still doesn't have to pay for his HIV treatment (or any other prescription drugs as he lives in Wales)

R161 That article is nearly 5 years old. He has to pay income tax and national insurance. The NHS treatment is more or less free at the point of delivery (ie it is not free, it has to be paid for through tax and national insurance).

R162 The NHS treatment is free for all those millions on welfare (as well as all those tourists and anchor babies)

You may be right about the millions on welfare R163, the notion of anchor baby not yet having taken hold of the UK, but for Gareth on £285K he is paying for his NHS treatment through his taxes and national insurance. The cost of the treatment may or may not be highter than his tax/NI contribution but, on the other hand, it may be cheaper.

R161 How do you take your pension at 35. The minimum age is 55. The article is crap. It also says that our boy earned (past tense) £285K it does not say how much he earns (present, then or now). The article is designed to get him another gig and probably failed so now we have his weepy HIV shit which will earn him £m, thanks to Wm and Jez.

He looks like he wears a cock ring 24/7

He will be the shill for cockrings if this HIV gig fails (as surely it must).

R164 The UK Office for National Statistics said back in 2017 that 50.5% of Britons were dependent on the state to live.

Blair made it worse and Corbyn will make it even more so.

[quote] I weep for the once-great Britain

You and Anne Marie Waters together, dear Morrissey.

But don't a minority of US citizens support the majority [of US citzens] AND there's no uni-healthcare? There are social security 'dynasties' in the US who have never, evah worked and live off the great capitalist dynasties (Rockefeller, Carnegie, Mellon etc), and have done for generations.

This just makes me think he’s stupid. No reason to be contracting HIV in this day and age. Total lack of respect for himself. He’s not a role model to me.

R171 His flagging career and income requires a boost. This is what we have by way of boost. We are all being used and hated as a result.

R172 I thought the same thing. Ever since his rugby career ended, he has made a career out of being gay.

R173 Being gay takes no talent. His USP, as far as he is concerned, is that he is a gay athlete. I am underwhelmed which is probably not the right response but I think William and Jezza are idots to be taken in on all this.

R174, being gay may not take talent but being an athlete does. And coming out takes courage. Most gays in the sports world are closeted

He's out R175. Didn't make enough money being out. Now he's HIV. Another 10 years making money out of HIV. Then what?

This Gareth guy reminds me of Lance Armstrong. Both trading of being ill, with lots of discussion about their illnesses and about them (repeat, about them) and lots of interviews and feeeeee$. Cunts both of them.

^off

Everything Thomas says is idiotic, he is a fucking stupid miserable asshole, and always has been.

he also should have used a condom, fucking self loathing fuckwit

Meanwhile there are massive cunts all over several other threads, wishing people get AIDS, or die of AIDS on this forum. Very sad indeed the lack of compassion and heartlessness. It's shameful on a gay forum really.

R180 They are not gay people posting that, so do not see the relevance

The media loves to paint the LGBT community as either poz or ready to transition. None of this is Gareth’s fault.

I guess one person’s ‘challenging stigma’ is another’s rampant narcissism. Gareth Thomas is a drama queen who has fashioned a second career out of victimhood.

He needs to hook up with Sam Smith . These two can out attention whore each other .

Sorry, Gareth is gay. He doesn't go for... whatever Sam Smith is.

Who need homophobic straight assholes when gay assholes are bashing gay people?

Gareth Thomas was a great rugbyman and is a brave man.

He's far superior to all the poor self-hating "gays" bashing him here.

[quote] for some reason becoming poz makes you a brave hero. I don't get it.

His revealing he's poz is what makes him a hero. Seeing all the hate, even on a gay site like DL, proves how difficult it is to reveal one's HIV+ status

[quote] The NHS treatment is free for all those millions on welfare (as well as all those tourists and anchor babies)

So people who aren't rich enough to pay for it shouldn't get healthcare? We should just let them die?

[quote] His flagging career and income requires a boost.

and so he went out and got HIV?

R187 - he's revealing it because he said others were going to release it to the press.

Acquiring HIV is like teen pregnancy - it happens, but it's not something courageous or brave. It's a big mistake - but one that most people somehow avoid.

They did the same thing to Arthur Ashe...some loser reporter at USA Today called him and said that he had heard Ashe was HIV positive and was going to put him on blast. But Arthur beat him to the punch and told the media himself.

HIV Medication is free under the NHS in England because it comes Sexual Health umbrella of free drugs. In England people still have to pay a prescription charge for other drugs (unless exempt). Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have abolished prescription charges so all medications are free.

Not a bit confusing to all be happening in what is meant to be one country eh?

Because nowadays catching HIV pretty much says I’m a chemsex loving bareback pig whore. That’s where the stigma comes from. It’s not that you have it, it’s how you caught it.

Actually, if you're on PrEP, you can have all the chem sex you want and not get HIV

He is HIV+ since years.

I’m American so I really have no clue who this guy is .. was his coming out in 2009 a big deal?

He was the first pro rugbyman to come out in the UK.

It was a big deal.

R196 It was tiresome, very self obsessed and miserable.

Zero joy

R198 Because you're a real sunshine.

Not 9 years ago in the uk R194 plus it still doesn’t protect you from all the other std’s out their. But if your a whore catching something that can be treated with antibiotics doesn’t really mean anything.

Awful thing is that the drug (Truvada) now used for PrEP was given approval in 2004/5. I wonder how many HIV infections could have been avoided if it had been used for prevention since then instead of 2012?

R201 Imagine if we just used condoms....

He might have caught it from all those hideous tattoos he has all over his body.

Well condoms with strangers, I see barebacking as showing you have trust in your partner, that you trust they are taking care of their bodies and trust they are not cheating on you. It can be the ultimate act of intimacy, having your partner leave a piece of himself inside of you can be sorta beautiful. But and this is a big fat but, only in a loving relationship where trust has been earned i.e we’ve been to clinic and everything is ok.

R204 There's lots of emotion in your post. But I'd prefer to have medical certainty.

Can we show him a little compassion. Don't we get enough hate from the rest of the world.

Compassion is OK for Catholics and Virtue-signallers but it doesn't pay the bills or cure AIDS.

Compassion doesn't cure stupidity.

[quote] Acquiring HIV is like teen pregnancy - it happens, but it's not something courageous or brave. It's a big mistake - but one that most people somehow avoid.

You have no idea of the experience of countless gay men before you who got sick and were shunned by society. Nor do you have any idea of the many gay men, lesbians, and straight allies who stepped in to help them...never judging them for getting sick.

Your comments demonstrate how important it is for Gareth Thomas to reveal that he is positive. HIV positive men and women still face shame because of men like you.

Gareth Thomas can expect to live a normal life span, if he fastidiously follows his treatment regimen. He wishes to counter judgmental pricks like Mike Pence and even those in his own community, who sneer with disdain on men like him.

R209 In the 80s before we knew how to be safe, sure I agree.

But now, fuck that enabling bullshit, moron Thomas should have used a condom

He’s the Andrew Sullivan of the sports world.

‘I’m going public with my HIV status, but also - look, straights! - I’m also sharing for the first time that I’m married to another man. I’m respectable, just like you, and not like those other queers.’

I am HUGELY disappointed he is not a top. What a fucking waste for a gay man who looks like that to be a bottom.

Not for me. Love beefy muscular bottoms.

I agree with people saying Gareth is doing this for publicity.. If there are people blackmailing him then they are scum and I hope they go to prison, as it is ,he is not mentioning police reports.

He is a younger generation to me, so I don't get him being married to a woman and for that I think he is a shit.

He came out at the end of his career. The RFL were desperate to promote league in Wales at that particular time and went through all kinds of shenanigans,he changed codes after he came out and he was crap. League fans have a community though, so he worked that.

I don't give a flying fart about him. Acceptance for people living with HIV is neccessary, but also prevention of infection and at no point do I see him addressing that.

My only hero gay sportsman is justin Fashanu. God why have things not changed in all these years.

R207 You sound like such a warm lovely bloke. Compassion isn't Just for Catholics, and I won't repeat your SJW right-wing talking points. I have plenty of compassion for him, as my fellow man, as a fellow homosexual, and as a victim of gay bashing and blackmail. I feel further compassion for him in light of all the gay men here who cannot support him from a standpoint of solidarity. We all make mistakes, have accidents, and we are all flawed in some respect. After witnessing his video, listening to his words, and seeing him cry just made me want to hug it out with him. I cannot conceive of any other reaction, as it was truly heart rending. I happen to be a Jew, and we believe in compassion too.

Yes we all do make mistakes. But in his case he could use the mistakes he’s made to educate people on the behaviours behind what caused those mistakes in the first place. Look at the documentary chemsex as example of educating young men on not only the physical effects of catching HIV but the psychological trauma associated with it. He could have used this as a platform to educate younger men (who may or may not look up to him) to learn from the mistakes He’s made. Because if we can’t learn from these incidents both (personally and as a society) then we’re bound to make the same mistakes again. Additionally if he’s going to tell his story tell it properly don’t try and spin it as a poor me, take some responsibility for your actions and own it as apart who you are and how it’s effected you and eventually, possibly you might grow from reflecting on why you acted irresponsibly in the first place. And yes one could argue that by telling the whole truth he perpetuates the stereotype that all gay men are sluts, but by not telling the whole story he’s open the door to the countless stories that could be sold about him and his sexual antics which I would argue perpetuates that myth more.

We've had the AIDS Virus with us for over one third of a century.

And we've had very expensive AIDS Preventative Education with us for over one third of a century.

Just how can so many people be so deaf, blind and stupid?

People capriciously catching the AIDS virus now is an insult to all those unfortunate men who suffered and died in a state of not knowing what we know now.

An eldergay told us that they didn't know how it was transmitted back in the 1980s. He said they discussed whether it was transmitted like flesh-eating bacteria and whether or not they'd be willing to sacrifice their penis to stop the contagion reaching other parts of their body.

Years ago they classified how various contagious diseases are transmitted, by air, water, blood, human touch and insect bites.

I guess a lot of people have the mentality that it can’t/won’t happen to me. But risky behaviour increases the risk and thats what needs to be drilled home, but in an hyper-sexualised world people are getting very conflicting messages. And I would say especially for gay men where your seen as somehow wrong if your not promiscuous and yet at the same time been told you should be getting married living a semi heteronormative lifestyle. Plus the history aspect a lot of men who were closeted in the eighties or born in the eighties won’t of had much contact with victims of HIV or know people who died of Aids. I myself as a 32 year old had to educate myself on the risks of bareback sex.

[quote] Gareth Thomas can expect to live a normal life span, if he fastidiously follows his treatment regimen.

The chances of this are about 40%.

Fact.

It’s amazing how many people in my social circle have died from AIDS complications...men, women, black, white, straight, gay or bisexual. I have outlived many friends and acquaintances. I’ve been lucky. I have taken a few risks and used bad judgment when liquor was involved, but for the most part I have practiced safe sex. I knew a guy, a bartender, who tested positive after his very first sexual encounter at nineteen years old. He was trying to join the military and his bloodwork came back. He was devastated. It sent him on a downward spiral. He got a job bar tending and had a few years of stability, including a nice boyfriend. But when his boyfriend left him after he got fired for stealing and racially insulting customers, he went on a downward spiral of drugs, booze and promiscuity. He OD in a cheap hotel room in Amsterdam at the age of thirty two.

He's wrong. Taking a pill a day doesn't make him like any other person. It's magical thinking and he is likely to get very ill with an infection with this attitude.

I read an article withing the past 3 years about a well know gay porn actor who was HIV+ and his body stopped responding to the HIV suppressing meds and he died of AIDS. I didn't know this could occur. I'd never heard that before.

Also, I think it in one of these threads someone had once stated that you can get double HIV, or two strains. You can already have HIV and contract a second strain. Is this true?

r224, here. Nevermind, Dr. Google just answered my question.

I am going to need a sex tape.

R217 Did you honestly watch the video, or hear him interviewed? He speaks of being in a very desperate place, not being honest and hiding under the threats of blackmail. Though not the world's best speaker, he eloquently and emotionallly sums up an existential crisis many can relate to: wishing one could return to a place of innocence, or existence without constant fear, apprehension, and one filled with honesty. In no words does he blame others for catching a virus. I think many thinking and feeling people can relate to the shame of many different sorts of secrets. (alcoholism, drugs, mental illness, being closeted, other health conditions, etc ) I fear many ugly posters hear (as in many threads) did not read original content (primary sources) or follow the links people have kindly provided here. They simply spew out rubbish at break neck speed.

It does certainly discourage disclosure and honesty amidst all the stigma evidenced here.

Again the stigma is associated with how you catched it, not actually having it and this is coming from someone who’s dated poz guys.

Catched it?

Oh, dear.

CAUGHT IT

R229 has never been to Wales.

God you can tell this site is filled with old queens. Who gives a shit about punctuation or grammar, you got what I meant so shut the fuck up! If you haven’t got anything relevant to say then don’t fucking say it or in this case type it.

"Who gives a shit", R231?

Barack Obama "gave a shit" about punctuation and grammar.

And R232?

It’s a fucking online forum, get a fucking grip, it’s not we’re writing essays or articles for academic journals. It’s just a fucking online forum. Go troll on Twitter if spelling is all you care about. You know what I’m starting to think all these spelling trolls ain’t old queens but Russian trolls.

How does Obama feel about Gareth and his HIV?

Obama Cares!

He is Mister Compassion!

[quote]so gay men should still take every precaution they can if there going to have sex with multiple partners”

[quote]if your on prep it still doesn’t protect you from all the other nasties out their.

[quote]Not 9 years ago in the uk R194 plus it still doesn’t protect you from all the other std’s out their. But if your a whore catching something that can be treated with antibiotics doesn’t really mean anything.

I beg of you, please learn the difference between your and you’re and their, there and they’re. Please!

[quote]Is InstaHo his new job? Great. This is exactly why they hate us.

Yeah, because there isn’t one straight instaho.

[quote]The media loves to paint the LGBT community as either poz or ready to transition. None of this is Gareth’s fault.

Huh? If someone is waiting for me to fail so they can pounce, and I fail, it’s their fault?

It’s nobodies “fault” BUT Gareth’s.

I just blocked the last two posters and turns out all they do is pick out peoples spelling mistakes. Trolls!

He always looks so damn miserable all the time.

So would you if you grew up in Wales R241

So basically he is saying he got a disease that is 100% preventable.

Not really, R243. One must take raw loads now and then, in order to feel ALIVE!

It's funny that so many guys on here are assuming that Gareth is a bottom. The likelihood is that he contracted HIV through taking raw dick but first of all if you bottom that doesn't make you a bottom, he could be vers, he could be 100% top these days but just bottomed as a one off - who knows?

Americans seem way more binary in their sexual role than other nationalities for some reason.

[quote]It's funny that so many guys on here are assuming that Gareth is a bottom.

We’re not assuming anything. He himself on his Grindr profile indicated he was a bottom looking for anon cock. Then sent someone pics of his hole.

I don’t know many tops that do that.

I’ve had friends attend his all-day Grindr fuck parties.

GT is a big ol’ bottom.

R16 Holy Fuck and R18 more Holy Fuck. He is smok’n hot. I bet he had ‘em lined up around the block waiting to get in there. Shit, I’d tap that in a heartbeat.

Was he positive while playing rugby or did he only seroconvert after retiring?

At some point one of the tabs (my money’s on the Fail) will try and connect the dots for a “Gareth was HIV positive while playing a body contact sport and didn’t reveal his status to other players” story accompanied by pics of Gareth covered in blood following a head clash on the rugby pitch.

R249 well it wouldn't have mattered if he was undetectable though to athletes or leagues they might be outraged.

I don't think he's hot at all, which is odd as in theory he ticks most of my boxes. He doesn't really have the physique of a stereotypical rugby player, he doesn't look beefy enough.

I usually like tattoos too, but his are hideous and tasteless.

Still I'm sure he thinks really highly of me.

R245.

R250 It would matter if he was playing before it was possible to be +u (or whatever the term is) - his senior career started over twenty years ago. Well before the days of prep and +u.

Rugby is pretty brutal - blood spills especially from head clashes are common. If I had played in the same comp as Thomas and it is revealed that he was positive at the time, without revealing it then, I’d be fucking furious at being exposed.

Has the law changed? I thought anything that has to do with blood (such as going to the dentist) means you have to be honest about your status.

R108, that sounds like a real picnic (sarcasm). I get why people in the 80s and 90s got HIV/AIDS so easily, it was a new disease and we didn't know as much about it. But it seems like since the early 00s, less and less people care to use condoms and if they use PREP, they don't use it as much as they should. If someone gets HIV/AIDS because they were raped or their partner(s) were dishonest about their status, I have a ton of sympathy. But if they have lots of unprotected sex, I don't really have any sympathy at all. Why do young gay men seem to have no fear of anything (aside from not getting laid or getting ostracized by their gay cliques)?

R254 In the UK there isn't any law that says that he would be compelled to inform a Dentist.

Ok R256, good to know.

R255, why are you attacking "young" gay men even though this guy is not young? It's not like there aren't plenty of eldergays who are HIV positive

Can a top contract it through anal sex as the active one?

If only bottoms are able to contract HIV, then the guys who we think are tops aren’t always tops, are they?

Yes I know, someone else has posted a similar opinion above but who am I if not the Queen of the Peanut Gallery?

Well the bottoms had to get it from someone....which means some tops must have HIV

Prince Harry praises Gareth Thomas for HIV stigma battle

[quote]r4 I know that having HIV is no longer a terminal diagnosis, but I wish to hell that it had been eradicated by now.

Funny how condoms and clean needles could do that. So expensive, though.

That was cool of Prince Harry

R264 Meghan made him do it.

This is what happens when you whore around without using condoms.