Former Wales captain Gareth Thomas has had his say on the saga surrounding former This Morning host Philip Schofield after the presenter suggested the backlash he has faced would have been different if he wasn't gay.
Schofield has been subject to extensive media scrutiny after quitting the flagship ITV daytime show and announcing that he had lied about an affair with a younger male production runner.
In an interview with the BBC, the 61-year-old said the affair was "unwise but not illegal" but had now caused him to have "lost everything" while he is also afraid to leave the house. He went on to claim that if the affair had been a “male-female” relationship then “it wouldn’t be such a scandal".
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He added: “It’s accepted by Leonardo DiCaprio, it’s not accepted if it’s in the gay world. Attraction is attraction. It’s no different in the gay world as it is in the heterosexual world or in the lesbian world. There shouldn’t be a difference. This is where homophobia comes in.”
Jeremy Clarkson and actor Rupert Everett are among those who have agreed that the coverage has appeared homophobic in nature, with the former Top Gear host describing it as a "witch hunt".
Now Thomas, who worked with Schofield when he took part in Dancing on Ice in 2013 has said "there is an argument" that the presenter is being treated differently because of his sexuality, with the former Wales skipper adding that social media has "made everyone a journalist".
"It's interesting," he said "You do wonder if it would be different, and if you're wondering that then the reality is it probably would be. But around this whole saga, the one thing I've tried to deal with is the facts and that's what it makes it very difficult to have an opinion on it, because the facts just aren't there at the moment.
"There's a lot of 'he said, she said' around it, a lot of conspiracy theories and intrusion as there always is. So I'm trying to make conscious decisions now on facts, which is a struggle in the society that we live in because everybody is a journalist now.
"Social media allows people to voice an opinion and to get that opinion echoed. And those opinions are presented as journalistic fact when really it's something that they don't know any facts about.
"I do think that when it comes to that claim that he made, there can be an argument for it," he added. "The fact that we're questioning it and the fact that we potentially feel it could be [homophobic] I think says a lot about discriminative nature and how the marginalised characteristic of a person opens them up to discrimination and stereotypes that other people hold".
Thomas, who revealed he was HIV positive in September 2019, is currently taking on the Three Peaks Challenge - climbing Snowdon, Scafell Pike and Ben Nevis one after the other - to demonstrate that living with HIV need not be a barrier to achieving anything and to celebrate how far science and medicine have come in the last few decades, while also raising money for the Terrence Higgins Trust.
The challenge comes less than six months after he settled the legal case filed against him by his former partner who accused him of hiding his HIV status during their relationship. The former Wales and Lions captain had been sued for £150,000 in damages by Ian Baum, who claimed he had failed to take "reasonable care" before allegedly passing the virus onto him, but Thomas strongly denied the accusations and settled the case by paying £75,000 plus costs in what he described as a "hugely positive outcome".
Discussing the stigma he has faced as someone living with HIV, Thomas said: "People can be discriminatory in very obvious ways. Quite often people would leave if I sat down at the same table as them or not use the same knife and fork or drink from the same cup, or even share a hug. Those are very normal things for somebody who is open about their diagnosis to experience.
"That creates a sense of fear. There's an estimate that stigma will kill around 400,000 people within the next 20 years. That's not people dying from the HIV virus, that's people dying from the stigma, whether that's down to not testing or not taking their treatment.
"Helping to break down that stigma is an every day project for me, because I live it," he added. "But doing the Three Peaks challenge helps to show that people who live with HIV aren't restricted in what they can do mentally and physically. The metaphor behind it is that fighting the stigma is an uphill struggle, but what the Terrence Higgins Trust and Tackle HIV [the education campaign launched by Thomas in 2020] is helping to do is correct misunderstanding and change attitudes."
The 100-cap Wales international was joined by close friend and former teammate Shane Williams for the first climb up Snowdon, while he will also be accompanied by presenter and former model Melinda Messenger and It's a Sin star Nathaniel Hall for the climbs in England and Scotland.
Having conquered Snowdon, Thomas added: "It was a lot thougher than I thought it would be, but it was great that Shane could join us. He was there three years ago when I first spoke about my diagnosis and he just shows how important it is to have those friendships and for allies to be there when you need them.
"It was a pretty relentless climb, but when the sun is shining, there's no better place to be than the top of Wales!"
Tackle HIV is a campaign led by Gareth Thomas in partnership with ViiV Healthcare and Terrence Higgins Trust and aims to tackle the stigma and misunderstanding around HIV. For more information visit www.tacklehiv.org and follow @tacklehiv
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