Last week Cork hurler, Donal Og Cusack, became the first openly gay Irish sports star when he honestly discussed his homosexuality when promoting his new biography.

If you didn’t get a chance to see Donal Og Cusack on the Late Late Show this week then here’s a clip of  what you missed:

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ps2a67EOBY4&feature=player_embedded#at=123

Cusack has been supported in his decision to come out by his Cork team mates and since the news broke, the reaction of the general public has also been very positive – so much so that some are proclaiming this a landmark time in gay equality in Ireland. Editorial in the Irish Times today described the last two weeks as “quietly momentus” for “gay men and lesbians in Ireland”. They said:

We may indeed be passing a watershed in the acceptance of homosexual people as full and equal members of society. The first open conference of gay, lesbian and bisexual primary school teachers was held in Dublin. The funeral of Stephen Gately was notable for an affection and admiration that went beyond his status as a pop star and embraced his life as a pioneer for gay men in the music industry. Donal Óg Cusack’s decision, elaborated so eloquently in today’s Weekend Review , to be open about his sexual orientation broke through another barrier of silence. It should not require courage to be honest about one’s own identity, but Cusack’s declaration is as gutsy as anything he has done on the field of play.

Mmm…ok so Donal Og wasn’t burned at a stake in the middle of Croke Park for being gay and people were genuinely saddened at the untimely passing of Stephen Gately but does that mean the tide has turned against homophobia in Ireland? The fact that the writer of the Irish Times piece acknowledges that gay teachers in Ireland are still afraid to be open about their sexual orientation in their communities for fear of being fired from their jobs highlights that there still is a long way to go in terms of gay rights in Ireland.

The Irish Times have clearly forgotten that only three months ago homophobia was the subject of much discussion in Ireland following the publication of an article by Sunday Times columnist and now ‘red flag to a gay’, Brenda Power. In a staggering display of homophobic and uninformed writing, Brenda first shared her views on gay marriage:

“Change the ingredients, and you change the institution. A legal, civil and religious union between a same-sex couple may well be new and wonderful, or sacrilegious and distasteful, depending on your point of view, but it’s not a marriage.”

“…homosexuals are entirely free to marry. They just can’t marry someone of the same sex. None of us can, because, whatever the resulting union might be, marriage it ain’t.”

She then went on to why gay couples shouldn’t be allowed to adopt (for the good of the children of course…not because she’s homophobic) and ended with a deftly delivered insult to Miss Panti, a gay icon in Ireland, to whom she referred to as “a bloke in a dress”.

Reviewing the article and the subsequent coverage now, months later, it still beggars belief!

A study by the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network (GLEN) also recently revealed that, in a study of 1,110 LGBT respondents in Ireland, “80% were verbally insulted on the basis of identity – 36.5% of these 6 or more times. 20% were threatened with physical violence on the basis of identity. 25% were punched kicked or beaten because of identity and 8% were attacked with a weapon or implement (such as knife, gun bottle or stick) on at least one occasion. 9% were attacked sexually as a consequence of identity.”

Don’t get me wrong, it is of course great that Donal Og Cusacks coming out hasn’t created much hullaballoo. There were no crazed religious folks marching in rural Ireland. No detractors on national radio criticising him. However the fact that the GAA (the sporting organisation for which Donal Og is an award-winning All-Star) and the Gaelic Players Association both declined to comment on Cusack’s coming out, suggests that while Cusack isn’t being condemned, he is not fully supported by those who could open the closet doors in Ireland’s largest and oldest sporting organisation and support others who wish to follow in Donal Og’s footsteps.

So whilst the wheels are moving towards equality they’ve a long distance yet to travel.