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I’m gay, reveals GAA star Donal Og Cusack in new autobiography

Monday, 19 October 2009

Revelation: Donal Og Cusack

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All-Ireland hurling star Donal Og Cusack has revealed in an explosive autobiography that he has slept with both men and women before realising he is gay.

The player has lifted the lid off his bisexual past in a candid story of his life that makes him the first ever senior GAA star to publicly declare his homosexuality.

The Cork hurler from the small village of Cloyne is a legend in GAA circles after winning three All-Ireland finals.

Yet in what may shock the sporting establishment, he admits to sleeping with both women and men before accepting his sexuality as a gay man in his autobiography Come What May published by Penguin Ireland and due out this month.

In an honest and down-to-earth account of his life as one of the GAA's most high-profile players, he reveals how he tried to date women as a young man even though he knew from the age of 13 or 14 “that I was a bit different”.

“I tried to go out with women to make sure, to see what kind of feeling it gave me,” he writes.

“I went out with nice women and good women, but sure, I still knew. I wanted something else. I get more out of men. I just do. Always have. I know I am different but just in this way. Whatever you may feel about me or who I am, I've always been at peace with it,” he said.

He also reveals how coming out to his family was one of the hardest things he has ever done.

He was 6,000 miles away from home in South Africa when his sister Treasa rang him at his hotel to inform him that rumours were swirling around at home that he was gay.

He flew home to tell his family personally knowing that his father in particular would take the news very hard.

“Now my father is a man who would fight for his family but he's 63 years of age. He's a crane driver. Building sites can be cruel, hard places, he didn't need this,” he said.

When he did come out and tell them “the other, secret story of this son they had reared in this house,” his father started asking questions, he recalled.

“There was confusion in every line of his face.

“He said he was a man of the world, and that he had lived and worked in London for 10 years but he thought, well, if he had a son like this, he would dress differently and behave differently, “ he said.

“‘They all have square jaws,’” he said at one point. ‘But you don't. You're into hurling,’” he quoted his father as saying.

“Then he said: ‘Right, you know the way we need to deal with this? You need to get fixed.’”

Later, once the shock had subsided, Donal revealed how his father warned him he faced a hard road ahead.

“He shook his head slowly and said: ‘Like f*** it, Donal Og, the abuse you're going to get about this.”

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78 Comments

I am a gay man working in a factory aviation environment in Tucson, Arizona, USA and after 15 years it is still a struggle being out. I have great admiration for what you have done. Best wishes to you Mr. Cusack.

Posted by David Lee Beebe, Jr. | 20.12.09, 18:11 GMT

Donal is gay! So the sun still rises and sets each day, babies are born, flowers still bloom, world leaders are still screwing up our planet...in short, nothing in your world or mine has changed one bit since this man has come out. I wish him great joy and hope he finds the love of his life and lives happily ever after. It is the LEAST we deserve and who wouldn't want the exact same thing for themselves.

Posted by David | 20.12.09, 00:25 GMT

This is awe-inspiring stuff! Even across the globe, the news brings joy to a gay guy in the Far East. Although I don't think I'll have the courage to come out to my family, which is steep in Confucian teachings like any other traditional Chinese family in Asia, it's such a delight to see a major act that will surely lead many gay men and women to embrace their sexuality and live a fuller life openly. The fact that Donal personifies the opposite end of a camp stereoptype is a highly important element that will provide the catalyst for the silent majority who are trying to come to terms with themselves. Kudos, Donal!

Posted by David Toh | 06.11.09, 09:09 GMT

Thank you for doing this- If someone had done this back in the 80s, perhaps I would have been able to remain living at home in county cork and wouldn't have had to flee family & home in shame and fear

Posted by Michael Dineen | 02.11.09, 00:54 GMT

Thank you so much Donal for coming out in public, this is probably one of the most important things to the gay community in Ireland ever. You have done a world of good by being so frank about it and not hiding who you are.

Ireland as an Island has to move on so much and by you doing this you have made that move on step ahead.
From the bottom of my heart thank you again.

Posted by Ryan | 01.11.09, 19:41 GMT

He seems a wonderful mature person. My heart warmed to him after hearing him on the Late,Late show. A great pity for the girls though. I wouldn't mind having had the likes of him as a husband, had I been younger. It is time that people realize that gay people can't help how they are made up. Just as much as a person who has brown eyes can't have blue if he wants to. It's something in their make up that happens in the enbryo stadium. It is really high time that people realize that fact. I wish him all the best in the future. Mary

Posted by Mary fernström | 27.10.09, 03:26 GMT

Donal is a source of inspiration and courage in an Island and time where it is needed more than ever. It took lots of courage but he appears to have it by yards. Well on you mate and good luck with the book.

Don

Posted by Don | 25.10.09, 13:39 GMT

Donal Og gave an excellent interview on tonight's Late Late Show on RTE 1. Well done to him and it takes a brave man to do what he's done.
Tim, Dublin

Posted by Tim | 23.10.09, 22:57 GMT

Kudos to Donie, he is a brave man...and desperate. He and his family will need great courage, bravery is not a moment, it is a direction.

Posted by Liam | 21.10.09, 12:21 GMT

Good luck to Donal. It took guts to come out unlike the so called "straight men" here who can't deal with their own sexual feelings.

Posted by Patrick Cooney | 21.10.09, 11:19 GMT

oh god,with a sigh,when will the time come,worldwide, when the revelation that someone is gay wont even make the side colums in the red top papers,being gay dosnt change the kind of son you are,brother you are,uncle you are,friend you are,but unfortunately in ireland and worldwide being gay changes the way people think about you and look at you,sigh,its so totally and utterly depressing!

Posted by ben | 21.10.09, 02:29 GMT

mark, this board does not need to board's biggest bigot lecturing anyone on religion thanks very much.

Ah, so you're in a GAA club. You're therefore in a great position to ask what your club's stance is on ending the associations's inherent links with terrorism.

The question is, is there the will though mark....is there the will?

Posted by Mc | 20.10.09, 14:21 GMT

MC/Mickey/M-ckey

Ignorance and bitterness with every post! ......Mr consistant. You've no idea what you're talking about when you comment on the GAA. You must find it hard to believe that NOBODY CARES what religion you are in the GAA when sectarianism permeates YOUR every thought. I would extend you an invitation to my local club but what would be the point....truly pathetic. Ireland has moved on wee Mick, and left you behind

Posted by mark | 20.10.09, 11:22 GMT

What year are we in? The middle ages? So what if he is gay! Before he "came out" every sporting fanatic couldn't get enough about him, they would drink to his health when Cork won yet another all Ireland. Just because he says he is gay they have suddenly taken a couple of steps back and gotten angry.

I think if a lot more people decided to "come out" then there would be far less suicides or people feeling as if they were lepers.

For God sake when are we going to grow up and get past this stigma?

Posted by Kathleen | 20.10.09, 09:43 GMT

OK - US here. I'm sure you can tell by the time stamp.

To "big pete": Excellent! Good luck straight amigo!

Also, nice to know you are a "straight, woman loving, red blooded man who thinks that "gay" people are an abnormality" (thank you, doctor.) You (Pete) "don't go around broadcasting that i am normal." Gee, tough one there. You just did! YOU want a medal for that?

Your comments only prove why gay folks - especially elite athletes - need to come out. You are ignorant, buddy. Did you think that up to this point Donal Og Cusack depicted himself as gay?

Now, he is simply TELLING THE TRUTH.

Fiona: This man is speaking truthfully about his sexual feelings. Yes, it may be a bit crude, but would you rather he be a man who is hiding his innermost feelings, and some men do that simply to get by, than an honest man?

Posted by David | 20.10.09, 05:00 GMT

You say:

"i am a straight, woman loving, red blooded man"

and then follow up with

"why do they have to advertise they like having sex with their own kind?"

Ah the irony!

Posted by Brian | 20.10.09, 04:04 GMT

I'm a straight guy too. Maybe I'm just wasting my time and print in an attempt to enlighten some of your readers who feel their masculinity threatened by gays. One guy wrote "I don't go around broadcasting that I am normal". We don't have to buddy! Everytime we take a walk holding our girlfriends' hand, or pass by a couple kissing in the park, our straight society denies these same basic rights, to gay members of our society. Take a moment and think lads.

Posted by Dan | 20.10.09, 03:23 GMT

More power to you Donal. Who someone loves is their business, but the curtains should be opened ONLY by the person making a choice. In our society the real perverts , that's the peeping toms who have to look in and then run to tell all there bible thumping friends what they saw ( for the slower people here refering to the media and their followers ,, a sex scandle sells and who buys yes the 90% straight public.
Do unto your neighbour etc,,
when was the last time, someone looked in through your curtains,, leave decent people who never hurt anyone alone and look at how many people your religious ( deliberately not using Christian as the true kind are sort of scarce in NI) bigoted views have hurt and killed. The talliban is alive an well in northern Ireland.

Posted by mmc | 20.10.09, 03:07 GMT

What a wonderful story. I wish him peace, happiness, joy and love - as well as the fortitude to withstand the representatives of hatred and judgment, such as the previous commenter.

It is nice to witness honesty and see a person set examples for others who might doubt their own instincts.

Bravo!

Posted by Robert | 20.10.09, 01:59 GMT

Big Pete ... you are not 'normal' ...you are just presumably straight. Thats OK too ! Well done Donal Og .....really looking forward to getting the book.

It so wonderful to have another good 'role model' for all gay men and women and especially for those gay people who are involved in sports where, to date, there have been so few of them who are happy to be 'out'. At the end of the day Donal Og's sexuality is just a part of his life (albeit a crucial part) and I so look forward to seeing him on the hurling pitch displaying his considerable sporting skills.
Petey

Posted by Petey | 20.10.09, 01:40 GMT