- Welsh rugby legend Gareth Thomas revealed he was HIV positive back in 2019
- He was the first Welsh men’s rugby player to play 100 times for the national side
Gareth Thomas has opened up on how he feels he is perceived in society due to having HIV, despite being non-contagious.
Thomas captained both Wales and the British and Irish Lions during his illustrious career, which saw him become the first Welsh man to be capped 100 times by the national team.
His exploits also see him ranked third on the all-time test try scorers rankings for Wales, as well as the sixth-highest number of caps, and he also played four times for his country’s rugby league side.
In 2009, two years after his final test for the union side, Thomas came out as gay and was then named Stonewall’s Hero of the Year the following year.
In 2019 announced that he was HIV positive with undetectable status, which means that he is not infectious, and he has long championed equality and inclusion, including for all of those living with HIV, and been a respected spokesman for the LGBT community.
He was also accused of ‘deceptively’ transmitting HIV to his former partner, Ian Baum, which prompted a police investigation.
Gareth Thomas has opened up on how he is treated by members of the public since announcing his positive HIV status
Thomas has long been a campaigner for removing the stigma around HIV in society
His former partner, Ian Baum, accused Thomas of ‘deceptively’ transmitting HIV to him
Thomas is one of Wales’ greatest ever players having featured 100 times for his country and captained the British and Irish Lions
Thomas has now told The Telegraph that despite his undetectable status, he is still treated differently by people in public.
‘I know, and my husband and family know, through sharing the same knife and fork or sharing the same drink, or sitting on the same toilet seat, that it cannot be contracted,’ he said.
‘Yet, when you walk into a restaurant and people leave… or people don’t want to share a drink or shake your hand. It has happened often enough for me to be aware that when I walk into a restaurant the next time, I’ll know if it’s happening.
‘It’s not a case of it happening once and it made me afraid; it’s happened enough times that every time I walk into a restaurant now I feel like I have to assess, for my own happiness, or my husband’s, or the family that I am with.’
Thomas has campaigned for many years in order to reduce the stigma surrounding HIV, and has said how that stigma is ‘the one thing that frightens me’ in public.
The police got involved when former partner Baum accused him of ‘deceptively’ transmitting HIV to him.
The allegations, which referred to a period between 2013 and 2018, came before Thomas announced in an interview and BBC documentary in 2019 that he was carrying HIV.
Thomas had been sued for £150,000 in damages by former partner Ian Baum over claims he had failed to take ‘reasonable care’ before allegedly passing the virus onto him.
The former Wales captain though made the decision to settle with Baum, and pay £75,000 plus costs ‘for my own mental health and that of my family’ – insisting that the move was ‘not an admission of liability or guilt’.
He was also formerly married to Jemma Thomas between 2001 and 2009.
