ShoutOut is a fantastic organisation that gives educational workshops in schools across doing it out of ignorance. Hearing that, subconsciously you’re like the country “you probably should just keep this to yourself”. When you’re bisexual, it’s almost like a blessing and a curse. You can hide it easier; you can still go out with the lads on Saturday night and do all that stuff, but then at the same time it’s easier to hide it and easier not to be true to yourself. Eventually when I was in sixth year I told one or two people. They took it well, so I was like “you know what, I’ll just tell everyone.” It went pretty well – there were one or two people who said, “you’re not bisexual, you’re just gay” but largely it was overwhelmingly positive.’ Jack Dunne is the only male Irish sportsperson currently active to publicly identify as bisexual. ‘Unfortunately, bi-erasure is still a thing so when I arrived at Leinster a lot of people had heard I was gay, but they were all very supportive when I informed them that I was bisexual.’ To hear an active Irish sportsperson like Jack Dunne acknowledging his struggle with coming out as bisexual will hopefully be a powerful message of support to any young people in Ireland – particularly sportspeople – struggling with their own sexuality or identity. Jack’s advice for anyone struggling is that ‘not everyone is going to accept you but what’s most important is that you are happy with who you are.’ Commenting on whether this is a new era of acceptance for the LGBTQ+ community at the highest level of Irish sport, Dunne said, ‘I think there’s huge growth going on, but there’s definitely some way to go. Players and coaches all need to take responsibility to call out homophobic incidents or language they hear.’ Dunne has been regularly contributing to ShoutOut Ireland , an organisation that organises workshops for schools across Ireland on LGBTQ+ rights. ‘ShoutOut is a fantastic organisation that gives educational workshops in schools across the country. Their philosophy is one that believes that overcoming ignorance is key in overcoming bigotry. When kids learn about and get to ask questions about LGBTQ+ issues they’re less likely to have a “fear of the unknown” per se. If any teachers, students or parents are interested please do get in contact with ShoutOut for more information.” Jack Dunne was recently awarded the Trevor West Scholarship by Trinity Sport; this scholarship is awarded to exceptional athletes who have shown outstanding contribution to sport at Trinity College Dublin and within their respective clubs.
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