October 15, 2018
Gay British Athlete Posts Kissing Pic, 50 Unfollow on Instagram
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 5 MIN.
The shocker wasn't that British Olympic race walker Tom Bosworth took to Instagram to post a photo of himself giving another man a peck on the lips; after all, Bosworth is openly gay and the man in question is his husband, Henry Dineley.
The shocker, as Bosworth noted in a bemused tweet, is that directly after he posted the pic, 50 people unfollowed him.
Bosworth posted the photo for Coming Out Day with the message "I thought I'd post the reason I came out, both times (to my parents and then publicly)," referring to Dineley. Bosworth came out in 2015.
Bosworth's post referred to Dineley as "love of my life, my everything," and then addressed readers directly.
"To all those struggling with the decision [of whether to come out or not] if the time is right and you have the reason to do it, then DO it! You'll instantly feel better and you'll wonder why you never did it sooner!"
The pic might have left some Instagram followers wondering in turn - why they were following an openly gay athlete, that is. Or perhaps they were left wondering why they were following an openly gay athlete who clearly was not available. Or perhaps they embrace the self-defeating argument that gays should not participate in committed relationships.
As Bosworth noted at Twitter, "Last night I shared this picture on Instagram for #nationalcomingoutday. It received a lot of love!" The athlete then reports on how 50 people hastened to unfollow him after the picture's appearance, and muses, "I don't post romantic pictures very often and I've never hidden who I am so I don't understand why these individuals followed me in the first place."
Last night I shared this picture on Instagram for #nationalcomingoutday. It received a lot of love! Since then 50people unfollow me!????
I dont post romantic pictures very often and Ive never hidden who I am so I dont understand why these individuals followed me in the first place! pic.twitter.com/i26ggpiJ1w– Tom Bosworth (@TomBosworth) October 12, 2018
Twitter followers had a ball speculating as to whether it was out of romantic disappointment or sartorial disapproval; one response ventured, "I imagine it's because your tie is a mews." Whether the reason for the sudden mass defection was that those followers weren't paying attention or because their hearts were broken by Bosworth's portrait of committed matrimonial love, the athlete has lived out and proud - and loud; last summer, as UK newspaper The Independent reported, he publicly declared himself ready and willing to stand up to homophobia, even at the risk of being imprisoned, in the anti-gay nation Qatar, where the world championships in race walking are slated to take place in 2019.
