Peter Caruth (image via Facebook/Peter.Caruth)In late June, Irish Olympic field hockey player Peter Caruth, 32, became the first international hockey player, and the second Irish male Olympian, to publicly come out as gay.
Although he says he knew he was gay by the age of 14, Caruth didn’t come out to anyone until the age of 33 when a close friend asked him about his relationships with women.
Caruth had been chatting about a woman, but the friend felt things didn’t add up. In a non-confrontational manner, the friend asked, “Is there something you want to tell me? Are you gay or something?”
As Caruth later posted on Instagram, “all it took was the right question at the right time.”
“I knew from a very young age but it wasn’t a comfortable scenario in those days to come out,” he explains.
“My family are quite a religious family, do you know what I mean, my mum is an RE [Religious Education] teacher, but look if people like my mum and my dad and all my best mates can truly be comfortable with it and accept it, it’s class.”
Related: UK Pro Soccer Player Comes Out
Caruth joined Jennifer Zamaparelli this past Wednesday on RTÉ 2FM to discuss his coming out journey. Hit the play button below 🙂