News Mitch Brown comes out as first openly bisexual AFL player

[woosha24]

Mitch Brown becomes first ex-AFL player to come out as bisexual.

EDIT: Looks like this got moved from the "Media" thread to its own post.

 

[kane249]

Good on him on being comfortable to do so

 

[woosha24]

Good on him on being comfortable to do so

Just sad he couldnt do it during his playing days from reading the interview.

 

[HoneyBadger35]

Good on you, Mitch.

Sad that he was lost to the game because of the culture. Ends with a pretty easy ask of everyone - a fraction of empathy can be life changing.

 

[Cuzz09]

Good on him on being comfortable to do so

now, after not playing for a decade

 

[Ishmael_]

Full back, forward pocket, bisexual - most versatile man in footy!

Good on him, it's genuinely courageous to put yourself out there like that.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

Onya Mitch. Glad the weight is off your shoulders.

Empathy shouldn't be hard, but here we are. I hope his ex-teammates get around him the same way Laidley's did.

 

[bUCKET__]

Full back, forward pocket, bisexual - most versatile man in footy!

Good on him, it's genuinely courageous to put yourself out there like that.

A genuine swingman

Brilliant call from him too that the AFL needs to do more than debating punishments & actually celebrate the good blokes more.

 

[Mr Eagle]

Can we split this into its own thread? Deserves much more visibility and kudos than it will get in here.

 

[Matele]

Kudos Mitch. It takes guts to come out to anyone, let alone be the first player in a particular sport to do it.

The weight off his shoulders must be immense. I know I feel a similar burden also being Bi but not feeling comfortable telling my family.

 

[Mr Q]

now, after not playing for a decade

Maybe that's the point, it's only now getting to a point where someone who's been in the AFL can feel that there's some level of acceptance coming (though totally undermined by the Snoop Dogg shite).

To be fair, if you look at all the utter crud that's been ditched at Dani Laidley, you could understand why no one shows their real self above the parapet. Perhaps this one case might just help a little and the next case make it easier again.

Well done Mitch Brown.

 

[UseR2006]

Proud of Mitch for getting to a point where he's comfortable with himself to come out.

Also proud that is one of our former players to be the first. Sad that the club hasn't yet acknowledged it but that's probably just our garbage media team.

 

[RanaNaved]

Good on him. Shame he couldn't be himself for so long

 

[Keys]

Can we split this into its own thread? Deserves much more visibility and kudos than it will get in here.

Agreed

This should be accepted without fuss and without judgement.

Hopefully it does and paves the way for others to also be comfortable in revealing their homosexuality/bisexuality without fear of being ostracised or abused

 

[Roobs321]

good on you Mitch! I was the same age as his (flag year) Eagles draft cohort so followed those few closely back then (Emac, Schoey, Houlihan, Thomson). Remember seeing Mitch's first game ('evil eagles') at Stadium Australia. I also had to be the first of my kind to come out in my workplace too (quite a ways back now), it is a very taxing experience to be in the closet in certain environments. Heartening to see former Eagles like Laidley and Brown paving the way for better understanding and empathy of the difficulties of this football pathway, these precedents matter. Growing up as an Eagles fanatic in the childhood closet these stories would've meant the world to me back then.

reminds me of the likes of Ian Thorpe and Jan-Michael Gambill, was a big fan of them as a kid and with hindsight it breaks your heart to think of the personal struggles and curtailing pressures they might have navigated during their career.

 

[JoshWoodenSpoon]

**** yeah! Thanks Mitch - hope it can set the stage for better attitudes and reshaping some of the backward and boring sensibilities around men's footy.

 

[MWPP]

Proud of Mitch, and extra credit for acknowledging the privilege he did have in the same sentence.

good on you Mitch! I was the same age as his (flag year) Eagles draft cohort so followed those few closely back then (Emac, Schoey, Houlihan, Thomson).

Nice

I was in that year (class of 2005) too albeit a year younger than them/most

 

[MWPP]

Sad that the club hasn't yet acknowledged it but that's probably just our garbage media team.

It has finally appeared on our Facebook. Hopefully more acknowledgement follows

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[Altum Volantes]

Good on him - hope it brings him some peace and has a positive impact for others.

 

[Happy Mastenator]

It has finally appeared on our Facebook. Hopefully more acknowledgement follows

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Twitter as well

 

[squashface]

Pretty cool by Mitch there.

Definitely changed a few lives today for the better whether it be current/past players, fans, kids etc who may feel more comfortable being themselves.

 

[BeornJ]

Good for you Mitch. This kind of thing can be very powerful for young people, hopefully it helps

 

[oak79]

Proud of Mitch for getting to a point where he's comfortable with himself to come out.

Also proud that is one of our former players to be the first. Sad that the club hasn't yet acknowledged it but that's probably just our garbage media team.

Bit harsh on the media team this time - a response would have needed to go through the right channels. They actually realised something pretty quickly really.

 

[jdisc]

Another W for the club

 

[Chunky Steak]

Hi all.

Just wanted to say, what an outstanding thing Mitch has done here. It's insane that we're even having this conversation in 2025, but here we are and it takes genuinely brave acts like this to move the needle in the right direction. Hoping this is the start of major change.

To hear that he was so done with it all that he gave the game away when there were years potentially on the table speaks to the toll it took on him.

Also, congrats on Harley re-signing. Great for your club and for footy.