h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The article was good, the only thing it didnt cover was what happened to me:

I used to play field hockey and also coached the clubs under 18's youth team.

Whilst the youths that I coached did not react in an adverse way when I came out, in fact it didn't seem to bother them at all, their parents at the club and a number of the older male players reacted very adversly. The most hurtful and objectionable comments suggested that I was a peadophile.

For various reasons, shortly after coming out, I moved away from the area, however, I did regularly visit the club to catch up with how they were doing etc. To my dismay a large majority of the male players just ignored me or were downright rude; again the younger players seemed not to be bothered by my sexuality, not did the majority of female players.

Clearly, in hindsight there were 2 issues at play here, firstly the threat to their masculinity that I supposedly posed (it wasnt as though those that made the loudest objections were worth a second glance) and secondly, the evidentially ridiculous assumption that as a gay man I was a peadophile.

The second issue is the most hurtful and the most difficult to deal with, particularly as those who believe this are the least inclined to enter into a sensible discussion about it