So it’s the morning after the release of my last blog. The BBC Wales online piece has gained a lot of attention (more attention that I get on a night out in Pulse!) on social media. Unfortunately, typically of social media, a lot has been negative (“why does it matter” “this isn’t news”….more on that later!) but there is some positive in there and I have a phone call from BBC Wales telling me that now they would like to do a 2 minute 45 second piece with me for the BBC Wales News at Six that night! I make my way to the studios and in the interview I make a point of challenging the online narrative (“if we didn’t talk about these things, then the world would never see that gay people exist in ALL walks of life”). Watching it go out live was a bit nerve-wracking, not knowing how it would be all pieced together. My friends Jake and Scott message to say this had better not be like that Gavin and Stacey scene where Mick’s on the telly for all of two seconds! Thankfully I was on screen for more than two seconds (I was even part of the main headlines at the start….oh my god!) and the piece the BBC put together was thankfully very positive.
From that moment on, for the next week, my life changed. Nigel Owens, one of my heroes in sport, tweeted me congratulations, which BBC Sport Wales also picked up on and that gained a lot of traction. I scrolled on my phone and all of a sudden on my Instagram was a photograph of me next to a headline…it was Attitude Magazine posting a news article they’d written about me! Attitude Magazine was a big deal for me during my formative years so to get a piece from them was mind blowing. Queerty, a big LGBT+ publication want an interview, The Times over here want to put together a piece, both in physical copy and online. National media, international media, and local media all want to talk to me, I get messages from people across all walks of my life right across my life which means the world. All in all, I’m on cloud nine for the best part of ten days.
Some of my thoughts are reflected by the brilliant Jack Murley of the Jack Murley Sports Show who has interviewed me before. He asks me if it’s strange getting all this attention now after being out as gay for over ten years. I equate it to the fact that you never stop coming out to the world. That, and the significance of the match I refereed for the first time. It actually makes me laugh that I’m not referred to as the darts referee, I’m the Luke Littler referee!! That’s a testament to his impact. I also know that this is a story that will only carry on for so long. I know that this is just a moment in time, but it’s a moment in time that I’m very grateful to look back on and say that I had.
The cherry on the cake was being invited onto BBC Radio Four’s topical Saturday morning programme Saturday Live! Jackie Kay, the poet laureate of Scotland who was there with her new book, and Sir Peter Murray, knight of the realm and founder of the Yorkshire Sculpture Park…..and me! The episode is broadcast from BBC Wales Studios, Sir Peter joins us on a link from Yorkshire but I have a fabulous time meeting Jackie Kay who tells the programme stories of her struggles with racism and homophobia growing up. It was a pleasure to be a part of such a big programme.
And that was that! After Saturday Live, everything seemed to die down in terms of interest from the press, and honestly, that was just fine for me. Heading to Bahrain for the Bahrain Darts Masters, it was almost as if I’ve had my moment, but now it’s time to go back to work and that has suited me down to the ground. However like I said above, I’m so grateful to have had an opportunity like that, that hopefully shows youngsters and indeed anybody that no matter your sexuality you can succeed in any field you choose to go into. Focus on those who support you (and in the PDC and BDO I’m lucky to have so many without whom I couldn’t have done it without), put your mind to it and go for it, and don’t let anything or anybody try and stop you!
Right that’s the serious stuff over with, in my next blog it’ll be back to the usual nonsense like leaving my passport on the plane in Bahrain….it wasn’t a good look! But that’s for the next blog!
