Major league rugby player Devin Ibañez — who most recently played with the New England Free Jacks in 2019 and before that captained the University of Massachusetts team — came out as gay last week in a pair of New Year’s Facebook and Instagram messages.
“As 2020 comes to a close I took the time to reflect on my life and what aspects I could control and make positive changes to that would impact my day to day life and happiness,” Ibañez posted.
“It became clear to me that living my life with more transparency and openly celebrating who I love would have an immediate positive impact on me and those I care about. So I want to start 2021 by celebrating the love of my life and my partner @ferguswade who has been with me through the highs and the (very) lows of the last three years.”
Reports Outsports on Dec. 30:
A self-described “rugby maniac,” Ibañez played in college for the University of Massachusetts, and in his coming out message posted photos with his boyfriend Fergus Wade, an English medical student he met in 2017 while Wade was doing research at Harvard studying sleep deprivation in fruit flies.
Posting the photos on his coming out story added power to his desire be his authentic self. He created his Instagram account yesterday as “thatgayrugger,” since he is one of the very few openly gay pro rugby players, past or present.
Since posting his coming out message yesterday, Ibañez told Outsports that “everyone has been overwhelmingly supportive and amazing. I’ve even gotten some messages from players who played on the same teams as me who told me a bit about their own stories. And that’s all I really want. Just to connect with those who had similar experiences and hopefully inspire those who are going through the same things.” …
Ibañez hopes to become a role model for other LGBTQ rugby players who are struggling with reconciling their sexuality with their sport and realizes he now has a platform.
“I am extremely lucky to live in a very accepting place in Boston,” he told Outsports. “And to have an amazingly supportive family. So in many ways I’ve had it very easy, but it was still a long and difficult process. But I can say I am definitely one of the lucky ones, so if I couldn’t get myself to take that step for this long with all of the support I had I can’t imagine how difficult it is for those who don’t have those support systems.”
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