Casey Conway (born 1985) is an Australian of Aboriginal Australian descent. He was a semi-professional rugby league player. After he quit in 2005 due to a shoulder injury, he came out as gay. He speaks against the lack of acceptance in general of homosexuality in sports and is an advocate for young Indigenous Australians. He was also a male model for the Australian swimwear brand

aussieBum aussieBum is an Australian men's swimwear and underwear manufacturer. Products originated in Sydney's inner west, however, a growing number of aussieBum products were later manufactured overseas in China, Bangladesh, Thailand, and Vietnam. T ...

Early life and sporting career

Conway grew up in Bluff in Central Queensland as one of five boys. He went to

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

in Yeppoon at St. Brendan's College, which had a specialised rugby league programme and is where he was discovered by

Arthur Beetson Arthur Henry "Artie" Beetson OAM (21 January 1945 – 1 December 2011

for the National Rugby League team the Sydney Roosters. Conway joined the Sydney Roosters' Jersey Flegg Cup team in 2003. At the time, he was still uncertain about his

sexuality Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...

and was socialising covertly on Sydney's gay scene, where he has described facing "casual racism". After discussion with club officials, Conway decided not to

come out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

— publicly or to his team-mates — until after leaving the club in 2005. His retirement at the age of 22 was the result of a shoulder injury.

After retirement

After moving on from semi professional sport, and after a brief spell in fitness, Conway moved to work in youth work on Queensland's Gold Coast. He predominantly worked with young people that were disengaged from education as well as those within the youth justice and child protection systems. In a 2015 interview with NITV when Conway did come out, he expressed disappointment that fellow Aboriginal boxing legend Anthony Mundine had claimed, two years previously, that homosexuality was not an acceptable part of Aboriginal culture. He did describe a perception of change in professional sport, however: : There's not too many rofessional athleteswho have come forward, but I definitely think there's been a change. There are lots of different sporting identities, clubs and codes that are saying, "we're for equality". I think that's really great. It's really positive. As well as youth work, Conway at one point was an Aboriginal male model. He has modelled for Australian swimwear brand

and Sluggers. Conway was a board director and ambassador for the youth-led LGBTQ organization Wear It Purple and represented it at the 2021 Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Conway, Casey 1985 births Living people Australian Aboriginal rugby league team players Australian male models Gay models Gay sportsmen Indigenous Australian welfare workers LGBT rugby league players Australian LGBT sportspeople Australian gay men People from Central Queensland Rugby league players from Brisbane 21st-century Australian LGBT people Sportsmen from Queensland