A prop forward, former Crusader Johnstone played three tests for the All Blacks in 2005 and finished his professional career at Biarritz Olympique in the French Top 14 championship.
The revelation was made in an interview this evening on legacy media programme Seven Sharp.
When asked why he had decided to speak out about his sexuality now, All Black #1056 Johnstone said, ‘If I can be the first All Black to come out as gay and take away the pressure and stigma surrounding that whole issue it can actually help other people. The public will know there is one in amongst the All Blacks.’
Johnstone is the first player in the storied team’s 115+ year history to publicly announce that he is gay.
The first All Black to publicly come out as gay is prop Campbell Johnstone.
Johnstone played three tests for the All Blacks in 2005, and 38 games for the Crusaders from 2004-2008. pic.twitter.com/TooExQ7cwa
— The Zeitgeist (@TheZeitgeistNZ) January 30, 2023
Being gay SHOULDN’T be a big deal, and is absolutely normal. Which is why the first male All Black publicly coming out means a lot.
It’s normal, it’s what happens, and helps other people realise that too.
— Andrew Macfarlane (@andrewmacfnz) January 30, 2023
Impressed with the leadership from Campbell Johnstone to be the first openly gay All Black. Coming out is a very personal decision, and in a hyper masculine environment, it's no small feat. This will change lives. Thank you, Campbell 💖🌈
— Christian Rika ⚡ (@CrikaRika) January 30, 2023
He kept it a secret during his playing days but now Campbell Johnstone has come out as the first openly gay All Black.
👉 https://t.co/ULkHNuKpVd pic.twitter.com/81VAZeW4bd
— 1News (@1NewsNZ) January 30, 2023
This was a great story but was wrecked by the presence of the awful Hilary Barry as interviewer
That sounds awful. Hilarious Barry should not have been there. I resent that too.
Brave of Campbell though. Will make a diffetence to sports to be more inclusive especially at the young level. A roll model so to speak. There’s a lot going on in a young pesons mind!
Why didn’t they get that other guy on seven sharp the camp one with the blond hair? He’s so proper 😂
Block block blockety block Barry. OMG!
Yes that disgusting non human parasite should be fed Freddo’s until her guts burst open.
Why do we have to know what people get up to in their bedroom? Yuck. I don’t care who,people want to shag just keep it to yourself please! No one cares.
Someone needs to ask Andrew McFarlane to clarify his tweet ie whether being gay is totally normal and not a big deal, or a big deal (it can’t be both).
Also, remind him that he literally owes his existence to a heterosexual couple.
To that other Twitter user (twit?), I wasn’t aware that announcing your preferred sexual partners was “leadership”. In woke 2023 it seems more like a publicity stunt than “bravery”, but maybe I’m just a hopeless cynic.
How about we just let rugby be about the rugby, or are we determined to kill it off with woke politics the way the yanks decimated their Monday night football viewership?
Yes you are quite right it should not be an issue and most likely in this day and age it is not.
And I am sorry for such repugnant images Anonymous but my mind just doesn’t go there.
We’ve only become so ‘open minded’ over the last two decades if that so it is a short space of time and it does go back and forth. Right now we are a bit synical as we have a very narcissistic society.
But I do know many people around a certain age that never played sport simply because they never felt comfortable to join in. I am sure you would like your children to feel included when it comes to he there time.
If it weren’t for people sticking there neck out from time to time we’d all just be sheep. You know….sheeple?
Maybe in NZ now we are in enlightened times and things have moved along. But somehow I have my doubts.
Sharing thoughts is what an open forum is for.
He isn’t sticking his neck out, he’s virtue signalling for publicity and money.
There will be precisely ZERO repercussions for coming out in 2023 New Zealand, in fact he’s likely to be talked about (and paid) even MORE now, and everyone knows it. Any coach who benches him will be axed, any teammate who dares look at him sideways will be fired and crucified on Twitter, anyone posting anything other than hysterical praise on their social media pages will be censored and booted off the platforms immediately.
He has risked absolutely nothing. That’s why his announcement is shallow and meaningless. If you want a REAL example of a sportsman who actually risked something and made sacrifices for what he believes in, look to Novak Djokovic.
I’ve also known people who weren’t comfortable playing sports, mainly because they didn’t like standing on a field in the hot sun. Their sexual preferences never really factored into it.
Also, kids don’t care about “representation” or “feeling included”. Those ideas are purely the obsession of well to do busybody adults who can’t throw a stick without hitting something that somehow oppresses them. Kids just wanna have fun.
You’re correct that we’ve only become so “open minded” in the last twenty years or so… and just look at all the wonderful new social problems we have now. We went from “they just wanna be left alone” to “let them get married” to “men get periods too” in roughly a decade, and they keep trying to sneak the “love knows no age” bullish!t in through the back door every five minutes as well, hoping to turn the 21st century into ancient Rome. All that “slippery slope” talk the old people were mocked for saying seems to be coming true.
It’s one thing to denounce the way gay people were treated in the past and say live and let live, it’s quite another to be actively flooding the entire culture with their lifestyle and trying to promote and push it onto teens and children at every bloody turn. IMO society has over corrected, and it’s become exhausting. Let the sports be about the sports, let the movies be about the movies, stop shoving identity politics and THE MESSAGE into everything.
But you’re right that sharing thoughts is what an open forum is for, so thanks for yours, even if I sense we disagree on many points.
Not as many as you think. Thank you for your balanced and intelligent response.
I agree and adhere to the maxim “Rainbows are for kids”.
And Novak Djokovic ‘you Serbian beauty!’ Kiwi/ Ausie speak for heroic victory.
Overcorrected like a plumb Bob out of control that’s for real.
Sport ain’t for everyone.
And this has probably run its course. Next.
“ being gay shouldn’t be a big deal, and is absolutely normal “ that’s not what our lord says about it, and I’m with him. And if it’s not a big deal, then why do you make it one? Just shut up already. You won’t be the first gay all black either, just that the ones before you had the good manners to keep it private. Let’s call it what it is.. Virtual signaling that’s what it is. You’ll see I have outed myself in my name 🙄
Yes indeed he owes his existence to a heterosexual couple.
And I love the fact you take Gods side as we must live by moral standards else we become immoral.
From the homosexual law reforms come civil unions and from their acceptance transgender ideology and from that to the current gender delusion.
Where does it stop? But one thing we know is where it began. Every seed bears its fruit
Well said and thanks John.
And well done, big ✔️😺
Lol….
Sir John James Patrick Kirwan.
Did the good Lord say anything about mental illness? 🙏😂