Soon to be Olympian Bruce Mouat believes coming out as an openly gay man to his teammates was a key moment in his career.
The 27-year-old from Edinburgh shared his experiences to mark Rainbow Laces Day and believes coming out allowed him to be comfortable in his own skin and to focus on developing his sporting talent.
Mouat has been the world’s most successful curler in 2021, skipping his men’s team to European Championship gold and a trio of prestigious Grand Slam of curling titles as well as reaching the World Championship men’s final, while also becoming World Mixed Doubles champion with lifelong friend Jen Dodds.
He has consequently become the first curler to be selected to represent Team GB in two disciplines at the same Winter Olympics in Beijing next year.
However, he believes none of that would have been possible without the life changing experience he underwent eight years ago after suffering a major on ice disappointment.
“I told my team I was gay just before the 2013-14 season,” Mouat recounted.
“The previous year we’d had a bit of a tough finish to our junior season where we were trying to get into the Scottish Juniors semi-final and the pressure got to me a wee bit and I missed a shot and we lost.
“That had been the pinnacle of our season. We had won a lot of events, but for whatever reason the pressure seemed to get to me at the Scottish Juniors.
“At that time, I was already part of the British Curling programme at a lower level because we were maybe the second or third junior team, but I managed to get hold of a sports psychologist and I sat down with her. She was the first person I ever told that being gay was what I was hiding from the sport and from my family and friends.”
Their discussion helped him understand that the energy required to disguise his identity was distracting from allowing him to focus fully on exploring his sporting potential.
He said: “She was the one who helped me realise that being gay didn’t really matter in terms of a sport, it’s not going to affect how I play, but that before I had come out it was affecting how I played.
“I feel you have to have a great team dynamic in a curling team and to have that you have to be truthful and tell them exactly what you’re feeling. I just felt like I couldn’t do that.
“After I managed to tell them we had a great season and ended up winning the Scottish Juniors for the first time before going on to win a bronze at the World Championships.
“The following year we went on to win the World Juniors, so for me, as much as I can’t say for sure that it was my coming out that helped us to the success, it definitely seems to have some correlation, because it was after that that we started to see success.”
🥇🥇
Couldn’t be more proud of these fine Ladies&Gents @Team_Muirhead @TeamMouat on winning double Gold for Scotland at the European Championships.A pleasure to work with and great to see all your efforts being rewarded. @BritishCurling staff – you all rock! 👏🏻 pic.twitter.com/jxaADvssmu— David Murdoch OLY (@DMurdoch17) November 29, 2021
From the moment he came out to his closest friends and his relatives that he was gay, Mouat had the security of knowing he had their full support, but he has also received that from throughout his sport.
He said: “The curling community has always been very supportive. I’ve never had any issues with anyone as far as I’m aware. It felt like it didn’t even matter and that’s how I hoped it always would be.
“It didn’t matter that I was maybe a wee bit different to the other guys I was playing with and against. We’re all just athletes at the end of the day trying to compete for the same thing, regardless of sexuality and who we want to spend our lives with.”
He believes there are lessons for other sports and athletes to learn from his experience.
He added: “When I was growing up curling was a very traditional community and, typically, I would be nervous to come out in that environment.
“However, I think that the way I’ve felt welcomed into the community in spite of not being from a traditional curling background, not having family that curled before me and being an openly gay man just shows other sports that haven’t got to that point in their journeys that there’s a potential for anyone to come out and be safe within sport and be able to have success like I found in my career.
“I hope my experience makes it easier for younger players. That would be a nice thing to see. I was terrified to come out at the start.
“Telling my team was potentially one of the scariest things. I relied on them because curling is a team sport and if I told them and they had a bad reaction then I wouldn’t be able to play in that team, but I feel that if younger people are wanting to come out in curling it’s a very safe space to do it.”
There is, though, recognition that it is important for athletes to feel safe and protected in taking such steps.
“For me coming out was such a good experience in terms of the way I did it through sport. It just helped me feel totally at home when I was on the ice with my team,” said Mouat.
“As much as it’s scary to come out, it is such a freeing experience and the support you get is always going to outweigh any negativity you might get from a handful of people.
“Fortunately, I’ve only ever had a couple of comments and that’s not even to my face, it’s just some people trying to wind you up on social media. I just think that’s a wee bit pathetic really when it’s people that don’t have the ability to say something to your face and have to hide behind a keyboard.
“I don’t let those things affect me, because I know I’ve got a really good friends base, my family supports me 100 per cent and my teammates support me 100 per cent, so if I ever feel I need to talk to any of them I can.
“A good thing to remember is that if someone does have a negative reaction, it’s their problem, not yours. They’re the ones that need to educate themselves. So, if you feel totally comfortable with coming out and trying to live your life authentically to who you are, then do it.”
Mouat believes Rainbow Laces Day as important in reinforcing that message.
He said: “We should definitely be celebrating this day.
“It’s so nice to be able to have something on show that’s as simple as a rainbow… putting it on a lace to tie your shoes up, showing the support for all sport, rather than just talking about individual sports. It’s connecting us all.”
