Brit Pro Rugby Player, Boy Band Member Levi Davis Comes Out as Bisexual

Professional rugby star and boy band member Levi Davis has come out as bisexual after years of battling a 'sense of shame' and feeling that he wasn't 'normal' reported the British website Metro this week.

"The Bath rugby club winger, 22, told his teammates about his sexuality in their group Whatsapp and praised them for their support. Levi wrote: 'Hi guys. I just want to tell you something that's been eating away at me for four years now. I want to be open and honest with you boys, as friends and team-mates. I'm bisexual. It's something I have known since I was 18.'"

He ended the message by joking that, because of their appearance, 'none of you lot are on my radar so it's OK.'

His fears of getting a negative response from his teammates were quickly eased. Amongst the positive feedback, the Daily Mail reports, were these:

'Mate, we support you.' 'You're really brave.' 'This changes nothing.' 'Fair play to you.'

"And then they began taking the p*** in a good-natured way, which I was relieved about. If they had been too tender-hearted, I would have been worried. I'm still a rugby player, after all!", Levi wrote.

The 22-year old "is the first professional male rugby player to reveal his LGBTQ+ status since former Wales and British and Irish Lions captain Gareth Thomas came out as gay in 2009," reports the New Zealand website Stuff.

Davis's "laddish" rep preceded him, adds the Daily Mail. "Few in the Bath squad exemplify rugby's macho, laddish stereotype quite like Levi who, when he wasn't thundering past opponents towards the try line, was at the heart of dressing-room banter and the instigator of nights out: Levi the life of the party, Levi the lothario."

"I had hidden it well but I couldn't keep it secret any longer. I had to tell them, all of them, not just a few. I didn't want it to turn into Chinese whispers," he told the Daily Mail. "So, on the spur of the moment, I put it on our WhatsApp group."

He also acknowledged he comes from a position of privilege: "'I realize, though, that I am a bit niche and difficult to categorize: a black, bisexual, privately educated rugby professional. Even Black people who hear me on the phone sometimes say, 'You don't sound Black, you sound white.'"

He also said that he plans on ignoring catcalls he may receive while playing. 'I would feel more sorry for them than for me,' he said.

As far as social media, Levi told the Daily Mail: "Who gives a f*** about Twitter?"

He pursued his other great love – music – with fellow rugby stars Thom Evans and Ben Foden, he formed the muscle-bound boy band Try Star for a shot at Celebrity X Factor. They were eliminated in the semi-finals last year.

"Levi is preparing to meet his Ealing teammates for the first time since going public about his sexuality," writes the Daily Mail. "I will be nervous the first time I see them again at the club, but after the first day that will disappear," he told the British website.