Matthew Mitcham has not only won gold, but has become an international beacon of gay pride. Peter Hackney reports.

Last weekend Matthew Mitcham created Olympic history.

He was already the only openly gay Australian to attend the Beijing Olympics. Then his gold medal in the men’s 10-metre diving made him the first openly gay Australian to win gold at an Olympics.

To boot, he was the first Australian male to win gold since Dick Even in 1924, and his score of 112.10 in one dive made him the highest-scoring diver in Olympic history.

Forget Madonna, Kylie, Cher – Matthew Mitcham is now the ultimate gay icon. And unlike the aforementioned, this one is actually gay.

But like many queer people, Matthew Mitcham doesn’t want to be known just for being gay.

Shortly after news broke that Mitcham was gay in The Sydney Morning Herald, he told MCV: “It’s not really a big deal. It’s not like I’m a different person ... nothing really has changed.”

And when he won gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics in the 10-metre diving event last Sunday, he told the assembled media scrum: “I don’t want to be known as the gay diver, I want to be known as a good diver.”

Yet by becoming the first openly-gay Australian to win gold medal at an Olympic Games, Mitcham has become a positive role model for queer people worldwide, especially young gay guys. Mitcham might not want his sexuality to overshadow his sport – and quite rightly so – but he doesn’t need to be a walking, talking gay rights activist to effect positive change for our community. Simply by being himself, being open about who he is, sharing a congratulatory kiss with his partner Lachlan in front of the world’s media, with no fuss, no shame, no hesitation, Matthew Mitcham’s contribution to queer rights is the equal of years of activism.

“Matthew is one of the best role models this nation's gay youth could ever hope for,” Tasmanian gay rights advocate Rodney Croome told MCV in the wake of Mitcham’s win.

“Not only is he a high achieving [gay guy] who is happily out and partnered, but he is charming, well-rounded and fun to boot. He's renewed my pride in my sexuality and my nationality.”

Meredith Turnbull, executive officer at Sydney’s queer youth support group Twenty10, believes that Mitcham is a new type of role model for queer youth.

“Most role models for queer youth in the past have been from the entertainment world or the arts,” she tells MCV.

“Matthew represents a new kind of role model for them, this time from the sporting world. It’s a great step forward in showing the diversity of queer people from all walks of life, just doing what they do and being queer.

“And it shows young queers that there’s more to life than just pubs and clubs and bars.”

But it’s not just for queer youth that Mitcham has become a role model for. He’s a role model for the wider queer community too: influential British blog PinkNews.co.uk  declared him ‘a gay hero’; celebrity blogger Perez Hilton exclaimed, ‘He is the only male athlete in Beijing courageous enough to be openly gay. And he just won gold!; Outsports.com announced that he was ‘the most significant openly gay male athlete ever’, noting that most queer sports stars to date have been lesbians, and that US gay diver and Olympic gold-winner Greg Louganis was not ‘out’ during competition.

Even Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who is famously opposed to same-sex marriage – and who Mitcham slammed as “old-fashioned” in an interview with yours truly in July, drawing headlines around the world – has come to the party.

“He should be so proud, as the country is of him,” Rudd said on the ABC News. “1924 was the last [male] diving gold medal. Good on him.”

It just goes to show –Mitcham has won more than gold. He’s won the hearts and minds of people everywhere, to the benefit of our community.

Congratulations, Matthew Mitcham.

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