This emotional message sums up why these naked rowers get their kit off
The Warwick Rowers create a calendar each year which seems to get more and more… naked.
Money from the calendars goes to the rowers’ own charity which helps to tackle bullying, with a particular emphasis on LGBT people.
But this week they received a message from a follower who pretty much summed up why they do what they do, and why they should keep on doing it.
Angus Malcolm, one of the rowers, posted on Facebook saying the team had received a message from a fan, also called Angus.
The rower wrote: “I didn’t have Angus’s bravery at 17, and I will never know what difference the Warwick Rowers would have made for me. But I am humbled that he feels we made a difference for him.”
The reason? The 17-year-old fan describes in detail how seeing the calendar not only made him realise his own same-sex attraction, but it also gave him the courage to come out to friends and family.
He wrote: “I’m a 17yr old Australian who recently came out as gay to his friends and family. I just wanted to say thank you, so very very much for what you guys do. The promo shots of your calendar and some of the pictures were some of the first ever photos of those kind that I saw. In fact it was the calendar images that made me realise my attraction and thus homosexuality.
“But I think the most powerful aspects of the images are that they show that camaraderie and mateship is still possible when there are accepting people who don’t care about your sexuality. They gave me the realisation that when I came out to my friends they wouldn’t treat me any differently, but just like a mate. Infact the day I came out I put one of the posters on my phone lock screen as motivation to come out.
|Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you for what you’re doing, fighting homophobia and giving confused guys like me confidence in their attraction and eventual acceptance. As soon as I get a job I will buy one of the calendars and support this great cause, so hopefully you can keep helping others like me.”
