After marrying her partner in Lancashire last year, Jade Konkel-Roberts is comfortable speaking publicly about her sexuality.

Konkel-Roberts married her partner Helen Roberts in The Out Barn, Waddington last year and although now comfortable speaking publicly about her sexuality, her early days growing up in the Scottish Highlands were filled with uncertainty.

As a gay woman in rugby and serving firefighter, Konkel-Roberts finds it amusing that her veganism ruffles more feathers than her sexuality.

Scotland’s first professionally contracted player is currently recovering from ankle surgery but is targeting a return for the business end of the Six Nations, which begins this weekend.

 

Once that is complete, her attention will immediately turn to Harlequins’ Game Changer Pride fixture against Wasps at Twickenham Stoop on May 13, an annual event staged to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community in sport.

Konkel-Roberts values the inclusive message it sends out in a game where she has always been made to feel welcome.

“I get more things said to me about being a vegan than about being gay! It’s just funny,” she said.

“You get a lot of stick in a rugby environment being a vegan. Who knows, maybe the vegan life will also be normalised one day!

“I’ve never faced a single issue in rugby for being gay. It’s not really a question either. In every team I have played for there has been a very even split between people who are straight and people who identify otherwise.

“It’s never a thing. It’s ‘do you have a partner?’ and the reply is like ‘yeah I have a boyfriend or I have girlfriend’.

“The fact it’s so normalised is great. That’s not to say it’s like that everywhere, but from most of the stories I’ve heard it’s always been really positive.”