Law has nothing to do with this but your astonishment at anything is quite unremarkable.

Thank you for another invaluable contribution.

A nice piece here on the effect this sort of thing can have on young LGBT+ people

Good article. Sadly, if you scroll down there's a second article where Billy Vunipola has responded to Folau with some nonsense about "man was made for woman". It's nowhere near as bad, but it's just as ignorant. Muppet.

Have any of you seen the recent post by Billy Vunipola? (instagram)
Really interested to hear your thoughts.

Billy's monologue is less directly offensive and he's used some clever devices like using a rhetorical question to tone down the message but I guess I just wish he hadn't broadcast it. Ultimately it's up to him whether or not he feels the need to come out in support of Folau and he obviously felt compelled to but setting aside my own feelings/opinions for a second, it would seem more sensible for these guys to back each other in private rather than be philosophising in front of the world's media. That's what I would be advising them to do if I was their agent. No one's demanding that these guys become spokesmen for anything other than rugby - but again that's their prerogative.

If you want my personal opinion, I just feel sorry for Billy and Folau that they're so blinkered by their religion. As an atheist I come from a fairly extreme starting point - i.e. I'd hate to be what I perceive to be brainwashed into being so closed-minded. So given that their comments don't offend me personally, what else can I do but pity them? Feels to me like they're closing off a lot of opportunities to bond with others on a human level because they are somewhat repulsed by or afraid of people who live their lives differently. I'm sure they pity me - I'm that sinner they're talking about after all and I'm not going to be repenting any time soon. Keep Hell warm for me, I'm on my way...

The thing I can't ever square is the cop-out of repentance. Both Folau and Billy admit to having committed many of the sins on the list. The difference for them is just that quick check-in with their dude upstairs to say sorry. The whole thing doesn't really inspire me to believe that you've really bought into your religion if you're free to sin as much as you want - just as long as you apologise to the big man afterwards.

I have religious friends but it didn't take me long to realise that they all have something in common: they've taken a religion that is millennia old and realised that it makes more sense to transpose and adapt those teachings/moral codes into the world we actually live in now. If everyone did that I suspect we wouldn't have these issues. It baffles me that these people can't or don't want to, but that's their life - I'll just have fun over here swinging both ways and turning up at The Stoop just after 1pm tomorrow to get as many rounds in before the game as is humanly possible.

It sadly means that Billy Vunipola is another one who appears to believe being gay is "against god".

Being afraid of death therefore creating a magical person in the sky to help protect yourselves from the randomness and futility of existence is one thing (see, that's my freedom of speech right there - it's all genetics Billy, you're not a "thing" you're just some genes that want to carry on and really don't mind who or what you are or what you think or believe so chill out).

Using that belief in order to tell people that they're putting their **** into the wrong hole is quite another.

More specifically, as Tom posts - so Billy somehow has constructed his religious world to believe that his sins can be forgiven but liking **** isn't. It's all rather dull.

Oh. My reading of Issy and Billy's posts was that I just had to close my eyes and say sorry immediately after my next Grindr hookup - is that not how it works? Damn.

As far as I can tell he can say sorry for being drunk but you can't say sorry for a reach around.

He's started on Vunipola now too!

He's just brilliant. Need more public figures like Joe Marler. You know what? #JM4PM