Exeter and England wing Moloney-MacDonald receives homophobic letter at Sandy Park

Claudia Moloney-MacDonald discovered a homophobic letter addressed to her at Exeter Chiefs’ Sandy Park ground shortly after returning from England’s Women’s Six Nations Grand Slam triumph, in which she played a prominent starting role.

The letter, sent by an anonymous writer, expressed religious disapproval of Moloney-MacDonald’s relationship with her wife Cliodhna — the Ireland and Exeter hooker — after the sender had seen a photograph of the couple in a newspaper. The letter read: “Being a lesbian or homosexual is contrary to how human life should be according to scripture. Everyone, including myself, will be judged according to the life we lead now before the final judgement which is due soon, no one knows the day or hour. It’s a shame you and your partner have taken this course and there are consequences, your future is down to you, you carry your own load.”

Moloney-MacDonald said her initial reaction was one of shock, though her confidence in her own identity meant the letter did not unsettle her in the way it might have affected a less secure individual. “I guess I am quite secure in who I am,” she said. “I would have been more concerned if I was someone who was perhaps less confident in who they were and who they were with. When I read the letter I was kind of in shock but I almost laughed at it.”

The wing said the first person she showed the letter to was Cliodhna, who also found it bizarre. When it circulated around the Exeter changing room, reactions varied. “Some people are genuinely insulted and found it very rude, others just quite comical and funny,” Moloney-MacDonald said.

While she acknowledged the letter stopped short of outright insults, she noted that its written, deliberate nature set it apart from impulsive social media abuse. “There is definitely a lot of intention behind it,” she said. “Clearly they have concern for me, I would guess, or disapproval of how I choose to live my life. I don’t really believe I am hurting anyone with the way I live my life. They clearly thought about what they wanted to send to me because it wasn’t a spur of the moment [social media post].”

Moloney-MacDonald had enjoyed a significant Six Nations campaign with England, who claimed an eighth consecutive Women’s Six Nations title, after a more limited role in the previous year’s Rugby World Cup. Her return to club rugby was therefore marked by an unwanted reminder of the discrimination LGBTQ+ athletes can still face even at the height of their careers.