Dancing on Ice starts this evening on ITV1 (6.15pm) and, according to Newsround's website, the twelve celebrities taking part in this series will include Gareth Thomas:-

Welsh rugby player Gareth played more times for his country than anyone else. The former Welsh captain hit the headlines in 2009 when he revealed he was gay. Now a movie's being made about his life.

It is true that Gareth "hit the headlines" in 2009, when he came out as gay. However I can confirm that the news was, at that time, kept well away from Newsround viewers. The rest of the BBC, however, was very keen to make Gareth's 'coming out' into a huge story. You see, a few days earlier the Corporation had attracted the ire of millions for publishing a web 'debate' entitled "Should homosexuals face execution?"

But they can always rely on their loyal gay staff to help out in difficult times. So not only did we see countless BBC interviews with Gareth Thomas, but we also saw newsreader Jane Hill 'out' herself as a lesbian in BBC staff magazine, Ariel. The story was then widely reported in the UK press.

If all these efforts were supposed to pull the wool over people's eyes to prove the BBC is a diverse-friendly organisation, the truth was revealed, once again, on Christmas Day 2012 when the Catholic Church was given free rein to spout their anti-equality message, without even the pretence of balance.