Excerpts from EXCLUSIVE: Ex-West Coast player becomes AFL's first openly bisexual man (archived) by Sam Koslowski, Emma Gillespie, & Orla Maher, published 27th August 2025 on The Daily Aus
In 2007, at age 19, Brown tentatively asked a teammate about sexuality: "how do you know if you're gay, how do you know if you're bisexual?"
The response was laughter.
"It was almost like, 'that's a funny question. You're being funny, Mitch.' And then the conversation just rolled on. But it was made [into] a joke, and I remember how that made me feel, and I swore never to bring that up ever again."
Over his career, Brown said "countless" homophobic comments were directed at him on the field — not because teammates suspected his sexuality, but because calling someone gay was considered the ultimate insult.
"When I was growing up at school, the word ‘gay’ was thrown around constantly… For a man in Australia, [it was seen as] probably the weakest thing you could be”.
By 2016, the weight of hiding had overcome a desire to continue in professional sport.
"I got to the end of my career, and I was asked to play on for a couple more years, and I was over it. I was done," Brown said.
While injuries played a role, Brown revealed that his sexuality was a "huge" factor in his decision to retire.
"One of the biggest reasons I wanted to finish up playing AFL was to meet new people, to meet a diverse range of people, men and women, different cultural backgrounds, and I craved new conversations. I craved talking to someone and not being judged. I craved the ability to choose who I wanted to be around rather than to fit into a team."
In the lead-up to Brown’s interview, he informed Shae about his decision to go public, worried about how it might affect their two young sons, both under five.
Her response, shared via text message the morning of our interview, moved him to tears:
"Good luck this morning. I'm so proud of you and right behind you all the way. This will make the world a slightly better place for our boys and young men in Australia, hopefully old men too. This is living the values of the kind of man I want our boys to grow up to be. Men who care and are proud of who they are."
His current partner Lou was equally supportive.
"She goes, 'Hey Mitch, I'm so bloody proud of you.' This is my partner, who's a woman, holding my hand as we are walking to share my experience about being a bisexual man."
