UK's first active male professional footballer to come out publicly as gay

twosips said:
Someone replied to me on twitter suggesting that it could be that its a lot more normalised for younger people, and they might have a point tbh
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You would hope so, although I think it’s been normalised outside of football at sixth form/university for at least 10 years. I wonder if we’ll see more academy/u23 players coming out in a very low key, matter of fact way before they even hit the public eye as first team players.

Would also be good to know if Josh Cavallo or Carl Nassib coming out was important to him.
 
Dobsy said:
Nah, it has a lot of relevance to many other people. Visibility is important.

The only gay men I saw represented in the world when I was growing up were super camp and effeminate TV entertainers who were treated as a bit of a joke. I concluded that there was nobody in the world like me, that's a very lonely place.

Unfortunately I know people who are going through their whole lives living a lie because of that fear.

There will be kids out there who see this news and it will make a huge difference to them.

ps. I found a lot of people like me.
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Fair enough, everybody's different, two of my best mates (not a couple) are very openly gay, and don't share your view, doesn't make you or them right or wrong ;)
 
The fact that him coming out in 2022 is a massive deal shows we still have a long way to go.

Good on him and hope others follow suit to the point where its not headline news.
 
domalino said:
Would also be good to know if Josh Cavallo or Carl Nassib coming out was important to him.
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"It’s a step into the unknown being one of the first footballers in this country to reveal my sexuality, but I’ve been inspired by Josh Cavallo, Matt Morton and athletes from other sports, like Tom Daley, to have the courage and determination to drive change."


Fair play to him. It shouldn't matter either way but unfortunately, it still does.
 
Good on him and very courageous.
Let's hope more follow.
It really shouldn't be a big deal, it's 2022.
Respect people for who they are.
 
In the 2020s I don’t see why people need to “come out”. Being gay is as normal as being straight these days. If one of my mates “came out” to me I’d probably say something like “oh right, nice one, see the footy last night?”

Who gives a shit who people are attracted to? It’s nobody’s business but their own.
 
Shouldn't need courage, this, but it undoubtedly does.

I wish him all the best, and I hope he's paved the way, both for any existing footballers who are gay and feel pressured to keep it a secret, and also for boys and men who feel like football isn't for them because of their sexuality.

The men's game is painfully behind the women's in this.
 
Saddleworth2 said:
He is the first in a long time so kudos to him. Hopefully soon, any athlete will be able to be open about their sexuality without any problem at all.
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I would like to think you're right but the minority of football fans are real pricks. Any other sport it would not be a problem look at Tom Daley And Gareth Thomas
 
Pretty shameful it takes an announcement by a 17 year old boy to end this sad pretence. Football should be incredibly grateful to him and hopefully the whole thing becomes shown as the irrelevance it really ir.
 
Great news that finally someone has done this, well done!
Astonishing that he's the first pro footy lad to state his sexuality in this way and it's 2022 FFS. About time.
 
Psychedelic Casual said:
In the 2020s I don’t see why people need to “come out”. Being gay is as normal as being straight these days. If one of my mates “came out” to me I’d probably say something like “oh right, nice one, see the footy last night?”

Who gives a shit who people are attracted to? It’s nobody’s business but their own.
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It’s a pretty big deal to the comer outer though. They don’t know if they’ll be accepted by their own family and friends.
 
If players don’t want to come out they shouldn’t be pressured into it by the LGBT community some of whom are getting paid to promote the cause. Fashnu’s daughter said she’s trying to get players to come out, it’s fuck all to do with her.

They just may not be comfortable and it’s no business of anyone else.
 
Psychedelic Casual said:
In the 2020s I don’t see why people need to “come out”. Being gay is as normal as being straight these days. If one of my mates “came out” to me I’d probably say something like “oh right, nice one, see the footy last night?”

Who gives a shit who people are attracted to? It’s nobody’s business but their own.
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In most areas of life in this country, it doesn't matter.

It matters in football because homophobia is rife in the men's game, whether it's insults hurled from the terraces, jokes in the pub, whispers in the dressing room, taunts on the pitch.

It matters because if you're a professional footballer who's gay - and Jake Daniels won't be the only one in this country - you're keeping a major part of your life a secret from the whole world out of fear of how people would react.

It matters because if you're a teenage boy simultaneously realising you're gay and being scouted by professional clubs, you have to make a decision - give up your career in order to love who you love, or commit to being alone or keeping all your relationships a secret in order to have a chance in your career.

It matters because it seems like once a year or more there's a big salacious article in the tabloids about some anonymous footballer who's tormented by his sexuality and the fear that people will find out, and that kind of coverage just adds to the fear and the feeling that being gay is somehow shameful.

The FA and clubs have done work to try to fight the stigma but without someone actually having a career in football whilst openly gay, it's all just words. Daniels is a canary in a mine - there'll be a lot of eyes on him to see how toxic the response to this is.

No-one should feel pressured to come out. No-one owes the public an explanation of their sexuality, and there's no shame in choosing to keep it private. But it's best for everyone if we live in a society where people feel comfortable to come out if they want to. Like someone finding out about their sexuality isn't the end of the world or the end of their career.

It's highly likely that at least one of our players, past or present, is gay. He doesn't have to tell us. But I'd like him to feel like we'd support him if he did.
 
Alan Harper's Tash said:
It’s a pretty big deal to the comer outer though. They don’t know if they’ll be accepted by their own family and friends.
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There will always be homophobia, just like racism it’s impossible to for it not to exist. Getting more acceptance and a lesser level of abuse has been a huge breakthrough in the past 50/60 years or so.
 
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