I can only sssune that Gilmour, mount and chillwell are trying to come out - what they must have got up to behind closed doors compared to all the hugging and kissing on the pitch with the Scots team and manager must have been quite something if it was more intimate than that !!!!
In this case he's a pretty famous public figure in his context, so I imagine most people he comes into contact will know. But for most people coming out is something that happens more than once. They come out to themselves, to friends, family, workmates and in any new situation need to weigh up "Do I come out here? Will I be safe?" That's a lot of energy even if you're in a supportive environment. I hope I live to see the day when it is not considered a big thing, but we live in a country where just over 30 years ago the government of the day passed legislation to suppress any public discussion of sexuality. A country where being gay was illegal when I was born and was only fully legalised in all parts of the UK in 1981. At least two EU members have passed anti-gay laws that make Section 28 look gentle. So, it's still a big deal, but is becoming less of one at least in the UK. But still carries enough risks that no playing male footballer has decided to do it.
I haven’t seen any negative comment but it’s off season. There’s an interesting split in the NFL with a lot of younger players who just aren’t bothered by this, but an older coaching and ownership group who are very conservative. Publicly they won’t say anything bad, but it’s hard to know what’s happening behind the scenes. As one commentator said yesterday, we may have to wait until he retires to find out what the real reaction was like.
How fans react is another unknown - but as he’s not a skill player, it’s not going to be easy for large groups to obviously target him when he’s on the field.
Josh Cavallo, a 21 year player with Aussie top flight club Adelaide United has today come out as gay and in doing so become the only known current professional player in the world to do so.
Big move by him, naturally the odd stupid homophobic comment online but overall he has been largely praised by a lot of the worlds top clubs on twitter, along with players like Pique and Griezmann as well.
I was at Welling many years ago watching a reserve game & a man I knew to talk about football with - he had been a manager in non-league & at that time still had some involvement in the game - told me that one of our players was gay. Said player was married but I did have my suspicions about him 🤫
The general social opinion and acceptance of the LGBT community has changed dramatically for the better in the past decade or so, but sport is lagging behind. I believe it is almost entirely because of the chanting and abuse they'd get from opposing fans. And the chanting won't go away either, as anything a fan can latch onto they will, whether it's someone's sexual orientation, their haircut, whether the player had consent or not, if they've recently had a parent die, most things aren't off limits it seems, and being gay most certainly won't be for the majority of fans.
People said the same about racist chanting but you hardly ever hear that now even though you can hear individual racist comments.
Attitudes change and opposition to abusive chanting has grown.
We're, as a sport, further behind on homophobia than racism IMHO. In part that is changing attitudes in society but also that having black players is the norm now. Still work to be done though.
BTW Charlton had a director on the FAs tackling homophobia group over 10 years ago. As ever, we're way ahead of the game.
Actually, they had a fan at the inaugural FA meeting about homophobia, a meeting of just 10 people, at Lancaster Gate 20 years ago!
Same fan used to advocate for such things as having a red, white and rainbow day and was strongly out spoken on CL on homophobic and sexist chants and comments on match days. Same fan got labelled as a “WUM” and incurred the wrath of certain cliques, eventually leading to him act rather recklessly and get banned!
Now it’s firmly on the agenda and everyone is having a rational (in the main) conversation about such issues.
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That's a lot of energy even if you're in a supportive environment. I hope I live to see the day when it is not considered a big thing, but we live in a country where just over 30 years ago the government of the day passed legislation to suppress any public discussion of sexuality. A country where being gay was illegal when I was born and was only fully legalised in all parts of the UK in 1981. At least two EU members have passed anti-gay laws that make Section 28 look gentle. So, it's still a big deal, but is becoming less of one at least in the UK. But still carries enough risks that no playing male footballer has decided to do it.
UEFA taking a tough stand against the homophobia in Hungary - what a surprise.
Big move by him, naturally the odd stupid homophobic comment online but overall he has been largely praised by a lot of the worlds top clubs on twitter, along with players like Pique and Griezmann as well.
Same fan used to advocate for such things as having a red, white and rainbow day and was strongly out spoken on CL on homophobic and sexist chants and comments on match days. Same fan got labelled as a “WUM” and incurred the wrath of certain cliques, eventually leading to him act rather recklessly and get banned!
Now it’s firmly on the agenda and everyone is having a rational (in the main) conversation about such issues.
He told you so!
Still can’t get my head around the fact that it took over 30 years tor this to happen.
good luck to him