Football's coming out?

The death of Justin Fashanu could have been a watershed in football's attitude towards gay players, but instead the sport has reacted with disinterest and denial. There have been no openly homosexual players in British professional football since Fashanu, who hanged himself in a London garage in May, 1998, eight years after he came out.

I don't remember much about Brentford's game at Griffin Park against Torquay United in 1991-92, but I remember Fashanu - Torquay were his last English club - being on the receiving end of plenty of homophobic abuse, just as he was across the country.

A new campaign, the Justin Campaign, aims to raise awareness and improve education about homosexuality in football. Brighton Bandits, a documentary about the town's gay football team, is being screened twice at the Odeon in Brighton on Saturday, which is the International Day Against Homophobia.

The Bandits are calling for May 2, 2009, to be marked as a remembrance day for Fashanu, with Premier League and Football League teams observing a minute's silence and wearing black armbands. It is a goal that seems unlikely to be realised - football would rather look the other way than confront the issue head-on. And why would a gay footballer come out after what happened to Fashanu? They would be an icon for a minority of the footballing community, an object of ridicule and hatred to much of the rest.

Comments

[jason hall]

Being mocked because you are out of sink with say, the latest fashion can be painful, but if you avoid the temptation to follow eventually you will lead. Of course the next gay footballer will get bother,and the next, and the next. That is what happens when you infringe on the one remaining hiding place for heterosexual homosexuality.

[jason hall]

Being mocked because you are out of sink with say, the latest fashion can be painful, but if you avoid the temptation to follow eventually you will lead. Of course the next gay footballer will get bother,and the next, and the next. That is what happens when you infringe on the one remaining hiding place for heterosexual homosexuality.

[P]

Isn't the gay and lesbian world cup on in London?
http://gentrystyle.com/category/sport/