We live in an ever increasingly more liberal and relaxed society in this
day and age, if someone is gay, what does it matter? I have worked with both
male and female homosexuals and been able to say one or two have become close
friends and I enjoy that they are comfortable and proud about their sexuality. In all professions it's not an issue but why is sport, seen as a predominately heterosexual environment, an area
where athletes are either simply not gay, or most likely uncomfortable with
announcing the their true selves..
It's estimated that 6% of the UK's population is gay, that's roughly one in 20 people (no pun intended) so for an average sports team, that would mean 1-2 members would have a different orientation to the rest of the squad, yet how many sports stars could you name that have come out?
The UK's most popular sport is football (soccer) and to date, Justin Fashanu
is the first and only footballer to have openly 'come out' which he did in
October 1990 in The Sun tabloid newspaper, Fashanu commit suicide in 1997 after
sexual allegation charges were brought against him by a 17 year old, in his
suicide note he wrote "I realised that I had already been presumed guilty.
I do not want to give any more embarrassment to my friends and family.",
the same paper that was happy to 'out' him had constantly linked him with
unnamed MPs, football players and pop stars, which Fashanu had to frequently
deny were untrue. It seems the same media outlet, The Sun, that was happy to publicise
someone's sexuality, was also happy to wilfully imply sexual encounters and
this would of had the reverse effect of what Fashanu intended and he was quite
vocal in how this made him feel ostracised, particularly from his own family.
From this experience, it's hardly a surprise that other footballers would be
tempted to 'come out the closet' in a similar fashion. The simple fact is that
tabloid newspapers would have a field day with joke headlines or constant
photos of shirtless hugging not to mention the barrage of accusations with
people of the same sex such as Justin Fashanu had to constantly deny. On 19th
April 2012, just over a month after I'm writing this, The Sun newspaper had the
front page headline of 'Jessie Gay' where reality TV judge Jessie J was
publicly outed as a lesbian, in this day and age I would argue that isn't news,
let alone front page headline news. It also felt compelled to give the news
that Simon Cowell, a rival reality TV judge, wasn't gay! They actually wrote,
on the front of their paper that someone wasn't gay.....this is 2012!! That same day there were other news stories such as 3 soldiers killed in Afghanistan, French elections and the UK's largest supermarket Tesco reporting a downfall in profits due to the recession, none of that matters though as someone is gay and someone else isn't.
The way the media would use such a 'story' has to be the main reason that sports stars would be tentative to be comfortable with coming out. In all honesty, Lionel Messi is considered the best footballer on the planet right now, if he was gay, would that mean that fans didn't want him to sign for their team? Of course not. Would rival fans boo him? Of course not. Would the tabloid press have and endless amount of sly comments and innuendo? yes, constantly. Just as The Sun did with Justin Fashanu, it was happy to publicise his sexuality to sell papers and it was happy to turn on him in an attempt to sell more and after how Justin Fashanu's life ended, who could blame sports stars from feeling a need to stay silent?
It's estimated that 6% of the UK's population is gay, that's roughly one in 20 people (no pun intended) so for an average sports team, that would mean 1-2 members would have a different orientation to the rest of the squad, yet how many sports stars could you name that have come out?
The UK's most popular sport is football (soccer) and to date, Justin Fashanu
is the first and only footballer to have openly 'come out' which he did in
October 1990 in The Sun tabloid newspaper, Fashanu commit suicide in 1997 after
sexual allegation charges were brought against him by a 17 year old, in his
suicide note he wrote "I realised that I had already been presumed guilty.
I do not want to give any more embarrassment to my friends and family.",
the same paper that was happy to 'out' him had constantly linked him with
unnamed MPs, football players and pop stars, which Fashanu had to frequently
deny were untrue. It seems the same media outlet, The Sun, that was happy to publicise
someone's sexuality, was also happy to wilfully imply sexual encounters and
this would of had the reverse effect of what Fashanu intended and he was quite
vocal in how this made him feel ostracised, particularly from his own family. From this experience, it's hardly a surprise that other footballers would be
tempted to 'come out the closet' in a similar fashion. The simple fact is that
tabloid newspapers would have a field day with joke headlines or constant
photos of shirtless hugging not to mention the barrage of accusations with
people of the same sex such as Justin Fashanu had to constantly deny. On 19th
April 2012, just over a month after I'm writing this, The Sun newspaper had the
front page headline of 'Jessie Gay' where reality TV judge Jessie J was
publicly outed as a lesbian, in this day and age I would argue that isn't news,
let alone front page headline news. It also felt compelled to give the news
that Simon Cowell, a rival reality TV judge, wasn't gay! They actually wrote,
on the front of their paper that someone wasn't gay.....this is 2012!! That same day there were other news stories such as 3 soldiers killed in Afghanistan, French elections and the UK's largest supermarket Tesco reporting a downfall in profits due to the recession, none of that matters though as someone is gay and someone else isn't.The way the media would use such a 'story' has to be the main reason that sports stars would be tentative to be comfortable with coming out. In all honesty, Lionel Messi is considered the best footballer on the planet right now, if he was gay, would that mean that fans didn't want him to sign for their team? Of course not. Would rival fans boo him? Of course not. Would the tabloid press have and endless amount of sly comments and innuendo? yes, constantly. Just as The Sun did with Justin Fashanu, it was happy to publicise his sexuality to sell papers and it was happy to turn on him in an attempt to sell more and after how Justin Fashanu's life ended, who could blame sports stars from feeling a need to stay silent?
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