“I was a little kid on my way to school getting ready to confront my bullies.” That’s how Graeme Le Saux, British soccer player and Chelsea defense, describes his experience with his classmates in his autobiography. And he wasn’t even gay. Nothing compared to what Justin Fashanu, the professional soccer player who made his homosexuality public back in 1998, had to go through for many years. Aside from having to put up with racist comments for being black, Fashanu never denied the fact that he was gay. This is the reason why one of the most important organizations in UK that fights homophobia has his name.
The list of characters that have made their homosexuality public in the world of sports around the world is rather short. Basketball player John Amaechi, hurler Donal Og Cusack, swimmer and Olympic gold medal winner Matthew Mitcham and recently, rugby player Nigel Owens and captain of the British Lions Gareth Thomas. In the case of lesbians, the only one who has taken a step forward has been tennis player Martina Nabratilova.
Taking into account the 4,000 sports professionals there are in the United Kingdom, we would figure that there would be more homosexuals. The same situation occurs in Spain, where nobody dares to come out of the closet. Is it more difficult to come out in such a “macho man” atmosphere as we would suppose the soccer world is? You never know, it’s just that Fashanu’s lesson is eloquent. When he retired three years ago he said:
When I came outof the closet the public reaction was to highlight what I’d acheived on the field through my work.
The British Soccer Association has set itself to fight homophobia lauching this fantastic video showing the savages of the sport. It’s time that the same is done in Spain.
Watch video on The Guardian.co.uk
