Gay football players

Here's a list of players in college and pro football who have proved you can be gay or bi and still run the gauntlet. Running back Dave Kopay, who signed with the San Francisco 49ers in This is a list of notable, openly lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, transgender, and queer -identifying athletes associated with American Football, namely the NFL. There have been 16 gay or bi players come out publicly in the NFL, which is in its th season.

Carl Nassib was No. 16 and the first one to come out as gay while on an active roster.

famous gay football players

If even a couple of German players do come out, it will massively swell the tiny ranks of openly gay pro footballers: at the moment, only six are known of, and one of them – Zander Murray – recently announced he is retiring. Football, like any other game, also has many gay players. But it takes guts to come out and reveal one’s gender as gay, which is usually an act of courage in a world that is not conditioned to accept every gender.

This listicle will mention eight male football players who dared to come out as [ ]. Sports Free is an initiative that advocates for greater visibility and acceptance of queer athletes in professional sports. The initiative was started by Diversero, a global community that advocates for diversity and against bullying.

Marcus Urban is the co-founder of the organization. In , Urban became Germany's first former football player to come out as gay. Born in in the former East Germany GDR , Urban was one of the most talented young footballers in the communist state. As a midfielder for Rot-Weiss Erfurt he played in the highest youth leagues and represented the GDR at various youth levels.

He almost turned professional in the early s, but decided against the career move, deciding that the pressure of being a professional football player while having to hide his homosexuality would be too much for him. Diversero has also declared the intention to establish the 17th of every month from June on as "Sports Free Day" to raise awareness of the challenges faced by queer athletes.

There will be new role models for them. Homophobia is still widespread in men's football. Anti-gay chants can often be heard in the stands and players make derogatory comments on the pitch. According to Urban this makes many homosexual players more fearful of negative reactions on the pitch or in the dressing room than from the stands.

In addition, many players are convinced "that they would fall out of favor in the industry if they came out," Urban explained. This is known to have led some to lead double lives, sometimes being seen with "fake" girlfriends in public — while secretly meeting with other men. Former national team player Thomas Hitzlsperger is the best-known footballer to have come out in Germany. He did so in , after he had hung up his boots.

No active professional player in Germany has ever come out as gay. Beyond Germany, hardly any active footballers have come out. The first was Justin Fashanu in The reaction he received was a mix of rejection and hatred. He took his own life in after a year-old had accused him of rape. Several semi-professional and high-level amateur players in other countries have also come out. They fear that Urban's initiative will not have a lasting effect.

While it will draw attention to the problem for a brief time, they believe it will do little or nothing to reduce homophobia in a significant way. Pauli — have declared their support for the Sports Free initiative. It is difficult to predict. However, there has been growing skepticism about how many — if any — professional footballers will actually take part in the joint coming out.

Even Urban has recently been playing down expectations. Nobody dares to come out in the open," he added, saying the players in questions were "extremely cautious.

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