8 Male Football Players who Dared to Come Out As Gay [2023 Update]

Contents:

• JAGS' MAXEN IS FIRST MALE AMERIN PRO SPORTS ACH TO E OUT AS GAY
• GIANT MURAL ON NORWICH PUB HONOURS JT FASHANU, ENGLAND'S FIRST OPENLY GAY FOOTBALLER
• JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ASSISTANT STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY
• JT FASHANU: GAY FOOTBALLER'S LIFE TO BE TV DRAMA
• DEATH OF GAY FOOTBALL STAR JT FASHANU MAY HAVE BEEN SUICI
• ANGLETERRE : JT FASHANU, PREMIER FOOTBALLR OUVERTEMENT GAY HALL OF FAME
• 8 MALE FOOTBALL PLAYERS WHO DARED TO COME OUT AS GAY
• ‘FASH’: DRAMA PICTG LIFE OF UK’S FIRST OPENLY GAY FOOTBALLER JT FASHANU MISSNED BY ITV
• JAGUARS STRENGTH COACH KEV MAXEN COM OUT AS GAY
• GAY PREMIER LEAGUE FOOTBALLER 'VERY LIKELY' TO E OUT NEXT YEAR, SAYS JT FASHANU'S NIECE
• JT FASHANU: BRA'S FIRST OUT GAY FOOTBALLER TO BE DUCTED TO HALL OF FAME
• IT’S 30 YEARS SCE JT FASHANU ME OUT AS GAY
• JT FASHANU: THE FIRST OPENLY GAY FOOTBALLER AND WHY HE IS NOW THE HALL OF FAME
• HOW HOMOPHOBIA CLAIMED THE LIFE AND REER OF JT FASHANU, THE WORLD’S FIRST OPENLY GAY FOOTBALLER
• FIVE THGS TO KNOW ABOUT FIRST OPENLY GAY FOOTBALLER JT FASHANU
• JT FASHANU: BRA'S FIRST OUT GAY FOOTBALLER REMEMBERED ON HIS BIRTHDAY
• JAKE DANIELS BE FIRST UK MALE FOOTBALLER TO E OUT AS GAY SCE 1990

JAGS' MAXEN IS FIRST MALE AMERIN PRO SPORTS ACH TO E OUT AS GAY

-- Jaguars assistant strength and ndng ach Kev Maxen has bee the first male ach major Amerin men's profsnal sports to publicly e out as gay, tellg he ma the cisn bee he didn't want to hi who he is any longer and to possibly spire others siar 's a cisn and move that drew praise and support om owner Shad Khan, who was a vol and emphatic supporter of a cy ordance that expand protectns on the grounds of sexual orientatn, genr inty and genr exprsn. A giant mural of England's first openly gay footballer has been unveiled on the si of a Fashanu remas the only male profsnal player to nfirm he was homosexual - amid fears he would be "outed" by a natnal newspaper 1990 - and was ducted to the footballg Hall of Fame spe now beg seen as an spiratn the fight agast homophobia and discrimatn sport, the proud Canary took his own life 1998 - wrg his suici note that beg gay and a personaly was "so hard" former Norwich Cy striker, who beme the UK's first black £1m player when he was sold to Nottgham Fort, ntu to be seen as a legend at the Norfolk Champnship "wonr strike" agast Liverpool at Carrow Road 1980 went on to w Match of the Day's goal of the season now his face has taken pri of place on the si of a Canari supporters pub. Jacksonville Jaguars assistant strength and ndng ach Kev Maxen cid on Thursday to e out publicly as gay hop of livg his life whout fear and to spire others.

Before jog Jacksonville’s achg staff, he was a strength ach for the football teams at Baylor and Febary 2022, Maxen reached out to NFL player Carl Nassib, who me out as gay 2021, to seek advice.

Image source, Andy Trigg/BBCImage ptn, The mural took the graffi artist eight hours to pleteA mural of Jt Fashanu, the first profsnal football player to e out as gay, has been pated on the si of a pub Norwich.

GIANT MURAL ON NORWICH PUB HONOURS JT FASHANU, ENGLAND'S FIRST OPENLY GAY FOOTBALLER

Fashanu grew up Norfolk and signed for Norwich the late source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Former Norwich Cy striker Jt Fashanu me out as gay 1990 while still playg profsnal football"He means a lot to a lot of people, pecially Norfolk, " said Christian Hodgkson, landlord of the Fat Cat and Canary on Thorpe Road, close to the cy centre stadium. Image source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Jt Fashanu was brought up by foster parents a village near Attleborough NorfolkA new drama is to explore the life of Jt Fashanu, the first top-flight profsnal footballer to e out as gay. After such early promise wh his home club, he sred jt three league goals his first season at Fort and was nonted by manager Brian Clough over his viss to gay clubs.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ASSISTANT STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY

Image source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Equal rights mpaigner Amal Fashanu, pictured as a child wh her uncle Jt (left) and father John, ma a documentary about the issu he facedAs the first profsnal footballer to e out as gay while playg - and the only one to do so until Jake Daniels this year - Fashanu's trailblazg bravery more than 30 years ago cemented his place as an in to LGBTQ+ football fans and mpaigners. Fashanu, a former Dr Barnardo's boy who was fostered at the age of five wh his olr brother John, went on to bee the first £1 ln black footballer Bra when he was signed by Nottgham Fort 1981 aged a famoly difficult relatnship wh the club's then manager, Brian Clough, and Fashanu's renowned temper soon found him out of favour wh the club and he slipped quickly and spectacular fashn om the First Divisn of English football to the backwaters of the Third his own words, Fashanu's failure to achieve the succs his talent served was due, part, to his admissn that he was gay. Jt Fashanu, premier jour profsnnel anglais à avoir revendiqué publiquement son homosexualé en 1990 et qui s't ensue suicidé, entre ce mercredi Hall of Fame.

Journaliste, elle s'occupe - x côtés son père qui a fa amen honorable sur s pris posn passé - la Fondatn Jt Fashanu qui lutte ntre l'homophobie, le racisme et l troubl mentx chez l footballrs. Read ThisThe drama will also be shown on ITVX A drama pictg the life of Jt Fashanu, the UK’s first openly gay profsnal footballer, has been missned by ITV.

JT FASHANU: GAY FOOTBALLER'S LIFE TO BE TV DRAMA

Fashanu's niece Amal, who ns The Jt Fashanu Foundatn, will receive the award on what would have been her uncle's 59th Foundatn has been set up to highlight the issu of homophobia and other forms of discrimatn both grassroots football and the profsnal game, while also aimg to raise the participatn of LGBT people told Sky Sports News: "I thk he wouldn't believe himself. "I gus for Jt this would be a great moment and I thk 's a pivotal moment when we are fally regnisg who Jt Fashanu was, not only as the openly gay footballer, but also as a very talented footballer and the first ln-pound black player England. I thk everyone, other dtri, we're very happy to accept is gay or who is whatever they choose to be, but I gus wh football, bee is such a close-kn, dark archaic kd of vibe, 's very difficult.

DEATH OF GAY FOOTBALL STAR JT FASHANU MAY HAVE BEEN SUICI

The reactn of Jt's fay was not as supportive as uld have been when he me out, said Amal, but time - and talkg - has helped, wh brother John a tstee of The Jt Fashanu Foundatn foc on awarens and tn, wh key areas of support mental health, homophobia and racism add: "My Dad fely regrets that. To this day, he’s the UK’s only top-tier male football star to clare his homosexualy while still playg this untry, ” said human rights mpaigner Peter Tatchell who was a close personal iend of Fashanu om 1981-85.

“Even if (Jt) Fashanu had chosen to e out The Voice rather than The Sun, I doubt his receptn would have been any more sympathetic, ” noted Gay Tim media lumnist, Terry Sanrson, at the time.

ANGLETERRE : JT FASHANU, PREMIER FOOTBALLR OUVERTEMENT GAY HALL OF FAME

But nearly a later, ultimately me at a tragic price - Fashanu took his own life, wrg his suici note that beg gay and a personaly "is so hard" the first black man to tra football clubs for a fee of £1 ln, Fashanu is remembered by many to be a trailblazer English football for more than one reason. Cred: PAA promisg young striker, Fashanu imprsed as part of the Norwich Cy amy and signed his first profsnal ntract December 1978, aged a month - and jt before he turned 18 - he was ma his first league appearance for Norwich and would tablish himself as a regular John Bond's young forward's eye for goals soon ught the attentn of bigger clubs, wh his stunng volley agast Liverpool voted Goal of the Season strike is still nsired one of the bt goals ever sred at Carrow Road, Norwich Cy's home are more female footballers openly gay or bisexual than male players? Cred: PAA clearly talented player, Fashanu's reer perhaps should have clud more trophi, goals and England potential was certaly curtailed by football's - and society's - unwillgns to accept Fashanu's sexualy, even before he publicly me 's said that Clough, nsired one of the greatt managers of all time, did not take kdly to Fashanu's his tobgraphy, he looks back at a time he nonted the young striker after mours he spent time gay bars.

Cred: PAFashanu is nsired by many the game as a the first black man to mand a seven-figure fee and the first profsnal footballer to e out as gay, he broke through two ceilgs at a time football hooliganism was at s this day, he is still the only profsnal top-level footballer to e out publicly Jt Fashanu Foundatn, found by his niece Amal, works to nont prejudice wh football, supports those sufferg wh mental health issu and has a special foc on the LGBT Fashanu spoke of her uncle's admissn to the Hall of Fame. However, he ntued to disrpect his brother’s memory when he claimed a 2012 terview wh talkSPORT rad that his brother was not gay but merely a fame-obssed attentn-seeker. By g out The Sun, he hoped s reporters would cease houndg him: “I genuely thought that if I me out the worst newspapers and remaed strong and posive about beg gay, there would be nothg more that they uld say.

8 MALE FOOTBALL PLAYERS WHO DARED TO COME OUT AS GAY

However, the book, Stonewall 25, Jt claimed that he me out bee he was distrsed by the tragedy of a 17-year-old gay iend who had been forced out of his fay home by homophobic parents, and who subsequently mted suici: “I felt angry at the waste of his life and guilty bee I had not been able to help him. Jt was closeted back then and found immensely difficult to be gay the macho, straight world of football — not to mentn the strs of livg a secret gay life while unr the glare of the media spotlight.

A Gay Tim ver issue 1991 said: “The Sun dragged out the tale wh tillatg stori of sexual enunters wh unnamed MPs, football players and pop stars, which, he claims, were largely unte. "'Ups and Downs', wh s theme of snak and ladrs, is a metaphor for the turbulent, peripatetic life of one of Brish football's most mythic figur, who would have celebrated his 58th birthday on is among those helpg to keep Fashanu's memory alive at this time of year, wh Febary the signated month of actn for Football v Homophobia, known as The Jt Campaign when was found 2008.

As the game enunters h, high-profile cints of racism and homophobia - forms of discrimatn that afflicted Fashanu throughout his life - Yat' art ntu to spark important nversatns for all age groups. Fashanu's nfince, cultivated Norwich, was nspicuo by s absence fans hoped Fashanu would fd his goal touch, but stead he found God, addg another layer of plexy to his stggle to accept that he was gay. He hadn't e out at that time as beg gay and although we knew the sre and so did our players, he was terrified about how people - and the media particular - would react if he ma public.

‘FASH’: DRAMA PICTG LIFE OF UK’S FIRST OPENLY GAY FOOTBALLER JT FASHANU MISSNED BY ITV

Eight years later, the knee jury meant his reer was limpg om club to club, and by now acctomed to a certa level of celebry, his personal life was a mody he was fally willg to was an evable sualty - Fashanu would claim to Gay Tim the followg summer that tall tal the Sun article about affairs wh unnamed Tory MPs and pop stars were largely unte - but was the ostracism that hurt him personally.

As an advote for change, he has also brought the LGBT-clive msag of The Jt Campaign and Football v Homophobia to fans, clubs, unty FAs and other anisatns for well over a Jt he knew was always sg. The anti-gay Sectn 28 had been troduced jt three years prevly, while the untry was still the grip of the HIV / AIDS crisis - the day after Fashanu signed for Torquay, Freddie Mercury passed away. At a lock-up garage Shoredch, east London, Bra’s first £1 ln black footballer, bt known for beg the only Brish player to have clared himself gay, cid his life was no longer worth livg.

JAGUARS STRENGTH COACH KEV MAXEN COM OUT AS GAY

He says that Fashanu would have a place Brish parliament now, such was his strength of urage, his lucidy and the multiplicy of opprsn he experienced as a gay black footballer’s fierct crics, however, would ntend that Fashanu may only have recently emerged om a long stt a prison cell the Uned Stat. The laws, effectively banng sexual relatns between gay people, were enshred unr the same “Unnatural or Perverted Sexual Practic Act” that clared illegal to have sexual relatns wh an animal. In a suici note, Fashanu sisted that his sexual ntact wh the young man was nsensual and he also exprsed fears that he would not receive a fair trial as a black gay man agast a whe plaant the US state.

He offered to pay his brother not to e out and, when Jt did so anyway, John scribed his gay siblg as an “utter stranger” and said he would not share a post-match shower wh Jt if they were on the same team. In 2018, he nced he had acted like a “monster” yet only 2012, he angered those the gay muny who grew to admire Jt when he alleged that his siblg had never really been gay. The tabloid media, turbocharged by a Conservative ernment that monised gay people unr law and stigmatised the muny s rhetoric, prid over alarmg levels of tsn.

GAY PREMIER LEAGUE FOOTBALLER 'VERY LIKELY' TO E OUT NEXT YEAR, SAYS JT FASHANU'S NIECE

One lumnist the black muny newspaper The Voice said he “belonged to Satan” as part of a vastatg spread of verage, cludg a ont-page terview wh his brother John, unr the headle of “My Gay Brother is an Outst”.

JT FASHANU: BRA'S FIRST OUT GAY FOOTBALLER TO BE DUCTED TO HALL OF FAME

This report tails the rarely told story of the spirg black gay activists who waged a year-long mpaign to secure fairer verage for Jt and black lbian and gay people Bra. His gay iends and some former lovers provi a unique and upliftg sight to a voyage of gay disvery that was vibrant, bold and utterly radil for a footballer.

Yet equaly remaed, notably around the age of nsent and the right to marry, while broar prejudice was the 1980s, an environment that had already rtricted the eedoms and rights of gay men beme downright hateful.

In the Uned Stat, HIV was publicly scribed as GRID (Gay Related Immune Deficiency) for several months 1982, suggtg there was somethg particular to gay people that renred the muny rponsible for the vis.

IT’S 30 YEARS SCE JT FASHANU ME OUT AS GAY

Cashman, now a member of the Hoe of Lords, was a gay actor the Brish soap opera Eastenrs and his character performed the first gay kiss a Brish soap 1989. The pair met at the London gay nightclub Heaven, where Cashman’s partner, Pl Cottgham, clicked wh Fashanu over their shared love of the backdrop of the was btal. Cashman on a rally the 1980s Manchter (Photo: Reid/Mirrorpix/Getty Imag)The prevalence of HIV among gay men provid nfirmatn bias for the most damagg homophobic trop.

To unrstand the climate Fashanu endured, the verage of natnal newspapers needs to be spelt Febary 7, 1985, The Sun ran a headle that read: “Aids is the wrath of God, says Vir” same newspaper wrote the headle: “Perverts are to blame for killer plague” The People, the edian Bernard Manng argued that gay actors should be banned om televisn, stage, clubs and pubs so they do not “rpt the children”. The Tim wrote a lear edorial argug that “many members of the public are tempted to see AIDS some sort of retributn for a qutnable style of life” were dropped about celebri spected to be gay.

Tatchell beme one of Bra’s most famo human rights activists and he endured one of the most homophobic polil mpaigns recent memory, cludg a bullet through his letterbox, when he stood the 1983 Bermondsey pair beme “close”, Tatchell says.

JT FASHANU: THE FIRST OPENLY GAY FOOTBALLER AND WHY HE IS NOW THE HALL OF FAME

He spoke out about the manner which the police targeted gay people, particular how the thori sought to drs provotively outsi gay bars to entice and entrap gay men to sexual ntact for which they uld be is ltle wonr, therefore, that Fashanu regnised the need to be fensive when reports of his viss to gay nightclubs returned to his manager Clough and soon spread like wildfire the Fort drsg room 1982.

HOW HOMOPHOBIA CLAIMED THE LIFE AND REER OF JT FASHANU, THE WORLD’S FIRST OPENLY GAY FOOTBALLER

The next morng, the pair went for breakfast and Fashanu spoke a ltle more openly about his explas: “It was challengg for him, between the Evangelil and Pentestal muni, where was perceived as hard to be Christian and gay. Bullet pots clu the opposn of “certa church to accept and/or endorse sexually active same-sex partnerships as a legimate form of Christian relatnship” also adds that while evangelil ngregatns should wele sexually active lbians and gay men, “they should do so the expectatn that they will e due urse to see the need to be transformed and live acrdance wh orthodox church teachg”.

FIVE THGS TO KNOW ABOUT FIRST OPENLY GAY FOOTBALLER JT FASHANU

“There is a tenncy to thk that if God do not want to happen, then wh God’s help, you n change , perhaps by gog through some cure procs, such as ‘prayg away the gay’. I phoned up my iend, the edor of The Sun Kelv MacKenzie and told him he uld do his own story, nfs he is gay and talk about other footballers, MPs, whatever. The Brixton Rt led to the formatn of The Voice newspaper (Photo: Simon Dack/David Levenson/Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Imag)Aaab-Richards, a black gay activist who also worked a support centre for LGBT people, rells: “It was not jt that day.

JT FASHANU: BRA'S FIRST OUT GAY FOOTBALLER REMEMBERED ON HIS BIRTHDAY

’”Brown had prevly mpaigned publicly when the Jamain reggae star Buju Banton released a sgle lled Boom Bye Bye 1988 which the sger sang about shootg gay men, pourg acid on them and burng them alive. Brown, for his part, says the only thg that stopped him om killg himself as a teenager was the knowledge that his siblgs were re and need his was the vice-chair of the Lewisham branch of the Natnal and Lol Government Officers’ Associatn (NALGO) and a member of the black and gay uc.

JAKE DANIELS BE FIRST UK MALE FOOTBALLER TO E OUT AS GAY SCE 1990

NALGO’s headquarters endorsed a boytt policy on The Voice, which saw advertisers threaten to whdraw fundg om the newspaper rponse to the severy of the homophobia.