Coll Mart is U.S. soccer's only openly gay male player, and he's workg to make the game more clive for future LGBTQ+ players - ESPN

Contents:

• PRI ON THE PCH: DO SOCCER HAVE A GAY PROBLEM?
• WHY THERE ARE FEW OPENLY GAY ATHLET IN MEN'S PROFSNAL SPORTS
• COLL MART IS U.S. SOCCER'S ONLY OPENLY GAY MALE PLAYER, AND HE'S WORKG TO MAKE THE GAME MORE CLIVE FOR FUTURE LGBTQ+ PLAYERS
• AMERINS HATE SOCCER BEE 'S GAY
• DPE S BT TENTNS, FOOTBALL REMAS UNWELG OF GAY FANS
• BREAKING: SOCCER IS GAY
• JOSH CAVALLO: ONLY OPENLY GAY TOP-FLIGHT MALE FOOTBALLER SAYS FIFA’S ‘ONELOVE’ ARMBAND BAN HAS MA HIM FEEL ‘EXCLUD’
• "I NO LONGER WANT TO HI:" CZECH FOOTBALLER JAKUB JANKTO ANNOUNC HE IS GAY

PRI ON THE PCH: DO SOCCER HAVE A GAY PROBLEM?

This month’s gay pri celebratns ci wh two of the world’s most high-profile sports tournaments: Copa Ameri — hosted for the first time by the Uned Stat — and Euro while the NFL and NBA have passed the tone of havg openly gay athlet their top profsnal leagu, not a sgle soccer player eher petn has e out as leav the “betiful game” whout any gay male role mols even an age when sponsors are unncerned about players’ Rogers of LA Galaxy plays agast New York Cy FC on Augt 23, 2015. Is one of only two untri known to have field gay players s senr men’s team — Californian wger Robbie Rogers reprented his untry 18 tim and sred two goals but, like Germany’s midfielr Thomas Hzlsperger, he me out after his ternatnal reer was over.

“Once aga we have top ternatnal tournaments featurg the bt players the world and supposedly none of them are gay, ” said Jeff Kfman, a 26-year-old player and external sportg activi director for the world’s first gay soccer club, the New York Ramblers. ”Two years after Michael Sam was drafted to the NFL, and three years after the NBA’s Jason Colls ma history as the first openly gay player the four major U.

At a game Sunday Glendale, Ariz., Mexin fans chanted the gay slur "puto" — meang “faggot” — spe a YouTube plea om the team for an end the practice.

WHY THERE ARE FEW OPENLY GAY ATHLET IN MEN'S PROFSNAL SPORTS

Stars cludg English Premier League players Per Mertacker, Las Podolski and Olivier Giroud have worn rabow-lored lac as part of a mpaign by Stonewall, backed by England’s Football Associatn and major rporate sponsors, agast homophobia on the pch and at than 100 gay-clive teams reprentg over 30 untri are registered wh the Internatnal Gay & Lbian Football Associatn (IGLFA), whose world cup tak place this Augt Portland, Ore.

COLL MART IS U.S. SOCCER'S ONLY OPENLY GAY MALE PLAYER, AND HE'S WORKG TO MAKE THE GAME MORE CLIVE FOR FUTURE LGBTQ+ PLAYERS

“We don’t face any discrimatn when we play and is difficult to unrstand why ’s a problem the hight leagu but clearly is, ” said Jamie Feldman, 29, a midfielr and tstee of the world’s most succsful gay soccer club, London-based Stonewall last month a soccer referee Spa gave up his job after repeatedly beg the target of verbal abe at gam bee of his sexual orientatn. However, Adidas nfirmed Febary that s sponsorship ntracts clu a clse promisg not to ncel als if athlet reveal publicly that they are gay, while Nike announced Tuday was beg a major rporate sponsor of the IGLFA’s gay world Euro 2016, which begs Friday France, a mercial featurg a fictnal gay soccer player and his boyiend is beg aired to promote German railways.

AMERINS HATE SOCCER BEE 'S GAY

Louis Rams as the NFL’s first gay player but was later cut and eventually cid to "step away" om football altogether to protect his own mental health.

“In a team sport, any profsnal athlete wants what’s bt for the team and they might thk that anythg drawg a lot of attentn to one player for a non-sportg reason go agast the fans chanted a gay slur at a game Glendale, Arizona, on Sunday, spe beg fed by FIFA for prev homophobic York / AP“I n easily image that brgg a lot of outsi scty uld hurt the chemistry of a locker room, but this has already been played out NFL and NBA locker rooms and really don’t matter.

"Cyd Zeigler, who scrib himself as a gay sports wrer, h out at the backlash, scribg as "crazy" that Amerins would turn their back on the team bee of this tweeted: "LOL the 'Amerins' who are now sudnly hopg the US los at the #WorldCup bee the team has some rabow flags around the facily Qatar. When Nashville Predators prospect Le Prokop me out this week, was the first time an active player unr ntract to an NHL team had ever publicly acknowledged they were gay. Overnight, Prokop's announcement doubled the number of out gay athlet currently playg the untry's four major men's sports — football, basketball, baseball and hockey.

DPE S BT TENTNS, FOOTBALL REMAS UNWELG OF GAY FANS

Gay male athlet face cultural barriers Part of the reason for the lack of out gay players men's profsnal sports uld be that there are jt fewer of them the game.

"Gay men are a fe rource, so they n't exist great numbers every quarter, " Magrath told "Gay men are overreprented some areas, and as a nsequence are gog to be unrreprented sports. Magrath helped thor a study that found that male athlet who me out as gay while still playg sports were largely met wh acceptance by their teammat.

NBA player Jason Colls, who me out 2013 while he was still playg the league, later told NPR " went great" when he scribed the perd after announcg he was gay. After Michael Sam beme the first openly gay athlete to be drafted to the NFL 2014, then-Miami Dolphs safety Don Jon tweeted "horrible, " rultg penalti and a spensn.

BREAKING: SOCCER IS GAY

There are key differenc the cultur of men's and women's athletics While few active players the major men's sports leagu have e out, many female profsnal athlet have said publicly that they're gay, om U. Moments earlier, an opposg player targeted Mart, an openly gay man, wh a homophobic slur, and as they gathered unr a tent at halftime, they discsed how to team was agreement: Somethg need to be done. "Beg able to have a posive msage e out of a really tough suatn was the silver lg, " he the only openly gay men's profsnal soccer player the Uned Stat -- and one of the few who have ever e out globally -- Mart has e to embrace the signifince of what he reprents, pecially for the LGBTQ+ muny.

Play1:48Coll Mart: Locker room support was all I needSan Diego Loyal midfielr Coll Mart says the support om his old teammat at Mnota Uned was a big help to him when he me out as gay. Around those years, havg to hi, havg to remd myself that like, 'Oh, my bt iend on the team, who jt lled another person a f----t, he isn't really homophobic, but he is jt tryg to be hurtful to that person. Photo: Photo Works / unrstand soccer -- at least s native English form -- and s highly charged, no-homo homoerotics, you need image a scenar so absurd as to be pletely hot, young, straight soccer player is about to take a ee kick.

JOSH CAVALLO: ONLY OPENLY GAY TOP-FLIGHT MALE FOOTBALLER SAYS FIFA’S ‘ONELOVE’ ARMBAND BAN HAS MA HIM FEEL ‘EXCLUD’

Le Sx was generally nsired gay the largely workg - class world of soccer bee (a) he was middle-class and read books, and (b) he rpond to the gay tnts -- though, acrdg to the logic of footie banter, not rpondg would also have proved he was the 15 years sce then the world has changed, but the no-homo homoerotics of the "betiful game" haven't. Meanwhile the brother of Jt Fashanu, Bra's first and only out gay profsnal footballer who sadly hanged himself 1998, eight years after clarg his sexual orientatn, is still nyg that Fashanu was actually Beckham's rise to global fame symboliz how much attus toward masculy have changed the wir world -- and unrl football's gay problem.

Last year, the Brighton & Hove Albn Supporters' Club and the Gay Football Supporters' Network published a dossier tailg the abive chants they and their team receive for hailg om a town famo for s gay populatn, cludg "You're jt a town full of faggots! Perhaps for too many, the pot of followg soccer is precisely to prove you're not gay -- while enjoyg highly homosocial than any other sport I n thk of, soccer prob for the weakns of the other si.

In a social and psychologil sense, poofs exist to embody and nta the possibily of male passivy -- they are gay, not, Brighton & Hove Albn Football Club is gay, not me. " is one of the most popular chants agast them, which seems to sweetly sum up the no-homo homo-erotics of soccer: We fantasise about you exprsg tenrns toward one another that we n't allow ourselv, and we dis you for 's like that old le, "Backs agast the wall, lads! To improve LGBTQ reprentatn profsnal sports, Schweighofer and Denison said, ach and lears youth sports should set a precent that homophobic language and discrimatn are unacceptable.

"I NO LONGER WANT TO HI:" CZECH FOOTBALLER JAKUB JANKTO ANNOUNC HE IS GAY

Denison’s rearch fds that most LGBTQ athlet leave their sports as young people, a parture driven by a culture of homophobic language and stereotyp.

And Rapoe 2018 said that, as a kid, she “would have loved to have more rmatn” about what meant to be gay and why g homophobic slurs was wrong.