Gay soccer referee Igor Benevenuto says 30% of players are gay or bi - Outsports

Contents:

• A GAY GIRL’S GUI TO THE 2023 WOMEN’S WORLD CUP
• GAY PRO SOCCER REFEREE CLAIMS OVER 30% OF MALE SOCCER PLAYERS ARE GAY OR BI. IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?
• WHY THERE ARE FEW OPENLY GAY ATHLET IN MEN'S PROFSNAL SPORTS
• PRI ON THE PCH: DO SOCCER HAVE A GAY PROBLEM?
• WHY ARE MORE FEMALE PROFSNAL FOOTBALLERS OPENLY GAY OR BISEXUAL THAN MALE PLAYERS?
• GAY SOCCER PLAYER JOSH CAVALLO TO JUDGE 'RUPL’S DRAG RACE DOWN UNR'

A GAY GIRL’S GUI TO THE 2023 WOMEN’S WORLD CUP

It will be a glor month to be a gay fan. Last time at the 2019 Women’s World Cup, the Netherlands lay claim to the honor of beg the team wh the most out LGBTQ players, but this year Atralia boasts 10 out players and overtak them for the tle of Gayt Team 2k23. Ireland’s historic entry to the tournament marks another triumph for out midfielr Sead Farrelly, whose natnal team but and 2023 return to the NWSL e more than six years after retirg om soccer the wake of systemic homophobic and sexual abe wh the league, which the Athletic first reported on 2021.

"Navratilova, a trailblazer for gay rights, tweeted a one-word rponse: "Yik...

GAY PRO SOCCER REFEREE CLAIMS OVER 30% OF MALE SOCCER PLAYERS ARE GAY OR BI. IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?

The number doubl the 40 openly gay, lbian and bisexual women who peted of the women are om North and South Ameri, Europe, Atralia and New Zealand, Outsports reported. Meanwhile, the 2022 Men’s World Cup was set to be hosted Qatar, where homosexualy is illegal and punishable by up to three years prison.

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

The associatn’s cisn prompted some fans and athlet — cludg the first openly gay major league soccer player — to speak out. “If actns speak lour than words, then the msage FIFA sends to gay athlet is pafully clear. Not only don’t they have our backs, our liv don’t matter, ” Robbie Rogers, one of the first openly gay major league soccer players, said a 2015 opn article for USA Today after FIFA announced the untri that would host the upg tournaments.

“So for any gay soccer player who has hop of playg for the U. The profsnal soccer referee Brazil who recently me out publicly as gay is now claimg that 30% to 40% of profsnal soccer players are gay or bisexual. “Thirty to forty percent of them are homosexual or bisexual, or have done somethg at one time wh another man, ” Benevenuto is reported to have said.

“You would be surprised at jt who is homosexual this dtry. He’s certaly right about one thg: I’d be pretty shocked if a third of profsnal soccer players were gay or bisexual. In talkg wh women profsnal sports, the number of gay and bi women pro sports is very high.

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

Yet the ia that a third of profsnal athlet men’s soccer are gay or bi fi all logic.

A 2019 survey of men Brazil found that only about 2% of rponnts said they were gay or bi, wh about 95% sayg they are heterosexual (the rt eher didn’t know how to rpond or want to rpond). The ia that 2% of Brazilian men intify as gay or bi — but 30% to 40% of the natn’s male pro soccer players are — is ankly impossible. The culture surroundg men’s sports is macho and at tim homophobic — hardly a place you’d expect gay and bi men to flock to.

Still, ’s impossible to believe that a third or male pro soccer players are gay or bi. We’ve seen wild claims before that have never panned out, cludg one guy who said he knew 20 gay profsnal soccer players. When I talk to people about Provcetown the summer — cludg people who’ve been there once or twice — and I ask them how gay is, the rponse is often somethg like “Oh ’s 90% gay” or “jt about everyone there is gay.

WHY ARE MORE FEMALE PROFSNAL FOOTBALLERS OPENLY GAY OR BISEXUAL THAN MALE PLAYERS?

But when you’re ed to your lol town or cy beg 3-5% gay, sudnly a third feels like “everybody’s gay! (By the way, if you’re lookg for that, the Fire Island P is actually 90% gay men.

GAY SOCCER PLAYER JOSH CAVALLO TO JUDGE 'RUPL’S DRAG RACE DOWN UNR'

There are, I’m sure a handful — maybe even more — of gay and bi men pro soccer, cludg Brazil. In 2017, the Spurs signed Rudy Gay to a two-year, $17 ln al, wh a player optn, startg at the midlevel.

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.

They also highlighted the arth of openly gay players the hypermascule world of U. Though many retired former players have e out, is more unual for male profsnal athlet to say they are gay while still playg. 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.