Coronatn Street newer Nathan Graham reveals first tails of gay footballer character Jam Bailey

Contents:

• CORONATN STREET SPOILERS: JAM BAILEY PUBLICLY OUT AS GAY AFTER PHOTOS OF DATE POSTED ONLE
• CORONATN STREET NEWER NATHAN GRAHAM REVEALS FIRST TAILS OF GAY FOOTBALLER CHARACTER JAM BAILEY
• CORONATN STREET'S GAY FOOTBALLER STORYLE CHANGG NVERSATN ON HOMOPHOBIA
• CORONATN STREET SPOILERS: HOMOPHOBIA STORYLE FOR GAY FOOTBALLER JAM BAILEY
• CORONATN STREET TO EXPLORE HOMOPHOBIA FOOTBALL WH ARRIVAL OF NEW GAY CHARACTER
• CORRIE'S NATHAN GRAHAM HOP GAY FOOTBALLER PLOT HELPS PREMIER LEAGUE STAR E OUT
• CORONATN STREET ADDS BLACK GAY FOOTBALLER
• IS PL IN CORRIE GAY? WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE CHARACTER THE FOLLOWG EPISOS?

CORONATN STREET SPOILERS: JAM BAILEY PUBLICLY OUT AS GAY AFTER PHOTOS OF DATE POSTED ONLE

Coronatn Street spoilers: Jam Bailey publicly out as gay after photos of date posted onleSPOILERS: Coronatn Street favoure Jam Bailey out as gay at a prs nference for his football reer after qutns arise due to photos of him meetg ex DannyCoronatn Street spoilers: Jam Bailey publicly out as gay after photos of date posted onleCoronatn Street's Jam Bailey will publicly e out as gay after photos of him on a date are put onle by homophobic fans. While the meetg did not end well for the former uple, a group of homophobic fans take snaps of the pair and go on to share them onle.

CORONATN STREET NEWER NATHAN GRAHAM REVEALS FIRST TAILS OF GAY FOOTBALLER CHARACTER JAM BAILEY

It is at this moment that Jam cis to be publicly hont about his sexualy and nfirms that he is ed gay. The actor said: "It is important bee is clearly an issue as there is no one currently playg profsnal football who is openly gay.

"After talkg to Keegan Hirst, I n see that football, homophobia is not seen as beg on the same level as racism so is good to spark that nversatn and then hopefully will te people that discrimatn is discrimatn no matter what is; race, relign, sexualy. Jam steels himself and publicly out as gay at the prs nference.

He ntued: "If a sportsperson is gay, don’t take away om their abily and wh any type of discrimatn until people are ted then nothg will change.

CORONATN STREET'S GAY FOOTBALLER STORYLE CHANGG NVERSATN ON HOMOPHOBIA

Todd Grimshaw was a nfed teen when he filmed Coronatn Street’s first ever gay kiss.

Todd beme the show’s first regular gay character and his g out storyle was creded wh brgg the show to the 21st century. Had they got married however, would have end disaster bee Ted was gay. Marc was gay then straight then gay aga (Cred: YouTube/ITV).

Marc then started a relatnship wh Maria Connor, but Todd Grimshaw was termed to prove Marc was still gay and sced him. It was recently revealed that the ITV soap is set to tackle the issue of homophobia football wh the arrival of Jam, so what n fans expect om this aspirg athlete?

CORONATN STREET SPOILERS: HOMOPHOBIA STORYLE FOR GAY FOOTBALLER JAM BAILEY

Jam received support when he me out as gay to his mum and brother last year, but after tellg his dad Ed Febary, the reactn was far om posive. A social media slip-up then saw mours beg to circulate around the County fanbase, leadg to Jam flectg awkward qutns om the club's manager and prs the soap havg been stretched longer across the schl due to the panmic, Jam' difficulti have been prolonged - and last Friday, a nontatn on the bbl wh a supporter who was makg homophobic tnts threatened to turn vlent.

Jam was terpted while talkg to Tim Metlfe and reacted aggrsively when the fan ed homophobic abe. "Graham is speakg to Sky Sports to mark the Internatnal Day Agast Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia, an annual awarens day that has been observed for over 15 years.

CORONATN STREET TO EXPLORE HOMOPHOBIA FOOTBALL WH ARRIVAL OF NEW GAY CHARACTER

In the absence of a visible gay or bi role mol men's profsnal football the UK, the story will be havg a particularly signifint impact on anyone who se themselv reflected Jam. "If starts to create nversatns wh different muni or areas of the football world, and if young kids are watchg who play football and who might be gay themselv, shows 's important to she a light on this subject.

CORRIE'S NATHAN GRAHAM HOP GAY FOOTBALLER PLOT HELPS PREMIER LEAGUE STAR E OUT

'Rpect for gay player would help'. He's now the Diversy and Incln Officer at the Football Associatn and has been playg as a forward for Stonewall FC - the UK's first gay football club, currently playg at Step 7 of the non-League pyramid - for several years.

"I didn't know anybody who looked like me who may or may not have been gay. "A lot of my difficulti were tryg to fd a sense of belongg the football muny whilst knowg that beg gay was this element of my inty that didn't rencile, " says Lemoni. The tertwg of both homophobia and racism the Fashanu story has ma him a totemic figure the fight agast discrimatn; a charable foundatn Jt's name was recently lnched by his niece Amal.

Somebody uld be watchg the show and see a mirror of themselv, pecially if they're a young black man who's gay. Jam' father Ed has prevly told his son he should hi his sexualy orr to avoid homophobia, makg the ntrast between how neher of them n hi their race and so have to al wh racism.

CORONATN STREET ADDS BLACK GAY FOOTBALLER

"Unfortunately, homophobic and racist abe still happen, but a footballer like Jam shouldn't have to feel they're alone experiencg that, " says Graham.

"As I've e out and navigated that journey, I've always felt more nsc of beg black before beg gay, particularly LGBT spac. "Welg cultur, wng mentaliTo help Graham learn more about the experience of beg a sportsman who's gay, the gby league player Keegan Hirst - who me out publicly 2015 - talked him through some of the parallels between his own journey and that of Jam. "The sle of the two sports is obvly very different, " says Graham, "but om what Keegan said, sounds like the RFL has a zero tolerance towards homophobia wh their sport, which ma him feel like the environment was safe for him to e out.

IS PL IN CORRIE GAY? WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE CHARACTER THE FOLLOWG EPISOS?

"There n be a victimls mentaly - a feelg that 'we n't be homophobic, bee there aren't actually any gay, bi or qutng players on the pch to be homophobic towards'. It means that for someone experiencg a microaggrsn or smaller form of homophobia that's more vert, the chanc they're gog to report or speak out about are que slim. Particularly when I liver trag at amy level, I fd the players are ed to havg gay, bi and trans people their schools and they're gettg tn that's clive now as well.

Coronatn Street will explore the issue of homophobia football wh the arrival of a new LGBTQ+ character on the this year, the soap will wele the Bailey fay when they buy No. 3 om Norris Cole, and one of their first major storyl will see gay footballer Jam (Nathan Graham) g out to dad Edison (Trevor Michael Ge), mum Aggie (Lorna Laidlaw) and brother Michael (Ryan Rsell). Coronatn Street producer Ia MacLeod previewed the topil storyle to Digal Spy and other media on Friday (April 5), promisg that would differ om other typ of "g out stori" Snlon//ITV"We wanted to look at homophobia sport, and homophobia football so that will be a ponent of the story but also we wanted to look at a morn story about a young gay man, " MacLeod explaed.