Josh Cavallo: Only openly gay top-flight male footballer says FIFA's 'OneLove' armband ban has ma him feel 'exclud' | CNN

Contents:

• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
• GIANT MURAL ON NORWICH PUB HONOURS JT FASHANU, ENGLAND'S FIRST OPENLY GAY FOOTBALLER
• JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU
• JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH COACH COM OUT AS GAY IN A FIRST FOR U.S.-BASED PRO LEAGU
• CHARL BARKLEY FENDS LGBTQIA+ MUNY, BUD LIGHT EXPLETIVE-FILLED RANT: ‘IF YOU’RE GAY, GOD BLS YOU’
• RAIRS’ CARL NASSIB ANNOUNC HE’S GAY, AN N.F.L. FIRST
• JOSH CAVALLO BE ONE OF THE FEW PROFSNAL MEN'S FOOTBALLERS TO E OUT AS GAY
• JOSH CAVALLO: ONLY OPENLY GAY TOP-FLIGHT MALE FOOTBALLER SAYS FIFA’S ‘ONELOVE’ ARMBAND BAN HAS MA HIM FEEL ‘EXCLUD’
• JAKE DANIELS BE FIRST UK MALE FOOTBALLER TO E OUT AS GAY SCE 1990
• 8 MALE FOOTBALL PLAYERS WHO DARED TO COME OUT AS GAY
• GAY FOOTBALLER JOSH CAVALLO WOULD BE ‘SRED’ TO PLAY AT WORLD CUP QATAR
• FOOTBALLRS GAYS : PRéPAREZ-VO à S RéVéLATNS
• ‘NOBODY FEELS UNSAFE HERE’: GAY FOOTBALLER JOSH CAVALLO TOLD HE IS WELE AT QATAR WORLD CUP
• THREE GAY FOOTBALL PLAYERS FEATURED NFL NETWORK SEGMENT ON CARL NASSIB
• UNNAMED PREMIER LEAGUE FOOTBALLER REVEALS HE IS GAY LETTER BUT SAYS HE N'T GO PUBLIC
• I LONG FOR A DAY WHEN GAY FOOTBALLERS LIKE ME AND JOSH CAVALLO DON’T NEED TO BE SO ‘BRAVE’
• MEET THE 16 OUT GAY AND BI FOOTBALL PLAYERS THE NFL’S 103-YEAR HISTORY
• ‘I HAVE BEEN FIGHTG MY SEXUALY’: A-LEAGUE MEN PLAYER JOSH CAVALLO OUT AS GAY

KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

Per Outsports, Maxen is the “first publicly out male ach a major Amerin men’s pro sports league, ” wh WNBA ach Curt Miller, who publicly me out to the media as gay 2015, also a publicly out male ach an Amerin profsnal sports league.

As the World Cup go on a untry where homosexualy is illegal, many global football fans are havg to reckon wh the sports' soccer remas one of the most popular sports around the world, very few players have been able to e out and enjoy a succsful reer afterwards. Gay players face prsure om teammat, ownership, ach, and fans over their are some of the men who have e out, fightg those stereotyp, and pavg the way for LGBTQ+ athlet who e after them.

Rogers me out as gay 2013, beg the first out gay man to pete a top North Amerin pro sports league when he played for the LA Galaxy that same year.

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

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' Kev Maxen has ma the public statement "to be vol support of people livg how they want to live, but I also want to jt live and not feel fear about how people will react"; Maxen is the first male ach a major Amerin sports league to e out as gay. Michael Sam beme the first openly gay player to be drafted when the then-St Louis Rams selected him 2021, Carl Nassib, then wh the Las Vegas Rairs, beme the first active NFL player to e out publicly.

Acrdg to rearch fdgs, football supporters would like to see homophobia elimated, believe the FA is not dog enough to addrs the issue, and would feel at ease if a member of their team me out as gay.

Uned and Mnota Uned FC Major League Soccer, and for Richmond Kickers and Hartford Athletic the Uned Football me out as gay June 2018, makg him the only out man any of the big five Amerin sports leagu or any top-divisn profsnal men's natnal soccer, 26, shared the news on Twter, notg he had been openly gay to his iends and fay for years, but never on such a large platform.

JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU

'Mart's announcement ma him one of only two openly gay players Major League Soccer - the other beg Robbie Rogers, who retired shortly after his announcement but me back to play Tto was the first player to e out as a gay man, makg the announcement shortly after his retirement said his cisn to e out on an ternatnal stage was ma 'much easier' by the 'kdns and acceptance' om his fellow players.

JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH COACH COM OUT AS GAY IN A FIRST FOR U.S.-BASED PRO LEAGU

He released a book named “Comg Out to Play” announced his retirement and sexualy wh a 408-word post on his personal blog, which Rogers wrote, "I'm a soccer player, I'm Christian, and I'm gay. Daily Mail has scribed Anton as the "first high-profile Swedish footballer to announce that he is gay" and as the send active profsnal football player to e out, after English footballer Jt Fashanu 1990.

At the Stockholm Pri, he livered a speech nouncg sports homophobia and laid to rt his 2001 airport stated that, "I know that many LGBT people have been the victims of asslts and hate crim. Cint had been blown out of proportn the orr to fally flh the Frankfurt Airport punch down the toilet: is not the se that I beat up a gay person. "While Germany as a untry has noticeably bee more and more relaxed about homosexualy recent years, he had also noted there was an unhelpful media obssn wh fdg the first gay footballer.

All sorts of well-tend but ultimately unhelpful terventns om heterosexual players – who eher oped that gay players would benef om g out or utned agast – did not exactly fill him wh nfince that this was ed the right former ternatnal, who played the 2006 World Cup and the 2008 European Champnship, matas that he did not have to lie about his sexualy and that teammat eventually stopped askg about his lack of a girliend. After partg Grimsby Town, Liam went onto play for Selby Town, Brigg Town, Gasborough Try, and most recently Cleethorp Town, who he reprented the 2017 FA Vase Fal at January 2014 Davis bee the UKs hight profile openly gay December 2017, Davis publicly cricized ments ma by FA chairman Greg Clarke that "profsnal players who out themselv as homosexual would be takg a risk. "Davis urged other homosexual soccer players to e out publicly and not fear a 32-year-old has spoken out enuragg male gay footballers not to worry about g out, sharg his own experienc as part of Uefa’s Equal Game mpaign, to foster greater cln and diversy the midfielr admted receivg abe om opponents, but sists football’s attus to homosexualy are creasgly UrbanMarc Urban, born 4 Augt 1971, is a former German football player.

CHARL BARKLEY FENDS LGBTQIA+ MUNY, BUD LIGHT EXPLETIVE-FILLED RANT: ‘IF YOU’RE GAY, GOD BLS YOU’

He has spoken publicly about the difficulti that gay footballers’ experience and he is now a spokperson and mpaigner on diversy issu sport and the was sent to a sports boardg school at age 13 and played for the natnal youth teams the 1990s before settlg at send divisn club Rot-Weiss Erfurt.

He is now on the board of You Can Play, an anizatn dited to the fight agast homophobia PterPter liv Balham wh his hband Alan and works as an assistant manager at Boots. He was appoted as a Member of the Orr of the Brish Empire bee of his work batg realized at the age of 10 that he was gay, and alt wh homophobic abe om his schoolmat. While playg for his lol club, Pter suffered homophobia om other players and was dropped om the first team to the fourth team after one of his teammat found out that he was gay.

RAIRS’ CARL NASSIB ANNOUNC HE’S GAY, AN N.F.L. FIRST

It was later announced that he had e out as gay, and that he qu football as a rult of what he scribed as wispread homophobia the football muny. Berlg's se was ced several tim the upg years, as the nnectn between homophobia and sport was discsed the natnal media now and FashanuJt Soni Fashanu (19 Febary 1961 – 2 May 1998) was an English footballer who played for var clubs between 1978 and 1997. Acrdg to his suici note, fearg he would not get a fair trial bee of his homosexualy, he fled to England where he killed himself London May 1998.

FirstThe Rairs fensive leman me out a statement posted to his Instagram acunt on Monday, beg the first active player the league to publicly intify as gay.

JOSH CAVALLO BE ONE OF THE FEW PROFSNAL MEN'S FOOTBALLERS TO E OUT AS GAY

I actually hope that like one day vios like this and the whole g-out procs are jt not necsary, but until then I’m gog to do my bt and my part to cultivate a culture that’s acceptg, that’s passnate, ” before addg that he would donate $100, 000 to The Trevor Project, a nonprof group that foc on suici preventn efforts among lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, queer and qutng youth. ”Michael Sam, an all-Amerin fensive leman at Missouri, had been viewed as the most likely to acquire that distctn when he announced he is gay before he beg chosen by the Rams the seventh round of the 2014 N.

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

The Dallas Cowboys signed Sam to their practice squad, but he never played a regular season Otero/Associated PrsSam’s draft stat was seen as a barometer of whether the climate of men’s pro sports was beg more acceptg of gay athlet, particularly bee Febary 2014 the N. Had jt bee the first of the four tradnal major Amerin men’s sports leagu to have an openly gay active player when Jason Colls joed the Sam left the N.

He played for ne seasons wh the San Francis 49ers and four other teams the 1960s and 1970s, and has sce bee an activist and an ambassador for the Gay Gam, a quadrennial sportg Simmons was the send former player to announce that he was gay, dog so 1992 after his reer wh the Giants and Washgton Football Team had end.

”In recent years, the league has publicly supported Pri Month through promotnal efforts like changg official social media avatars to clu rabows and supportg the You Can Play Project, which provis rourc to enurage clivy youth sports, even as some players have ma rogatory statements about gay people wh ltle penalty or supported groups that oppose gay Wewerka for The New York TimIn 2013, Chris Culliver of the San Francis 49ers and Chris Clemons of the Seattle Seahawks ma offensive ments when asked about the prospect of havg a gay teammate. Male profsnal athlet e out as the first openly gay players currently participatg their rpective sports, cludg NHL hockey player Le Prokop and NFL fensive end Carl Nassib. Josh Cavallo, the only openly gay top-flight male soccer player the sport, has told CNN that FIFA’s cisn to ban players om wearg “OneLove” armbands at the Qatar 2022 has ma him feel “exclud.

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

The Blackpool forward Jake Daniels has end s of silence wh men’s football to bee the first player the UK to e out as gay sce Jt Fashanu 1990.

8 MALE FOOTBALL PLAYERS WHO DARED TO COME OUT AS GAY

Photograph: Pl Dennis/TGS Photo/ShutterstockDaniels’s revelatn is a strikg landmark that when men’s football is more engaged wh social issu than any recent time, but still unable to ce progrs LGBTQ reprentatn wh the year Alai Uned’s Josh Cavallo beme the only male top-flight profsnal footballer the world to e out as gay, but others are yet to follow. In six months the men’s World Cup will be played Qatar, where homosexualy is illegal, and Cavallo revealed to the Guardian he would be “sred” to play at the tournament, the pnacle of world English football specifilly, the shadow of the talented and unfulfilled Fashanu still lgers over the game.

The England ternatnal me out at the end of his reer and was to take his own life eight years later, Fashanu, Jt’s niece, who ns a charable foundatn his name, said that Daniels’s cisn would “e as a huge fort to the many footballers at all levels of the game still secretly livg as gay and who still feel unable to e out”.

GAY FOOTBALLER JOSH CAVALLO WOULD BE ‘SRED’ TO PLAY AT WORLD CUP QATAR

So, many profsnal leagu, teams, and players are raisg their voic to fight back agast homophobia so that gay footballers don’t face backlash while g out. Therefore, a suable environment should be created through tn as a drivg factor, so gay footballers don’t feel prsured to reveal their sexualy. The world’s only openly gay top‑flight men’s footballer says he would be “sred” to play at the World Cup tournament Qatar next year bee of the emirate’s harsh ban on homosexualy and legal penalti rangg om floggg to lengthy prison terms and Cavallo, 21, who plays for Alai Uned Atralia’s A-League, received a wave of support om football fans and current and former players last month after openg up about his sexualy a vio posted to the club’s social media feeds.

”The announcement ma Cavallo the only out gay player men’s profsnal football, his isolatn stark a sport whose admistrators have lnched high-profile public mpaigns recent years embracg LGBT fans and only a handful of male players have ever e out, ntrast to the women’s game, which has easily blown past the same barrier: more than 40 lbian or bisexual players took part the 2019 women’s World Cup France, acrdg to Fifa.

FOOTBALLRS GAYS : PRéPAREZ-VO à S RéVéLATNS

Crics have raised the fact that Fifa ntu to award World Cups to untri such as Rsia – where homophobia has been lled a “state‑sponsored” project – and Qatar, where same-sex acts are illegal, as evince of the erng body’s patchy mment to if holdg the tournament a untry wh strict penalti for homosexualy sent the wrong msage to gay footballers and fans, Cavallo, who has played for Atralia’s unr-20s ternatnal si, told the Guardian’s daily news podst that he would be aaid for his safety if asked to participate the 2022 Qatar World Cup. 'I'm a footballer and I'm gay': A-League player Josh Cavallo talks about his sexualy – vio“I read somethg along the l of that [they] give the ath penalty for gay people Qatar, so ’s somethg I’m very sred [of] and wouldn’t really want to go to Qatar for that, ” he said.

At the end of the day the World Cup is Qatar and one of the greatt achievements as a profsnal footballer is to play for your untry, and to know that this is a untry that don’t support gay people and puts at risk of our own life, that do sre me and mak me re-evaluate – is my life more important than dog somethg really good my reer?

Mlims the untry n be subject to Sharia law that bans any sexual activy outsi marriage wh punishments rangg up to the ath penalty, meang homosexual acts n technilly rult executn, though several human rights reports have said there is no evince any gay people have been executed for the offence. ”Along wh the appallg ndns for migrant workers buildg the astcture for the tournament, the prospect of gay fans or players beg arrted Qatar has dogged Fifa sce the emirate was announced as host of the tournament 2010. The anisatn’s then print, Sepp Blatter, fuelled the ntroversy the same year when he was asked if he had any advice for gay people who wanted to travel to the Gulf state for the petn.

‘NOBODY FEELS UNSAFE HERE’: GAY FOOTBALLER JOSH CAVALLO TOLD HE IS WELE AT QATAR WORLD CUP

But they walk a fe le between acmodatg what are now mastream attus towards gay people much of the world and the untry’s own nservative relig the tournament has approached, Qatari officials have sought to reassure LGBT fans that they will be wele the untry and n exprs themselv – wh lims. ”Prsed at the time over how Qataris would react to a gay uple holdg hands, Khater said they would be treated the same as a heterosexual uple.

Le climat d'homophobie qui règne dans le mon du football terd jourd'hui à tout jour, en particulier profsnnel, vivre sereement et grand jour son homosexualé. Pour rappel, l'enquête du Paris Foot Gay en 2013 révéla que 41% s jours foot profsnnel et 50% s jn jours en centr formatn déclarent s opns hostil x homosexuels. Dans l tribun, l chants et jur homophob rtent totalement banals et impunis et no ne csons le dé c ndns, envisager un g-out pour un jour foot profsnnel en activé relèvera en France l'héroïsme.

THREE GAY FOOTBALL PLAYERS FEATURED NFL NETWORK SEGMENT ON CARL NASSIB

C't d'aillrs la raison pour laquelle l rar g-out ncernent s jours foot profsnnel en f rrière ou retraés (Olivier Rouyer en France, Robbie Rogers x USA, Thomas Hzlsperger en Allemagne) llectif lancrs d'alerte Rouge Direct chois jourd'hui s'adrser directement x jours football gays et l met en gar ntre s risqu g-out svag xquels lr clansté l expose. L jours football profsnnel qui vivent clanstement lr homosexualé du fa lr notoriété et qui se voient ntrats reurir à s s et applitns renntr s'exposent à tout moment à s révélatns svag sur lr sexualé et lr timé.

L persécutns s gays actuellement en Tchétchénie (République nstutive la Fédératn Rsie) en sont la terrible s JO R en 2016, s athlèt du Village Olympique s'étaient déjà fa « pcer » sur s applitns renntr gays et outer svagement. Cela do servir sérix avertissement pour t urgent que le mistère s Sports et l stanc du Foot s'attaquent enf flé l'homophobie dans le foot et créent asi l ndns pour que l g-out jours gays puissent tervenir sereement, sans l exposer à nséquenc grav pour lr bien-être et lr rrière.

Et il t nécsaire ssi que l jours foot x-mêm, qu'ils soient gays ou non, prennent lrs rponsabilés et ntribuent, publiquement ou non, à exiger que c ndns favorabl à lr g-out ou à celui d'un -équipier, soient mis en place. Atralian footballer Josh Cavallo would be wele at next year’s World Cup, the chief executive of the tournament Qatar has said, spe the untry’s laws agast Alai Uned player, who beme the world’s only current openly gay top-flight profsnal footballer when he me out last month, told the Guardian at the time he would be “sred” to play the Gulf state.

UNNAMED PREMIER LEAGUE FOOTBALLER REVEALS HE IS GAY LETTER BUT SAYS HE N'T GO PUBLIC

Homosexualy is illegal Qatar and punishable by a penalti rangg om floggg to imprisonment and executn, but tournament aniser Nasser Al Khater assured gay fans they uld feel safe there, as long as they act nservatively. ”Homosexualy is potentially punishable by the ath penalty for Mlims the untry unr sharia law, although human rights reports have said there is no evince any gay people have been executed for the 2022 Qatar World Cup chief executive Nasser Al Khater.

I LONG FOR A DAY WHEN GAY FOOTBALLERS LIKE ME AND JOSH CAVALLO DON’T NEED TO BE SO ‘BRAVE’

“I read somethg along the l of that [they] give the ath penalty for gay people Qatar, so ’s somethg I’m very sred [of] and wouldn’t really want to go to Qatar for that, ” he said. “When I returned to football my sophomore year after g out was bee I knew that if I qu football was jt the begng of thgs I would qu or hold myself back om bee I was gay, ” Strer told Outsports.

“To fast forward to my last football game my senr year and have end wh ‘NFL 360’ there to clu me a story celebratg the first openly gay football player NFL history is still really unbelievable to me. EST, we see scen of Strer’s last game as a Matea Mtang, terspersed wh him speakg about beg gay football and what Nassib’s g out meant to him.

MEET THE 16 OUT GAY AND BI FOOTBALL PLAYERS THE NFL’S 103-YEAR HISTORY

Their experienc are universal, ways good and bad, for many LGBTQ people — Pick talkg about the pa om the ial rejectn by her mom; O’Callaghan discsg suicidal thoughts before beg rcued by a therapist; Rapoport’s touchg rellectn of g out to NFL Commissner Roger Gooll by approachg him at a Super Bowl event holdg her girliend’s hand and Gooll’s se upon seeg ; Saffold discsg growg up Black and gay on the South Si of Chigo “where there are rampant levels of homophobia” and Strer on how he ed to worry “about how bad my life might be after I me out.

An unnamed Premier League footballer has revealed he is gay an open letter, but isn't prepared to e out star has opened up about the torment of keepg his sexualy a secret and has aimed the letter at thori and fans, scribg how he is takg a "huge step" revealg his sexualy. The unknown star is beg supported by the Jt Fashanu Foundatn, which is n by the former footballer's niece, Fashanu, who played for top flight clubs om the late 1970s to the mid 1980s, was the first profsnal footballer to be openly gay. Ms Fashanu says there are no openly gay or bisexual male profsnal footballers the untry at prent and this revelatn was a "signifint moment and a posive step forward" tacklg this told Sky News: "The fact this player wanted to wre a letter about this is a huge step forward.

"In a Digal, Culture, Media and Sport Select Commtee hearg on 7 July, former England women's team footballer Enla Alo said gay male footballers wouldn't risk g out the public doma bee of the homophobic backlash they would said there are current footballers who have told their teammat they are gay, but add: "The issue really now is that fear of what fans will do and are gog to say, but I don't thk that is as legimate a fear as ed to be bee we're livg a world now where beg gay is somethg that is wily accepted. Instead I grew up hearg thgs like “Oh, that’s so gay”, gay beg ed as a word to reprent somethg distasteful, somethg that someone didn’t like.

‘I HAVE BEEN FIGHTG MY SEXUALY’: A-LEAGUE MEN PLAYER JOSH CAVALLO OUT AS GAY

It was not only graed me that football and beg gay was a no-go, but beg gay self was agast the g out, you first mt learn to accept yourself for who you are. 'I'm a footballer and I'm gay': A-League player Josh Cavallo talks about his sexualy – vioAfter g out durg a trag ssn a player ed a homophobic slur.