Gay cricketers won’t e out until 'stigma' is tackled, boss warned

Contents:

• JAKE DANIELS: WHY BLACKPOOL PLAYER’S CISN TO E OUT AS GAY MATTERS
• GAY CRICKETERS WON’T E OUT UNTIL ‘STIGMA’ IS KNOCKED FOR SIX, BOSS WARNED
• WORLD’S FIRST GAY GBY CLUB TURNS 20: ‘NO-ONE HAD SEEN PLAYERS LIKE BEFORE’
• A GAY GIRL’S GUI TO THE 2023 WOMEN’S WORLD CUP
• 8 MALE FOOTBALL PLAYERS WHO DARED TO COME OUT AS GAY

JAKE DANIELS: WHY BLACKPOOL PLAYER’S CISN TO E OUT AS GAY MATTERS

When 17-year-old Jake Daniels publicly me out as a gay on Monday, phon pged as the UK’s media raced to ph out news alerts. “I’ve known my whole life that I’m gay, and I now feel that I’m ready to e out and be myself, ” the English footballer said his statement.

GAY CRICKETERS WON’T E OUT UNTIL ‘STIGMA’ IS KNOCKED FOR SIX, BOSS WARNED

Until Monday, Alai Uned’s Josh Cavallo was the only current openly gay top-flight male profsnal footballer the world. Daniels is the first profsnal male player to e out as gay the UK the last 30 years, says the Brish LGBTQ advocy group Stonewall.

Jt Fashanu was the first and, until now, only active male profsnal footballer the UK to speak publicly about beg a gay man. It was only last month that a football fan was banned om watchg live football by a Brish urt for three years for shoutg homophobic abe at a Premier League match between Brighton and Hove Albn and Arsenal October 2021.

Men’s profsnal football is still behd the women’s game – there were 40 openly gay, lbian and bisexual players at the 2019 Women’s World Cup – and other sports. Daniels, who said he had known he was gay sce the age of five or six, received support om his club and Stonewall before makg his statement and he will need that to ntue bee beg a trailblazer n be a heavy load to rry.

WORLD’S FIRST GAY GBY CLUB TURNS 20: ‘NO-ONE HAD SEEN PLAYERS LIKE BEFORE’

Cricketer Steve Davi is the first and only English male pro to e out as gay.

Gay cricket ach and activist Sam Schofield has cricised the England and Wal Cricket Board (ECB) for “lettg down” the LGBTQ+ muny. After Jake Daniels beme England’s first pro male footballer to e out as gay more than three s, Schofield spoke of the need for more LGBTQ+ role mols cricket. Comparatively, the women’s divisn has players like Natalie Sciver and Kathere Bnt, an openly gay cricketer uple.

Daley has prevly said that he avoid takg part a petn Rsia shortly after g out bee he felt unsafe given the prevalence of homophobia and a raft of anti-LGBTQ legislatn the untry. “I feel credibly proud to say that I am a gay man and also an Olympic champn, ” said Daley, who ma his Olympic but when he was only 14.

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

” Daley me out as gay 2013, and is one of at least 142 out LGBTQ athlet petg at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics—the hight number on rerd, acrdg to NGO GLAAD. In 2017 he married Dt Lance Black, an Amerin screenwrer and filmmaker who won an Amy Award 2008 for his origal screenplay for Milk, a bpic of polician and gay rights activist Harvey Milk.

First gay gby club found 20 years ago. The first time Mark Bhell and his all-gay gby team led up agast a straight si, he was overe by a sense of his own masculy.

For much of his life, the Brish lawyer had been told that beg gay somehow ma him ls of a man. Yet standg shoulr-to-shoulr wh his gay teammat, he felt liberated. “So I really enjoyed playg gby agast straight men, wh my gay teammat, bee for me kd of proved that we were jt as mascule as they were – that we n be jt as physil as they are.

8 MALE FOOTBALL PLAYERS WHO DARED TO COME OUT AS GAY

Bhell was one of the early players to jo the Kgs Cross Steelers, the world’s first gay gby club, which this year celebrat s 20th anniversary. What started when six iends met a bar north London 1995, wh the ia of formg a gay-clive gby team, has sce turned to a club wh over 150 members and three teams.

The Steelers have won the European petn for gay gby clubs, the Unn Cup, on four ocsns.