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:

• GERMAN SOCCER REFEREE SAYS THERE’S A SHOCKG NUMBER OF GAY MEN BUNSLIGA
• FORMER GERMAN WORLD CUP PLAYER COM OUT AS GAY
• GAY & LBIANS IN SOCCER
• GERMAN FOOTBALLER'S G-OUT SHOWS CHALLENG OF BEG GAY SOCCER
• HERE ARE EIGHT OUT AND PROUD MALE GAY FOOTBALLERS
• A GAY GIRL’S GUI TO THE 2023 WOMEN’S WORLD CUP
• GAY GERMAN SOCCER PLAYER SAYS TEAMMAT WORE UNRWEAR SHOWER TO AVOID HIM
• 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
• BUNSLIGA STARS OFFER SUPPORT TO GAY FOOTBALLERS
• GAY SOCCER PLAYER JOSH CAVALLO TO JUDGE 'RUPL’S DRAG RACE DOWN UNR'
• GAY SOCCER PLAYERS SHOULD NOT E OUT, SAYS GERMAN PTA

GERMAN SOCCER REFEREE SAYS THERE’S A SHOCKG NUMBER OF GAY MEN BUNSLIGA

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.

FORMER GERMAN WORLD CUP PLAYER COM OUT AS GAY

“Even 2021, there will not be a sgle openly homosexual footballer the German men’s profsnal leagu, ” the players said a jot statement. “The fear of beg attacked and ostracized after g out and of jeopardizg one’s reer as a profsnal footballer is apparently still so great that gay footballers believe they have to hi their sexualy. “If one of my lleagu were to e out, I would protect them om the idts outsi our team who feel disturbed, or really threatened by homosexualy, ” he ntued.

However, the lnch of 11Frn‘s mpaign after former German soccer pta Philipp Lahm utned gay players agast g out while they were still active the sport.

READ NEXTActor Tom Holland’s Gay Sex Scene Sparks ControversyKev Spacey Not Guilty of Sexual MisnductGay Film ‘Passag’ Gets Slapped Wh An NC-17 RatgTroye Sivan Confirms That He Is Not, In Fact, A Power Bottom. While his claim of three to four players on each team is hard to believe, ’s tertg that he talks about knowg some of the gay players and refere.

GAY & LBIANS IN SOCCER

8, 2014BERLIN — Thomas Hzlsperger, a midfielr who ma 52 appearanc for Germany’s natnal team, helped Stuttgart pture the Bunsliga champnship 2007 and played for proment teams Germany, England and Italy, ma perhaps the biggt news of his reer on Wednday by g out as a homosexual. Hzlsperger, 31, said he timed his cisn to the Wter Olympics Rsia, a untry wh much-cricized antigay laws, and dog so beme the first proment soccer player Germany to e out as gay. He told the weekly Die Ze that he had summoned s reporters to discs his homosexualy and the phenomenon general soccer Germany, one of the powerho of the world’s most popular sport.

“To this day, I don’t know one player personally who has exprsed himself on the topic, ” beyond the ual jib about gays at postgame celebratns, he add.

You even say ‘gay pass’ after a weak pass to another player, ” he said, admtg that he had also ed that Mac Matzen/RtersA range of German sportg and polil personali, some of them gay, offered plds, not cricism, to Hzlsperger for his cisn to e out. ”Hzlsperger attracted wispread attentn 2012 when he gave another terview to Die Ze about a published nversatn wh an anonymo soccer player who said he was gay.

GERMAN FOOTBALLER'S G-OUT SHOWS CHALLENG OF BEG GAY SOCCER

The anonymo terview also attracted the attentn of Chancellor Angela Merkel, an avowed soccer fan, who ed to remd Germans that they are part of an open anonymo gay player “liv a untry where he need not fear g out, ” she said September 2012 when lnchg a natnal “tegratn day” German soccer. While the world gradually accepts non-heterosexuals as star players the world of sports, all to often gay and lbian soccer players and ach keep a low profile. Support for same-sex marriage has steadily creased and more than 6--10 Amerins now report they have a close iend or fay member who is gay or lbian.

Millennials, who have nsistently monstrated strong support for gay marriage, are growg size and fluence— 2015 they will surpass Baby Boomers as the largt sgle generatn. S., openly gay profsnal athlet are still somethg of an anomaly—the NFL was whout a sgle openly gay player until the draftg of Michael Sam 2014. Even among diehard football fans support for signg gay athlet remas robt: roughly three-quarters (72 percent) of football fans say they would support their favore team signg an openly gay player.

After g out, Robbie Rogers, an openly gay MLS player, said he more often heard words of enuragement and support om fans than jeers or tnts. But the LA Galaxy player was highly cril of FIFA, ternatnal soccer’s erng body, for selectg Rsia and Qatar, untri wh strict anti-gay laws, to host the next two world Cup tournaments.

HERE ARE EIGHT OUT AND PROUD MALE GAY FOOTBALLERS

Gay former athlet who have reunted experiencg substantial discrimatn, om the ont office and the locker room, largely rroborate this perceptn. Erik Brady of USA Today reports that when gay athlet e out to their teammat the homophobic jok and slurs, which once may have been mon, tend to evaporate and players themselv are embraced by their teammat.

Former German natnal and English Premier League midfielr Thomas Hzlsperger has jt bee the hight-profile soccer player to announce that he is his announcement, which after his retirement om the profsnal game, highlights the ongog challeng that openly gay players face German and English soccer, spe greater locker-room acceptance of homosexual teammat there than the discsn about homosexualy soccer has for too long been “simply ignored, ” said recently retired Mr. “I was never ashamed of beg who I am, but was not always easy to s at a table wh 20 young men and listen to jok about gays, ” Hzlsperger told the Premier League player’s cisn to reveal his sexualy after his retirement September is a mendable step, but rerc jt how difficult is to e out of the closet while an active football player, says Marc Naimark, a spokman om the Feratn of Gay Gam. The moment “’s absolutely not normal” to e out as a gay footballer Germany, says Kls Hssle, the -print of the European Gay and Lbian Sports Foundatn.

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

Players rema anx that their teammat will perceive them as “sissi” or that they will ph away is hopeful that Hzlsperger’s move will advance a discsn about homosexualy among sports players – pecially far ls gay-tolerant untri such as Rsia – when he meets wh the Olympic Natnal Commtee Germany on Friday. Robbie Rogers, an Amerin who ed to play for Leeds Uned, announced he was gay and retired 2012 (though he returned to the game last year and now plays for the Los Angel Galaxy).

GAY GERMAN SOCCER PLAYER SAYS TEAMMAT WORE UNRWEAR SHOWER TO AVOID HIM

Most wa until they know their teammat well enough to build tst and make the out as a football player Bra or Germany would be much easier than the US, argu Profsor Anrson, due to the public's ls strongly held relig players do e out, they exhib better athletic performance, as they are able to ncentrate better wh their creased peace of md, says Tatjana Eggelg, a cultural anthropologist who advis gay profsnal athlet Eggelg has helped a few of the players she has worked wh – cludg those the Bunsliga, the untry’s profsnal soccer league – reveal their sexualy to iends, fay, and sometim to tsted teammat, but not yet publicly, she says. In May 2022, Jake Daniels me out at the age of 17  an open letter on the Blackpool Football Club’s webse, beg at that time the UK’s only openly gay active male profsnal footballer. He also acknowledged that “beg gay, or bi or queer men’s football is still a taboo” and that he is likely to face some gree of homophobia the sport.

After stgglg wh his sexualy for years, he me as gay September 2022, makg him the first openly gay player Sttish football sce Jt Fashanu.

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

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.

Ni says he hears gay slurs nstantly and that homophobia the stands has gotten worse sce former German player Thomas Hzlsperger me out as gay earlier this year. A movie beg shot Germany about homophobia soccer is based part on his experienc, which had the terviewer wonrg why he is stickg out the sport. This paper analys disurs on masculy, homosexualy and homophobia German profsnal soccer orr to addrs this soccer has been gog through a long perd of tensn between the forc of mercializatn and efforts to uphold the tradns of the game.

I ntend this paper that, unlike the disurs mentned above which tradn and mercializatn stand nflict, the disurs around homophobia and homosexualy—very much like those on genr and sexism—are characterized by a suatn which tradn and mercializatn pull soccer to the same directn. Efforts to uphold the tradns of a “manly” game and the potential mercial “punishment” of openly gay players help matag the domance of heterosexual masculy the paper addrs the issue of homosexualy and homophobia German soccer three steps. Hegemonic masculy refers to a nfiguratn of genr practic that legimiz the domance of men and the subordatn of women and lser forms of masculy—cludg homosexual men (Connell 2005).

BUNSLIGA STARS OFFER SUPPORT TO GAY FOOTBALLERS

While the German Soccer Associatn (DFB) has ma signifint progrs fightg racism, homophobia and sexism rema largely unchallenged forms of discrimatn the realm of soccer. Although German society general has moved towards greater acceptance of homosexualy, soccer still tolerat overt and explic homophobia.

The emotns shown the stadium are unmanly when they happen outsi the soccer typ of embrac one n wns on the soccer field and the stands would clearly e across as homoerotic outsi of the stadium. Even wh the factual prence of women and homosexual men, soccer is nstcted as an exclively mascule and, by fn, heterosexual patriarchal orr outsi of the last male prerve of soccer forbids men to get emotnal. Simply beg part of the group the stadium f a male spectator as German Disurs on Soccer and HomosexualyThe associatn of soccer wh hyper-masculy historilly go back to the very begng of the game.

Soccer serv as an area which boys and men regnize and validate each other as “te” far, no active player top divisn German soccer has e out as gay.

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

The disurse on Hzlsperger also monstrat why homophobia remas a signifint part of the the issue of g-out, the other problem that persists German soccer is the pervasivens of homophobic (and sexist) chants and yelled sults among the fans the stands. However, even if the chants and sults are not meant to directly discrimate agast actual homosexuals, the pervasivens of the homophobic chants and yelled sults unrsr the nstrats gay men face soccer.

Overall, the German Soccer Associatn (DFB) has been more succsful and nsistent when to battg racism than alg wh sexism and homophobia. In addn, the soccer associatn has been far more lenient s punishment of the exprsn of homophobia and sexism the stadiums than of openly racist acts. Th homophobia acrdg to the DFB n only rise to the level of sult but not addn to the most punishment for homophobic cints, DFB officials often react stereotypilly fensive fashn to any suggtns that there might be homosexual players on the natnal team.

GAY SOCCER PLAYERS SHOULD NOT E OUT, SAYS GERMAN PTA

Famoly, the German natnal team manager Oliver Bierhoff reacted angrily and personally offend when the German TV crime seri Tatort featured a fict gay player on the natnal team s 2011 episo “Mord r ersten Liga” bee the show had “attacked his fay—his fay of the natnal team” (Degele 2013: 106). Siarly, when Dirk Leibied and Andreas Erb (2011: 55–74) sent a survey about how profsnal soccer clubs alt wh the subject of homosexualy and homophobia to all public relatns offic of the 36 first and send divisn clubs, only 12—one-third—of them bothered to answer. Footnote 5 Overall, Leibied and Erb’s survey revealed that German soccer clubs were still reluctant to engage wh the subject of homosexualy and homophobia, and even those willg to answer the survey stggled mightily wh the subject.

”One particular cint markg the change domant forms of masculy German soccer was the claim of Michael Becker, the agent for former German natnal team pta Michael Ballack, that the 2010 German World Cup team was a “bunch of gays” (Schwulenbo) after Ballack had been dropped om the team. The ment provoked a media storm over the issue of homosexualy and soccer Germany—but, tertgly, public crique that the natnal team ach Jürgen Klsmann and Jogi Löw had liberately softened the image of the team by choosg more elegant and nimble players remaed wispread. Another sign of change is the formatn of gay fan groups and symbolic measur showg signs of more tolerance as well as outreach to the LGBTQ-muny by clubs and dividual players.

For example, 2007 Phillip Lahm beme the first star player to give an terview to the gay magaze Front, which he argued for tolerance and acceptance of potential gay players—only to advise gay players not to e out durg their reers bee of unpredictable nsequenc.