The number of openly lesbian or gay professional athletes can almost be counted on one hand. Homosexuality in the football world is a huge taboo. In 1990, footballer Justin Fashanu came out of the closet. The only English footballer to publicly admit to being gay has not been signed anywhere since his revelation and committed suicide in 1998. How many athletes since Fashanu have had the courage to expose themselves in the press, defy prejudice and become a role model? In July 2014, Australian former swimmer Ian Thorpe came out of the closet.
Orlando Cruz
Orlando Cruz is a courageous person. Amid the macho world that is boxing, Puerto Rico boxer Orlando Cruz took the microphone and declared in October 2012 that he is a proud gay Latino. He said he hopes he can contribute to a culture change. He wants to make it clear that machismo and your identity as a gay person are not mutually exclusive. Cruz was praised by interest groups from all over the world after his revelation, which can be called very courageous.
Martina Navratilova
The Czech tennis star, born in the Eastern European country, might never have come out about the fact that she likes women. She did so shortly after becoming an American citizen in 1981. Navratilova has felt the announcement in her wallet. By coming out about the fact that she is a lesbian, she has lost many sponsorship contracts and fewer new ones have been added, as she herself has said.
Anton Hysen
Liverpool-born Swedish footballer Anton Hysén has become the first player in his country to come out. Hysén never reached the real top level of football, partly due to injuries, but was once a great talent and played a number of matches for Sweden -17. After his revelation, the BBC called him a ‘ global one-off ‘ as the second professional footballer to come out after Justin Fashanu. He told a Swedish gay magazine that he was surprised about the uproar that arose worldwide after his confession because everyone around him reacted very positively and did not make a problem of it at all: as it should be. Hysén’s father played professionally for Liverpool in the late 1980s.
David Testo
Testo is one of the few openly gay soccer players in the American Canadian league and in North American sports in general. In an interview on Canadian radio, the then Montreal Impact player said that he is gay and that his family and teammates are aware of it. Since he came out, there have been many positive reactions from fellow athletes. He is an ambassador for You Can Play, an organization that tries to combat homophobia in the sports world. The organization was founded by ice hockey coach Brian Burke, whose son Brendan Burke was known as a pioneer of gay rights. Brendan Burke, an ice hockey player himself, died in a car accident in 2010.
Natasha Kai
Within the world of women’s football, coming out as a lesbian is much less of a taboo than within men’s football. One of the most spectacular appearances in women’s football is Natasha Kai. She has more than 50 tattoos all over her body including her entire arms. This tough lady not only made it as a football player – she was part of the 2008 Olympic team – she is also a former rugby player. Other openly lesbian football players include Nadine Angerer, Lisa Dahlkvist, Dorte Dalum Jensen, Laura del Río, Melanie Garside-Wight, Isabell Herlovsen, Ursula Holl, Jessica Landström, Lori Lindsey, Joanna Lohman, Lianne Sanderson, Linda Medalen, Bente Nordby , Megan Rapinoe, Sarah Walsh, Andrea Worrall and Eudy Simelane. The latter is a former South African football player who was raped and murdered because of her sexual orientation. Pia Sundhage is a former professional football player from Sweden who is best known as the national coach of the United States. She indicated in an interview that she does not suffer from homophobia in the world of women’s football.
Matthew Mitcham
Mitcham is a diver and Olympic champion from Australia. In 2008, he came out of the closet just before the Beijing Olympics. Since then, he has become known as a role model for gay athletes and has graced the cover of The Advocate magazine more than once . After the successful Games, he said that he had received many heart-warming letters from young people thanking him for his courage and openness in the tough world of sports.
Steven Davies
Steven Davies is the first openly gay cricketer. The British wicketkeeper from Surrey came out in early 2011 in an interview with The Daily Telegraph . The international said he had already told his family and teammates about it five years earlier.
Gareth Thomas
Thomas is a former Welsh rugby player and when he came out, he was an active athlete who came out about his homosexuality. In 2009 he was named to the Pink List of the 101 most influential homosexuals in England and also received Stonewall’s Hero of the Year award . Thomas was previously married to a woman but divorced in 2007. When he came out, he said he hoped his revelation would give other young rugby players the strength to not hide their orientation. There are plans to make a biographical film about the life of Gareth Thomas.
Robbie Rogers
The 18-time football international Robbie Rogers from the United States has ended his career at the age of 25 after he announced on his own website that he is attracted to men. Rogers, who played for Leeds and took part in the Olympic Games in Beijing, indicated that he had a very difficult time keeping his orientation a secret. After his outpouring, he received many positive reactions, including from American footballer Sacha Kljestan.
Thomas Hitzelsperger
In January 2014, Hitzelsperger became the most famous footballer ever to come out of the closet. The now 31-year-old recently retired footballer said in an interview with the German newspaper Die Zeit that he is attracted to men. As a footballer he played for VfB Stuttgart, Aston Villa and West Ham United, among others. He played 52 international matches for Germany. In September 2013 he retired due to various injuries and the desire to do other things. A few months after his football retirement, he thought the time was right to share with the world that he is gay. During his active career, he was already committed to the fight against racism and xenophobia in Germany as a blogger. While he was still playing, he had a steady relationship with a woman for years, to whom he was even engaged. He broke off this engagement in 2007, a month before they were supposed to get married.
Jason Collins
In 2014, Jason Collins became the first openly gay basketball player in the American top division NBA. At the end of the previous season, the thirtysomething announced that he was gay. However, at that time he was without a club. When he signed a short contract with the Brooklyn Nets in February 2014 and was allowed to play for a few minutes against the LA Lakers, he had a scoop.
Michael Sam
That other American macho sport can also prepare for a debut by an openly gay player. Michael Sam is an American Football player who played at the college level for the University of Missouri. He became an All-American there and was voted Southeastern Conference Defensive Player of the Year. Sam enters the 2014 NFL Draft. If elected, he would become the first openly gay football player in the NFL. Initially it was expected that he would be picked in the third or fourth round, but after his announcement this expectation was lowered due to the expected skepticism among the teams. When Sam went back to his old university to receive a trophy, some anti-gay activists were present. However, their presence was canceled out by a group of approximately 500 students who did not form a human wall around them to silence their protest.
Ian Thorpe
Australian swimming champion Ian Thorpe won many awards during his career. After ending his career, things went in the wrong direction. He tried in vain to qualify for the Olympic Games in London in 2012. There was no talk of a comeback. After a fall in January 2014, he had to have shoulder surgery and suffered a serious infection that definitively ruled out a return to swimming. In July 2014, after years of speculation, Ian Thorpe shared with an Australian TV channel that he is gay. The fact that he has now come out of the closet is not a surprise to everyone. However, in his autobiography published in 2012, he categorically denied this.
Dutch homosexual athletes
It is known that homosexuality is much more accepted in the Netherlands than in other parts of the world. Perhaps for that reason athletes here have less difficulty coming out. Dutch (former) athletes who openly admit their homosexuality or bisexuality include Sherida Spitse, Ireen Wüst, Jeffrey Wammes, Johan Kenkhuis, Edward Gal, Mike Verschuur, Maartje Paumen, Carlien Dirkse van den Heuvel, Marilyn Agliotti, Carina Benninga and Kim Lammers . John Blankenstein is a former football referee and activist for gay rights in the Netherlands. In the 1980s he was the first openly gay referee in the world.
In 2012, Frank de Boer made another slip when, in response to a question about why there are so few professional gay footballers, he said it probably had something to do with their motor skills. In the same year, Feyenoord player Ron Vlaar – himself straight – spoke up for gays in football by indicating that we should not pretend that homosexuality is a problem and that everyone is equal regardless of their orientation.