Nick Clegg: Football star Thomas Hitzlsperger’s decision to come out is brave and courageous

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has praised former West Ham and German international Thomas Hitzlsperger for announcing that he’s gay.
In a message to Hitzlsperger’s Twitter account, the Liberal Democrat leader said he had “huge respect” for the recently retired premiership player.

Nick Clegg @nick_clegg
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Huge respect to @ThomasHitzl for his courage today. His bravery will help break down barriers in sport for the next generation.
2:38 PM - 8 Jan 2014

On Wednesday, the 31-year-old told Germany’s Die Zeit: “I’m coming out about my homosexuality because I want to move the discussion about homosexuality among professional sportspeople forwards.”
He added: “I’ve never been ashamed of the way I am”.
Figures in the world of football, including Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker and Queens Park Rangers midfielder Joey Barton praised Hitzlsperger for his openness.
There are currently no known openly gay footballers in the English and Scottish professional leagues.
In his tweet of support for Hitzlsperger, Joey Barton said he hoped that one day the situation would change.

Joseph Barton @Joey7Barton
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Thomas Hitzlsperger has shown a lot of courage today. Sad times when people have to wait till they retire from their chosen profession...
12:32 PM - 8 Jan 2014

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2014/01/08/nick-clegg-football-star-thomas-hitzlspergers-decision-to-come-out-is-brave-and-courageous/

      Sad times when people have to wait till they retire from their chosen profession...
12:32 PM - 8 Jan 2014    indeed, which is why we need more young sports stars like Tom Daley to come out whilst they are still in their professions.

Minister for Sport and Equalities Helen Grant has praised former West Ham and German international Thomas Hitzlsperger for announcing that he’s gay.
On Wednesday, the 31-year-old told Germany’s Die Zeit: “I’m coming out about my homosexuality because I want to move the discussion about homosexuality among professional sportspeople forwards.”
He added: “I’ve never been ashamed of the way I am”.
Minister for Sport and Equalities Helen Grant said to PinkNews.co.uk: “It’s great news that Thomas Hitzlsperger has had the courage to come out today. While we have made great progress in shifting attitudes towards the gay community, there are still many people who have hidden or who are still hiding their sexuality, through fear of homophobia. There is still more we can all do to help tackle homophobia in sport.”
Earlier, in a message to Hitzlsperger’s Twitter account, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said he had “huge respect” for the recently retired premiership player.
Figures in the world of football, including Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker and Queens Park Rangers midfielder Joey Barton have praised Hitzlsperger for his openness.
It came a day after Michael Johnson resigned as an equality advisor to England’s Football Association, following fresh scrutiny of homophobic comments he made back in 2012.
The Gay Football Supporters’ Network (GFSN) welcomed Hitzlsperger’s comments as an encouraging development.
GFSN Chair Chris Basiurski said: ”We really welcome this news, its shows that we are moving one step closer to creating that atmosphere in football where players at all levels would be able to come out should they want to, safely and free from discrimination.
“We hope that one day current players would feel able to come out and that eventually a player’s sexual orientation not be a news story, but for now we wish Thomas Hitzlesperger well.”
The fact that Hitzlsperger’s announcement came after he had already retired from football shows the sport still has a long way to go.
Former Leeds and US winger Robbie Rogers came out as gay and quit English football in February 2013.
Justin Fashanu was the first professional footballer in Britain to come out, in 1990, before he took his own life eight years later, aged 37.
There are currently no known openly gay footballers in the English and Scottish professional leagues.
Swedish lower league player Anton Hysen – son of former Liverpool defender Glenn Hysen – came out in an interview with a Swedish football magazine in 2011.


http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2014/01/08/minister-for-sport-great-that-thomas-hitzlsperge-is-out-but-homophobia-causes-too-many-to-hide/

I'm not so sure.

Why did he wait until he retired?

BigAndy9 wrote:I'm not so sure.

Why did he wait until he retired?

Because there is still so much homophobia in football, much like the 'kick racism out of football' campaign at the start,  there was still a lot of racism in football, whilst that hasn't been completely overcome yet, much has been achieved since that started.

I'm sure that the 'Kick homophobia out of football' campaign will go the same way in the end, but whilst we have openly black players because, colour of skin can't be hidden, we need more gay football players to come out, so we can take the bigotry on more.

wait what?             
I though all football players were gay  ::happ::  ::happ::  ::happ:: 


 ::troll:: ::troll:: ::troll:: ::troll:: 

veya_victaous wrote:wait what?             
I though all football players were gay  ::happ::  ::happ::  ::happ:: 


 ::troll:: ::troll:: ::troll:: ::troll:: 

A lot are, they just don't have the guts to come out!

New smilies are great btw!  :D 

@catman
yeah I'm trying to use them all
 ::slap:: ::slap:: ::slap:: 
 ::smthg:: ::smthg:: ::smthg:: 

veya_victaous wrote:@catman
yeah I'm trying to use them all
 ::slap:: ::slap:: ::slap:: 
 ::smthg:: ::smthg:: ::smthg:: 

  ::rambo::