Chelsea FC star speaks out against homophobia in sport

26 October 2010

 

The Justin Campaign has praised French footballer Florent Malouda after he has publicly spoken out against homophobia in football.

In an interview published by the club aimed at tackling prejudice in sport, the French star was talking about Kick It Out’s new initiative – The One Game, One Community project.

The intention of the program is to raise the profile on the search for equality across football.

Premiership star Malouda said: “I think it is a problem of knowledge, people are scared of something they do not know. Now you have a lot of information: the internet, satellite television, many sources of information, so there is no excuse to say you do not know.”

The Chelsea midfielder added: “Before people couldn’t even speak out about that [homosexuality] like they were rejecting it. And saying it doesn’t exist. People are wrong to hide behind religion to explain their behaviour against gays, but you have to accept people as they are and once you understand that, you understand our differences are our strengths.”

The Justin Campaign, which works to eradicate homophobia from football, praised the player. They added: “We congratulate Florent Malouda and are convinced that his words will help to make a difference.”

They continued: “The fact that such a high profile player has spoken out on the subject will hopefully encourage others within the game to voice their disapproval at the current state of affairs.

"Hopefully, this will increase the pressure on football authorities to act more decisively on the issue of homophobia in football, an issue which has, for far too long, been allowed to fester within the game."

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