Coalition government to encourage sportsmen and women to come out

Equalities minister Lynne Featherstone has said that the government hopes to work alongside the Football Association to help gay footballers come out.

At Commons question time on Wednesday, Featherstone said there should be a similar “atmosphere and ambience” in football as there now is in cricket and rugby, where players are free to “come forward and come out”.

Conservative MP Mark Menzies said: “We have recently seen positive role models come out in both rugby and cricket, to much support from the general public and the sports community.

“What steps are you taking to encourage a similar welcoming atmosphere in football, the nation’s most popular sport?”

Featherstone replied: “I’d like to put on record our congratulations to Stephen Davies, the English cricketer, and Gareth Thomas, the Welsh rugby player, for coming out.

“Obviously it is very important and we look forward to working with the Football Association to create an atmosphere and ambience where footballers also feel free to come forward and come out if they wish.

“Not just for the sake of the league and themselves but also for the sake of youngsters all over the country who should be able to play on any field of sport free of any kind of discrimination.”

Earlier this week, Anton Hysen became the first Swedish footballer to announce that he is gay. There are currently no openly gay footballers in England’s top four divisions.

Last month Gareth Thomas was voted PinkPaper.com’s Hero of the Year after coming out as gay. His story is currently being developed into a film starring Mickey Rourke.


Simon Pollard with Peter Lloyd


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