First Top Out Male Soccer Player Proposes on Home Pitch

2.52Min

 First top-flight male soccer star to publicly identify as gay proposes to partner on the 

home pitch

(CNN) — Josh Cavallo, the first top-flight male professional soccer star to publicly identify as gay, has blazed a new trail by proposing to his partner on the pitch of his club.

 

By Chris Lau 

(CNN) — Josh Cavallo, the first top-flight male professional soccer star to publicly identify as gay, has blazed a new trail by proposing to his partner on the pitch of his club.

 The Australian player made history in 2021 when he posted an emotional online video to talk about his sexuality and vowed to change the sport’s culture “to show that everyone is welcome in the game of football.”

 

His announcement was hailed as a watershed moment in a sport with a long and troubled history of entrenched homophobia, particularly in the men’s game.

 Since then, Cavallo, 24, has become one of the most recognizable faces in the sport and an outspoken advocate for greater equality for the LGBTQ community.

 On Thursday, he announced that he had proposed to his fiancée at Coopers Stadium, the home pitch of his Australian A-League team Adelaide United.

 Alongside a picture of him on one knee, holding out a ring, Cavallo declared in a post on X: “Starting this year with my fiancée.”

Other photos showed the player beaming while his partner covered his eyes and a close-up of the two holding hands.

 Cavallo thanked his team “for helping set up this surprise.”

“You have provided a safe space in football, one that I never in my dreams thought could ever be possible,” he wrote on X, adding that he wanted to “share this special moment on the pitch, where it all started.”

Subsequently, Cavallo has played in A-League Pride matches with the name and number on his jersey printed in rainbow colors to raise awareness. He has constantly posted encouraging messages on social media.

 He was named “Man of the Year” in 2022 at an awards ceremony hosted by Attitude Magazine, Europe’s largest LGBTQ magazine publication.

 Cavallo spoke out against FIFA’s decision two years ago to ban players from wearing “OneLove” armbands at the World Cup held in Qatar during an interview with CNN, saying that move made him feel “excluded.”

He didn’t make the Socceroo’s final squad, but at the time said he wished to see the Australian captain wear the armband in solidarity with the LGBTQ community.

“If I had been there and I had been the captain, yes, I would have worn the armband. I’m not ashamed to be who I am,” Cavallo told CNN in 2022.

“And it’s exactly the reason why I’ve come out and to be the person I am today,” he added.

 Professional soccer has made strong gains in tackling homophobia and racism in recent years and launched multiple campaigns but prejudice remains entrenched among some fans, clubs, and players.

 According to a 2022-23 season report released by Kick It Out, the English football anti-discrimination group said it received 1,007 reports of discriminatory behavior, a 65.1% rise on the previous season.

 While racism was the most prevalent form of discrimination, Kick It Out said research undertaken by Signify, which investigates online threat and disinformation, had identified “peaks of homophobic and misogynistic abuse targeting several high-profile WSL [Women’s Super League] players,” even as the game’s authorities continue to promote several campaigns tackling homophobia and promoting LGBTQ+ inclusion.

 To this day there are still very few professional male footballers who have publicly identified as gay.

 Earlier this week Austria’s national squad announced it had not selected three Rapid Vienna soccer players for duty after a video emerged of the players taking part in post-match celebrations shouting homophobic chants with a selection of the crowd.

 However, there have been high-profile comments and interventions by prominent footballers calling for more tolerance and diversity.

 Last year Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale said that he could no longer remain silent over homophobic abuse in football out of love and respect for his brother, who is gay.

“I want my brother… – or anyone of any sexuality, race, or religion – to come to games without having to fear abuse.”

 

Below is something a source told me which I think might be part of the Private Investigator report who was retained to follow Trump. and find his connection to Putin:

🇷🇺Trump has been cultivated as a Russian asset for over 40 years per a former KGB spy Yuri Shvets. Trump was on Russia's radar in 1977 when he married his first wife, Ivana Zelnickova. He became the target of a spying operation overseen by Czechoslovakia’s intelligence service in cooperation with the KGB. Trump & Ivana visited Moscow in 1987 for the 1st time. Shvets said he was fed KGB talking points & flattered by KGB operatives who floated the idea that he should go into politics noting that he was extremely vulnerable intellectually & psychologically, & he was prone to flattery. “This is what they exploited. They played the game as if they were immensely impressed by his personality and believed this was the guy who should be the president of the US one day: it is people like him who could change the world. They fed him these so-called active measures soundbites and it happened. So it was a big achievement for the KGB's active measures at the time.”