England’s football manager hopes for more gay players to “come out soon”
England football manager Gareth Southgate has encouraged gay footballers to come out. In a recent interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, the former player revealed that gay footballers would be accepted by their straight teammates. “The teams and players wouldn’t have any problem with it.
They would accept and embrace their teammates after coming out. But footballers are afraid of the reactions outside and from the fans,” he said, as reported by AP News.
Southgate then reflected on his former teammate Thomas Hitzlsperger, who made waves in 2014 after he came out as gay. “I experienced it with Thomas Hitzlsperger at Aston Villa: I didn’t think he was gay, and when he announced it, it was something completely normal,” he explained. “European teams have never been as tolerant, multicultural and multi-religious as they are today.
Of course, there will always be homophobes on the outside. But I hope gay players come out soon because it would have an enormous impact on society.” Elsewhere in the interview, Southgate opened up about the World Cup in Qatar and using the OneLove armband to showcase support for the LGBTQ+ community.
