The prominent World Cup-winning striker Olivier Giroud stated that it is practically "impossible" for a professional footballer to come out as gay. The current Chelsea favorite, speaking to Le Figaro (French newspaper), firmly believed that it is an "understatement" to assume that football is not ready to admit an openly gay player.
During the interview with Le Figaro, he mentioned Thomas Hitzlsperger. "When I saw the German Thomas Hitzlsperger come out in 2014, it was very emotional".
Thomas Hitzlsperger is a German former footballer who played as a midfielder. He spent the early stages of his career playing for Aston Villa in Engalnd, before returning to Germany to play for Stuttgart, where he was able to grasp on a Bundesliga title. This brave man is the most-high profile former footballer to come out and express his homosexuality. Check this link out to watch a video on Hitzlsperger explaining and expressing his perspectives on this issue.
Currently, there are only two openly gay professional players in the sport. Collin Martin, a Minnesota United player, and Sweden's Anton Hysen.
In 1990, Justin Fashanu, Britain's powerful black footballer, became the very first individual to open up the pathway for future gay footballers. Fashanu was an extremely valuable player and his influences had created some kind of passion for gay people to continue with their football journeys.
Recently, it was also found that the first gay referee stood out. Ryan Atkin, a British referee, continued with the LGBT campaign and refereed his first professional match a few days ago. In an interview with BBC, Atkin stated that he had no regrets of standing out and received multiple compliments from players and the fans of football.
Near the end of the interview with Olivier Giroud, he stated, "In the dressing room, there is a lot of testosterone, teasing and communal showers. That's just how it is." Giroud ended by emotionally stating, "I can understand the difficulty for guys to come out -- it is a huge challenge after working on yourself for years."
Throughout Giroud's soccer career, he has been involved with campaigns that make our society aware of the LGBT predicament. While his stay at former clubs Arsenal and Montpellier, he appeared on the front page of a gay magazine called Tetu. Giroud's sole purpose was to raise awareness of the hardships LGBT people were facing.
It has been reported that English clubs will be taking part in a campaign later this month to aim and change the mindset of homophobia in football, with rainbow laces, corner flags and armbands at the stadium.
At the end of the day, football is just a entertainment source, not a 'live or die' thing. I would like to end with a well-known quote by Melissa Etheridge.
"Love is Love. Love is never wrong."
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