Ridiculous it is still headline news in this day and age. But until it becomes more common place, then it will continue to be so.
To be fair, there's still a lot of angst where this is concerned, and not just in Football Mrs P.
My Son came out about 5 years ago. Told his Mum first, but felt he needed to build up the courage to tell me.
I've always had a very close relationship with my Son, but he was very worried that this would drive a wedge between us, so he was extremely worried about telling me. As it was, I already suspected, so when he told me I just straight out told him that his sexuality made no difference to me or how I felt about him. He is my Son and my pride and love for him had nothing to do with his sexuality.
Our relationship is even stronger now than it was before.
Whilst we, as a society, are more accepting of homosexuality, the stigma that existed previously hasn't gone away just yet. I'm quite liberal in my outlook, and yet my Son still worried at how I'd take it, which was purely based on his perception of how society would react, particularly my generation.
So it doesn't come as a surprise that this is a headliner to me. Considering the fact that Football fans do have an archaic and intolerant element and, whilst most individuals are quite tolerant, as a mob we do tend to follow that when it's a rival, it's extremely brave of this player to come out as he has.
Kudos to him. He's going to get grief, I think we all know this will happen to greater or lesser extents.
I doubt this will lead to an avalanche of players coming out, any other gay players I feel will likely see what the reaction is first. If it's vitriolic, they're more likely to keep schtum. If he gets a positive reaction in the main, I reckon we'll see a few more prepared to take the plunge.
www.bbc.co.uk
edition.cnn.com
www.theguardian.com
