Real Madrid and footballing legend, Iker Casillas, has today came out as gay, becoming the highest profile footballer to be publicly homosexual
In a tweet seemingly out of nowhere, the legendary Spanish goalkeeper announced “I hope you respect me: I’m gay.” followed by the hashtag ‘#felizdomingo’ (Happy sunday in Spanish). This announcement has been met with a large amount of support, including fellow Spanish legend, Carlos Puyol, who responded to the tweet saying “It is time to tell our story, Iker”.
Very few players have dared to become open about their sexuality, fearing backlash and homophobia as a result of their coming out. The most recent high profile example being Adelaide United’s Josh Cavallo, who became the only openly gay male playing in top flight football when he came out in October 2021. Other players to have came out include former Aston Villa midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger and Justin Fashanu – who took his own life after years of homophobic abuse directed towards him.
This makes Casillas just the 22nd male footballer to come out as homosexual, and the 5th of 2022. This is an incredibly important thing for the LGBT+ community. Homosexuality is still punishable by death in Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and parts of Somalia, and is still illegal in 63 countries, including the host of the 2022 World Cup, Qatar.
Homophobia is rife in football, a BBC Radio 5 Live survey in 2016 found out 8% of fans of clubs in England said they would stop supporting their club if a player were to come out as homosexual, and 50% of fans said they had heard homophobic abuse at matches. It is vital that players and fans are able to feel comfortable with their sexuality at football matches and not enough is being done to ensure this. Hopefully others will follow in the steps of Casillas and despite the disgusting abuse they may receive, will come out and help to bring more acceptance towards homosexuality in football.
There are hundreds of fantastic fan groups across the world for LGBT+ fans, and they work they do for the community is outstanding. I highly encourage joining if you’re a member of the LGBT+ community, or even an ally. Groups such as Villa & Proud work tirelessly to gain more representation and acceptance among the football community and deserve plaudits.
Football still has a lot of work to do to defeat homophobia, but hopefully people such as Iker Casillas have helped bring the sport one step closer to eradicating homohobia from the sport to good.