Why is homosexuality still a taboo subject in men’s sports?

Society and sports progress unevenly in their efforts to overcome the social barrier for a person to admit his homosexuality. In most areas of life, coming out is a big step towards liberation for those who have the courage to do so. So much so that this historical taboo experienced an increasing normalization.

However, elite sport, especially men’s, has become a microcosm in which this barrier is practically insurmountable, and the data confirms it. The number of active athletes who have admitted that they are homosexual is small compared to the number of homosexuals in our society. 6% of the European population declare themselves openly homosexual. Therefore, it is very likely that the number of homosexuals in elite sports should be significantly higher.

When an athlete declares his homosexuality, the news has a global resonance, since very few have had the courage to come out publicly. However, the situation becomes much more noticeable in men’s sports. To put it in context, Of the 500 football players currently playing in the League, not a single one has come out as gay. This compelling data contrasts with a recent study carried out by the Universities of Córdoba and Seville, which shows that there would be around 42,000 federal LGTBI footballers in the world of football, of which “142 would do so as professionals”.

“Football is the last vestige of masculinity”exposes psychologist and sociologist Alicia López Losantos in an interview for this media, in which she highlights the “fast” environment for homosexuals in football, the exposure to radicals in the stands: “It is not the same that someone insults you in an individual way that more than 30,000 people do it at the same time , peer pressure is very important to a person and there are a significant number of fans with an unacceptable level of cruelty,” he laments.

Social pressure and fear of discrimination due to sexual status These are the main reasons why football players, in this case, avoid the option of publicly coming out of the closet. The expert believes that there must be “educational work so that harassment is not normalized” from the clubs themselves, as well as from the competent institutions, when it comes to easing the arduous task of football players to use their sexual freedom as they please. There are cases of athletes who take a step after retirement, such as former German national team player Thomas Hitzlsperger. To do this while being active is to face the hardest yet.

This situation becomes even more obvious when they, the elite athletes, openly and openly express their sexual condition. Players such as Lola Gallardo, Megan Rapinoe, Laura del Río or Mapi León are some examples of unapologetic homosexual footballers. In fact, Mapi herself has become an icon of the LGTBI movement in Spain and has on several occasions encouraged her namesakes in men’s football to take that step: “I hope the footballers will be encouraged to come out of the closet and see that nothing is happening”the defense of Barca ordered.

On the occasion of the International LGTBI Pride Day, these are some examples of active elite athletes who pioneered the free expression of their sexual status and thereby paved the way for the eternal taboo of homosexuality to lose its strength in men’s sports.

In case of Jakub Jankto, a 27-year-old Czech footballer who played for Getafe in Spanish football, is the latest and famous for being the first recognized player in European football to take the step to come out publicly. In February 2023, while playing for Sparta Prague, he published a video on his social networks in which he admitted that he was gay. “I also want to live my life in freedom, without fear, without prejudice and without violence. But with love. I’m gay and I don’t want to hide anymore,” he admitted. Jankto thus became an example and a mirror for future generations.

“Let’s hope that this wardrobe that still exists in men’s football will begin to crack; This case is very positive and will be a benchmark and a pinnacle that we hope will help other colleagues from the so-called ‘royal sport’ to be seen for what they are,” José Luis Lafuente, member of the Executive Board of the Commission of the National Federation of LGTBI+ which engages in the fact that this is a “fantastic” example for adolescents and young people entering the world of sports “so they don’t have to hide anything”.

Australian Josh Cavallo He was the first active football player to publicly come out as gay. He did it in October 2021 and through his social networks. “There is something I want to share with you: I am a football player and I am gay,” he asserted. Cavallo received countless outpourings of support from various sports figures for his brave gesture.

In a subsequent interview with the BBC, Cavallo explained how he came out to his teammates: “We were all in the locker room and I told them who I was. They were all crying, which was very nice, because they were like brothers to me and I’ve never sided with them saw.

The barrier of homosexuality in men’s sports does not lie only in football. Víctor Gutiérrez, a professional water polo player, is a clear example of how difficult it is for an athlete to openly admit his sexuality. He was the first Spanish athlete in the team modality who publicly came out of the closet. He did so in 2016 in a magazine interview Shanghai. “I came out of the closet in my environment. My family knows I’m gay, so do my friends. And I live my sexuality in such a positive way that I felt a responsibility to share it with others. In addition, Gutiérrez was the victim of the first sanction for homophobia in the history of the sport in Spain (April 2021) after another water polo player called him a ‘fag’.

Carl Nassib changed the history of American sports. He became the first active player in the NFL – American football league – to come out of the closet. “I just wanted to take a moment to say I’m gay. I’ve been meaning to do this for a while, but I finally feel comfortable enough to say it,” he said bluntly in a video posted on social media.

“I’m a pretty closed person, so I hope you know I’m not really doing this for attention. I just think representation and visibility are very important,” he added. Nassib changed the paradigm of homosexuality in the elite of American sports and donated almost 140,000 dollars to the Trevor Project, a social work for suicide prevention among LGBTI youth in the United States.

Sebastian Vegastriker Unifacisa from the Brazilian league, he was the first Argentine basketball player come out of the closet and one of the pioneers in this sport. His story of years of suffering before taking the final step led to the publication of a letter that was as revealing as it was heartbreaking. «I remember the exact moment: I was lying on the bed, in absolute darkness, looking at the ceiling in silence, not knowing what to do, not wanting to guess, while my head exploded. She had just been with a man for the first time and she couldn’t accept it. That night was one of the worst I remember,” he admitted at the moment of coming out of the closet in a statement he titled: The truth sets us free! Free expression of your sexual status should not be a subject of harassment in any area of ​​life. Not even in sports. There is still work to be done so that, first of all, the current context is suitable for athletes to come out of the closet, without this situation having a negative impact on their sports careers.A taboo whose days are numbered in elite sport.