Two Premier League players set to come out as gay

The Mirror have reported that a pair of
Premier League footballers are set to come
out of the closet in the near future, believing
that the culture around football has changed
to a point where they would be treated
acceptably by fans and their fellow
professionals.
One of the two players is said to be an
England international and reports say that both
have told their family and friends , and are
being supported by both their clubs and the
FA through the process .
A source for the newspaper said : “ The stigma
has completely gone, and the public are far
more accepting . At this level of football , being
gay is almost the final frontier .
“ It has always been such a macho game and ,
unfortunately, perhaps more than in any other
sport, there can be an aggressive mob
mentality in the stands . But finally the tide is
turning and more and more sports people are
openly gay. ”
The paper declined to name the pair , but
claimed that they would become the Premier
League ’ s first openly gay footballers before
the start of next season.
They also claim that another ‘well - known ’
player came out to his friends in 2011 , but
found his car vandalised with a homophobic
word painted on it , making him reluctant to
come out to the wider public .

The first openly gay footballer in English

professional football was Norwich and

Nottingham Forest striker Justin Fashanu ,

older brother of Wimbledon legend John , when

he came out in 1990 .

He was hounded by ‘ malicious ’ abuse from his

fellow professionals and relentless abuse from

fans wherever he played , and eventually

committed suicide in 1998 aged 37 after being

accused of s *xual assault in a state of the

USA where homosexual acts were still illegal ,

saying that he knew he wouldn’ t get a fair trial

due to his s * xual orientation .