'I'm a footballer and I'm gay.' Josh Cavallo becomes only current openly gay male professional footballer
"I'm a footballer and I'm gay." These are the words spoken by Australian footballer Josh Cavallo in a video posted by his club Adelaide United.
The midfielder is the only current male professional soccer player in the world to have come out as gay, according to the BBC.
"Growing up I always felt the need to hide myself because I was ashamed," Cavallo explains in the video posted on Twitter on Wednesday. "Ashamed I'd never be able to do what I love and be gay. Hiding who I truly am to pursue a dream I always wished for as a kid."
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"All I wanna do is play football and be treated equally. I'm tired — trying to perform at the best of your ability and to live this double life, it's exhausting. It's something that I don't want anyone to experience," says Cavallo.
The player noted that he had been touched by the support he'd received after coming out to his family, friends, team mates and coaches.
"I want to inspire and show people it's OK to be yourself and play football, it's OK to be gay and to play football," he adds.
In 1990, English footballer Justin Fashanu became the first professional player to come out as gay.
In July, NFL player and Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib came out as gay in an Instagram post in June, making NFL history as the first openly LGBTQ active player.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell released a statement of support for Nassib, saying, "We share his hope that someday soon statements like his will no longer be newsworthy as we march toward full equality for the LGBTQ+ community."
UPDATE: Oct. 27, 2021, 2:50 p.m. BST Added contextual information about Justin Fashanu, the first footballer to come out as gay.
Topics Social Good
Rachel Thompson is the Features Editor at Mashable. Rachel's second non-fiction book The Love Fix: Reclaiming Intimacy in a Disconnected World is out now, published by Penguin Random House in Jan. 2025. The Love Fix explores why dating feels so hard right now, why we experience difficult emotions in the realm of love, and how we can change our dating culture for the better.
A leading sex and dating writer in the UK, Rachel has written for GQ, The Guardian, The Sunday Times Style, The Telegraph, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Stylist, ELLE, The i Paper, Refinery29, and many more.
Rachel's first book Rough: How Violence Has Found Its Way Into the Bedroom And What We Can Do About It, a non-fiction investigation into sexual violence was published by Penguin Random House in 2021.
