Essex LGBTQ+ charity praises footballer Jake Daniels for coming out: "It's empowering"
They hope it will inspire others
An Essex-based LGBTQ+ charity has commended the bravery of 17-year-old footballer Jake Daniels.
Yesterday, he became the first British man in the professional game to come out publicly since Justin Fashanu in 1990.
The Out House, a charity in Colchester, which supports the LGBTQ+ community across the county, by providing counselling services, awareness training and events, says the footballer's announcement is "empowering to young people who may feel that their identity or sexuality is a barrier to them to engaging in sport".
Ben Powell works for the charity. He hopes Jake's openness will inspire others and lead to increased representation within football: "It's a statistical anomaly that there would have been just two homosexual men playing in the British football leagues ever - that's not possible.
"There's clearly room to grow, and I think with Jake coming out, hopefully this will inspire an increased awareness and increased visibility in the sport."
Discussing the lack of LGBTQ+ representation in professional men's football, Ben explained he sees it as cyclical: "I think this lack of representation is partially to do with the fact that, because we see no one who represents us, or is like us in sport, we're less inclined to get involved, because there's that distance or barrier.
"Then it becomes a cycle - the fewer people you see in sport like you, the less inclined you are to engage and you'll instead engage in other fields, then because the next generation don't see anyone representing them, it carries on."
Ben suggests, whilst Jake's coming out, and the warm reception he's received, are steps in the right direction for the sport, there's more that needs to be done: "I hope that he's got a strong support network around him, because as much as I wish it weren't the case, I do fear that there will be people for whom this is a problem.
"I wish that it weren't, but I think it would be naïve to suggest that there will just be a universal embrace."
He's calling for institutional changes to be made to stamp out racism and homophobia across the sport: "There is only so much we can do from the outside. We can only shout so loud.
"Really, the conversation needs to happen within the organisations. More needs to be done with regards to all discrimination against players. We've seen horrific racial abuse towards players even now in recent years and it's not acceptable."
"The Rainbow Laces Initiative is wonderful. It's great to see that visibility. It was great during the Euros to see high profile players wearing rainbow arm bands, but unless we see change at an organisational level, with hard lines drawn against discriminatory conduct, from both players and fans, I don't know how much change will really happen."
For more information, or to get support from The Out House, click here.