The Equality Act doesn’t apply to individuals at football matches but it does apply to football clubs as service providers. Meanwhile, any abusive or threatening language directed against an individual who is classified under the Equality Act 2010 as having a protected characteristic – such as their sexual orientation – could be considered unlawful. The Government also has a duty under the Human Rights Act to ensure that criminal and regulatory laws adequately protect people’s rights, and therefore must ensure that the system as a whole protects people against racist abuse. Under the Human Rights Act, it is illegal to discriminate against someone on grounds including gender, race, colour, language, religion, national or social origin, property, place of birth, and more.įootball clubs are not covered by the Human Rights Act because they are not public authorities, however the police (who are present at many football matches) are. It can also occur if you are disadvantaged by being treated the same as another person despite having different circumstances (for example if someone is pregnant or disabled). Meanwhile, research carried out by LGBT charity Stonewall in 2018 shows that only 25% of people are comfortable calling out LGBT abuse in sport.Īrticle 14 of the Human Rights Convention states that all the rights and freedoms afforded to individuals must be protected and applied without discrimination.ĭiscrimination arises when someone is treated less fairly than another person in a similar situation without reasonable justification.
GAY MEN VIDEOS MEN PLAYING HOUSE PROFESSIONAL
We only need to look at the one example of an openly gay professional footballer in the top divisions the tragic story of Justin Fashanu, who took his own life in 1998, and you can instantly see the impact homophobic bullying and taunting can have on an individual.Īlthough he played in the late 1990s, which some commentators would say was a different era, a 2016 survey of more than 4,000 people found that 51% of football supporters had heard homophobic abuse chanted at matches. Men’s football reflects society, and some of the more vocal sections of society still seem unready for a top-flight gay footballer. It is often asked: why are there currently no openly gay professional players? How many are there? Will any come out? What will the reaction be?įootball is still a sport struggling to fully escape the grips of its ugly hooliganism days a minority of fans choosing to get boozed up and throw obscenities and punches instead of enjoying the self-acclaimed beautiful game in front of them.īut is it fear of abuse from the remaining thugs that is stopping gay footballers coming out? That seems to be the most common reason offered by Football Association leaders, but I think it’s deeper than that.Ī sweeping look across social media reveals a multitude of ugly comments in response to any mention of equality for LGBT people in the game. In 2020, plenty of unhelpful speculation and gossip continues to be afforded to the topic of sexuality in men’s professional football.