Thomas Beattie, a British former pro footballer for Warriors FC in Singapore, came out as gay in an essay for ESPN on Tuesday.
Wrote Beattie: “I'm able to say it out loud now for everyone to hear: My name is Thomas Beattie. I'm a brother, son, friend, former professional footballer, entrepreneur and annoyingly competitive lad. I'm a lot of things, and one of them is gay.”
“Being gay and having a career in football never felt like an option,” he added. “Society told me my masculinity was linked to my sexuality — something we of course know is a false assumption — but I felt as if I couldn't be a footballer and accept who I was. Everything around me suggested these two worlds were pure enemies, and I had to sacrifice one in order to survive. It doesn't feel that way in other industries. In music, we love Freddie Mercury and Elton John. It's accepted in film. Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, is gay, and these things are all OK. But in football, there's still fear a gay teammate might disrupt the team environment. Sometimes it's brushed away, like homophobia isn't an issue in football anymore. Obviously that's not true if there are so few examples young kids can look to as role models.”
Check out Beattie's full essay here.
