Quote Originally Posted by upthemaggies View Post
There's more than one way of looking at this, but unless you're gushing with "Stunning and brave" platitudes whilst doing a little jig and waving the appropriate flag, you're going to be assumed to be a nasty white wing wacist terf. Some people just cannot resist the opportunity to show just how much they are on the "right side of history" and I expect we'll be seeing a lot of that over the coming days.

"Mature" would imply that footballers who have come out to team mates but haven't wanted the media and the world at large to make an issue of it - because it's none of their business - are immature. Not everybody wants to be the center of attention or require the validation of every man and his dog to "be themselves".

No doubt this Blackpool youth will now have a spotlight shone permanently on him and his career progress. I suspect it will be the case that he is very much accepted for his se><ualty, possibly to the point of people applauding, holding up banners and honouring him in song just for that fact alone - assuming he's just an average 2nd tier player - and maybe booed at some point purely for his inability (relatively speaking) or a bad tackle on an opponent. Perhaps those fans will be labelled homophobic for doing so. Will a ref giving him a harsh red card be accused of being homophobic? Will the England manager come under pressure to pick him for the squad simply because some people are desperate to see a gay England footballer?
I think what we are hopefully moving towards is a tolerant, pluralistic, secular society in which personal preferences, allegiances, etc are viewed with indifference - except where they are obviously harmful to others. I'm not sure what we gain as a society by advertising a particular preference. There is the obsession with all things s e xual. Would there have been the same media circus if a player had "come out" as an atheist or vegan or Buddhist?