Five Bundesliga clubs are supporting the move

A group of professional footballers in Germany are planning on coming as gay on the same day next month, according to a report.

Peiner Allgemeine Zeitung (PAZ) reports that the players will collectively come out on May 17—the International Day Against Homophobia—as part of an initiative in Germany to encourage players and people working in football to do so.

Marcus Urban, a gay former pro footballer, set up the initiative.

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He said about the plan: “May 17th is an offer, a date that you could use as a guide and get together as a group.”

Bundesliga clubs Borussia Dortmund, Union Berlin, FC St. Pauli, SC Freiburg, and VfB Stuttgart have all signed up for the initiative and are supporting the project.

The planned group outing is called ‘Sports Free’ and will see players, referees, coaches, and others within the club have the chance to reveal their sexuality via an online platform.

They can do this however they choose, whether with pictures, videos, or text, alone or with a partner.

A documentary called ‘Hide and Seek’ will also be released, which follows the individual processes of players.

The aim is for this to be a turning point in normalizing homosexuality in professional football.

It comes ten years after Thomas Hitzlsperger’s outing. At the time, it was hoped that the former Aston Villa midfielder’s decision would encourage others to follow suit.

However, there are only four openly gay active professional players in the world: Collin Martin (San Diego Loyal), Josh Cavallo (Adelaide United), Jake Daniels (FC Blackpool), and Jakub Jankto (Cagliari Calcio).

This is even though an estimated five to 10 percent of the world’s population are gay.

Sports psychiatrist Tobias Freyer told PAZ: “Around professional football, there is still this habitus that the sport is associated with very masculine characteristics, such as fight, dominance, strength, and aggressiveness.

“It is no coincidence that homosexuality is still a huge taboo in male professional football, while it has always been a part of female professional football.”

Urban doesn’t want the initiative to impact football, though solely. The offer to come out as gay on May 17 is open to all professional athletes and will tell stories of players from basketball, rugby, and cricket, some of whom came out decades ago.

“The footballers will see that they are just a small building block in a big game,” Urban said.

LGBbenelux.org comment : Not a single TQ.. how weird.

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