When Jake Daniels came out as gay in May – becoming the first male player in the UK to do so since 1990 – interest in the Blackpool striker expanded far beyond the seaside town.
It’s a marker of how much the landscape has changed, as were the many out gay women who dazzled in thelast summer. In 1990, Justin Fashanu made history when he became the first British male professional footballer to come out. The rest of his career was marred by crowd abuse, tabloid intrigue and off-field torment. In May 1998, he died by suicide and in the years since it’s been difficult to have any conversation about football’s relationship with LGBTQ+ issues without noting the tragedy.
Daniels admits he underestimated the shock wave his statement would cause. “I was like, ‘Jesus Christ,’” he says. “I feel like it still hasn’t sunk in.” His agent took control of his social media accounts on the day the story broke to protect him. But losing access meant he didn’t see the positive reactions either. “Jordan Henderson had messaged me and [my agent] screenshotted it and sent it to me. I was like, ‘Uh! I want to see them all,’” he says, feigning desperation.
Hearing from other professional players meant a lot , as did messages from Sam Smith and Tom Daley. Daniels watched the Olympic diver’s, tackling homophobia in sport, three times while he was coming to terms with his sexuality. “It just made me feel like, ‘Yeah, I am gay. I want to back what you’re saying,’” he says. He’s now following in the diver’s footsteps as he becomes a role model in his own right.
“I’ve been inspirational,” Daniels lowers his voice so as not to appear immodest, “but that’s not the label I should have. That’s just my life.” And yet the mantle of role model seems to come naturally to him: “I want to push the community to get where it should be, especially in football and all sport. When I did get my Instagram back and I saw some of the messages, it was people’s mums saying, ‘You’ve made my son come out.’ That’s an impact I wanted to have.
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