Tag: LGBT Athletes

http://goodmenproject.com/newsroom/anton-hysen-europes-highest-profile-openly-gay-soccer-player/

Anton Hysen, a 20-year-old professional soccer player in Sweden, came out in an interview with Sweden’s Offside magazine.

Hysen is the son of famed Swedish player Glenn Hysen, a former defender for Liverpool FC and Anton’s current coach at Utsiktens BK of the Swedish second division. Both of his brothers are professional soccer players as well.

Hysen told Offside:

I want to prove that there is no big deal if I’m a footballer and also gay. If I perform as a footballer, then I do not think it matters if I like men or women.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1368550/Anton-Hysen-Its-time-Premier-League-player-comes-out.html

 

Every day for the past fortnight, Anton Hysen has received dozens of emails from people telling him he is their hero. They have come from Chile, Belgium, America and the UK.

There are requests for interviews, pleas for autographs and, more than anything else, messages telling him he is an inspiration. Why? Because Hysen is the only footballer in the world brave enough to admit he is gay.

Considering no footballer has come out during their career since Justin Fashanu in 1990, Hysen was going into the unknown when he took on football’s final taboo.

Since September, advocates for same-sex marriage in New York have released 30-second videos of celebrities endorsing their cause. More than 30 have taken part, including the actors Julianne Moore and Sam Waterston, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and the former first daughter Barbara Bush. On Thursday, former President Bill Clinton released a written statement of support, too.

Until now, supporters have come mostly from the worlds of politics, entertainment, theater and fashion. One type of New York celebrity was conspicuously absent: the athlete.

Enter Rangers forward Sean Avery.

He recently recorded a video, becoming one of only a few active athletes in American team sports to voice support for gay rights, and is believed to be the first in New York to publicly advocate for same-sex marriage. No active male player in a major American team sport has declared his homosexuality, and homosexual slurs remain in use to insult opponents and officials.

http://www.towleroad.com/2011/03/towleroad-interview-ben-cohen.html
UK Rugby player Ben Cohen has been a very vocal straight ally to the gay community for years. In 2009, he openly stated that Rugby was ready for an openly gay player just months before Gareth Thomas’ momentous coming out and earlier this year shot an anti-bullying videoalongside Bravo’s Andy Cohen. I spoke to him as he prepares to visit the United States in May for his Ben Cohen Acceptance Tour.

http://outsports.com/jocktalkblog/2011/05/19/espn-new-york-radio-host-jared-max-comes-out-as-gay/

When Jared Max woke up at 1am Thursday morning, nothing was out of the ordinary. It was raining again as it had all week. With prep work for his 5am ESPN 1050 show in New York, he was usually waking up just as many were filing into the bars in Chelsea. Everything was as it was every weekday…except for a computer document waiting to be opened. Max wondered if today would be the day.

Just before leaving for the studio he turned to one of his cats, the only living thing awake within a block at that hour other than himself.

“Things might be a little different when I get home,” he said.

When he walked into the ESPN offices Thursday morning, a picture of him stared back. He’s new to the station, having left CBS Radio a few weeks ago, and ESPN had just put a new photo of their recent hire on the wide-screen TV in the lobby. In addition to his own morning show, he was the voice of sports updates on the popular Mike & Mike Show during morning drive. While he hated the picture, it hit him that he was one of the new faces of ESPN in New York. And still he wondered if today would be the day.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/3475310/Charlie-Wyett-meets-Anton-Hysen-who-has-come-out-as-gay.html

 

Hardly a trail-blazing story, the son of former Liverpool star and Swedish heart-throb Glenn Hysen merely appeared to be a chip off the old block.

Yet the youngster ended the relationship with this stunning woman after finally confronting the fact he is gay.

Hysen, 20, has displayed enormous courage by making his sexuality public and is only the second professional footballer in Europe to do so after Justin Fashanu in 1990.

http://www.out.com/out-exclusives/out100/2011/11/17/17th-annual-out100#slide-50

When Charles Barkley made a giant wave after voicing his support for gay marriage and his disdain for homophobia in the sports world, ESPN Radio veteran sportscaster Jared Max (top) took the opportunity to make a ripple himself when he came out on-air. Boston Herald sports columnist Steve Buckley also made the decision to come out in his column (it was his mother’s idea, he says) and followed that up by saying that he made the biggest mistake of his life in not doing it sooner.

 

http://instinctmagazine.com/blogs/blog/out-footballer-anton-hys%C3%A9n-i-have-so-many-reasons-to-be-positive?directory=100011

 

Professional footballer Anton Hysén’s coming out story was one of the most popular posts on the Instinct blog this month. It’s easy to see why. But now, speaking with The Sun, the pro athlete has opened up a bit more about the decision to come out, the “type” of men he’s into, and how he had to shut down his Facebook profile after international proposals flooded his inbox…

Jared Max, the veteran radio sports anchor, after spending his adult life closeted, came out as gay in May. Max had just started at 1050 ESPN/WEPN, after a long run as morning sportscaster at WCBS 880, when he made the proclamation.

Now Max is reaping the rewards. He’s been included in Out magazine’s Out 100, hitting newstands and online November 22.

“I spent so many years never wanting to be a pioneer, always kind of feeling like I was going to achieve a certain level of success in this career, but always knowing that there’s something that is totally holding [me ] back,” Max tells FishbowlNY.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/mar/29/anton-hysen-afraid-coming-out

Top-flight world football has no openly gay players, except one – Swedish midfielder Anton Hysén. So why did he make the move, and what has been the reaction?

 

Anton Hysén looks every inch the modern footballer. The 20-year-old Swede has his initials tattooed behind one ear and his parents’ names on each forearm. On his left arm, in particularly elaborate lettering, is: “UNWA”. This is Hysén’s tribute to Liverpool, his birthplace, and the terrace anthem of his favourite club – You’ll Never Walk Alone.

Hysén, the son of former Liverpool defender and Swedish international Glenn Hysén, is currently walking very much alone. This month, the left-sided midfielder came out as Sweden‘s first openly gay male footballer. He is only the second high-level footballer to come out in the world, ever. The first, Justin Fashanu, revealed he was gay in 1990, found himself shunned by the footballing world, including his brother, John, and hanged himself eight years later. (John later expressed his remorse.)