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Gay News: Bayern Munich striker Mario Gómez has urged Germany's gay players to come out.
By: Nigel Robinson
Mario Gomez
Mario Gomez
Top footballer calls on teammates to come out
11 November 2010
In an interview with Bunte magazine, the 25-year-old star of the German national team said that if any of his fellow footballers were to come out then they would play as if they had been “liberated”.
“Being gay isn’t a taboo subject anymore,” he told the magazine.
“We have a gay vice-chancellor, and a gay mayor of Berlin,” he said, referring to German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, and Berlin mayor Klaus Wowereit. “Professional footballers should also acknowledge their orientation.”
Gómez is the highest-profile player yet to speak out against the homophobia present in German football.
However, in April his colleague on the national team, goalkeeper Tim Wiese had advised players against coming out, because they would be ridiculed “mercilessly” by fans of the “macho sport”.
Although the German Football Association opposes homophobia in sport, its president Theo Zwanziger warned in December 2009 that the first gay professional player to come out would have a difficult time.
According to die Zeit newspaper the homosexuality of some of Germany’s professional footballers is an open secret, although only one professional player, Marcus Urban, has ever come out, after his career was over.
It has been estimated that about ten per cent of players in the Bundesliga, Germany’s football league, are gay.
