It's OKAY to be GAY
Blackpool forward Jake Daniels is the first English professional football player to come out as gay since 1990. Jake is a 19-year-old forward that plays for Blackpool Football Club – oh and he’s gay. I say that nonchalantly because it isn’t a big deal, or at least it shouldn’t be. Ian Ladyman said it best when he commented that when he refers to Jake Daniels in the future, he will be referring to him as a footballer and a footballer only. When the news broke that a male professional footballer had announced that he was gay, the first thing I did was take a deep breath and open Twitter. I was expecting a huge back lash of homophobic content, but I was pleasantly surprised. There were barely any negative comments or responses to the news. In this day and age ‘coming out’ is still accompanied with overwhelming anxiety, fear and often heartache rather than as a celebration of freedom, personhood and clarity. The response to Jake’s story has perhaps shown that this may no longer be the ca...