Back in 1990 Footballing champ, Justin Fashanu became the first ever footballer of a Top Tier team to come out as gay.
Not only that, but he was the first black player to breach the ยฃ1 million price tag for a footballer.
He came out in an interview with The Sun, under the headline โยฃ1m soccer star: I am GAY.โ
Embed from Getty ImagesHowever, sadly Justin died in 1998 when he killed himself.
Peter Tatchell, who was a “close personal friend” of Justin between 1981 and 1985 said,
“Justin was the first black player to be bought by a club for ยฃ1 million and the first widely known black person in Britain to come out as LGBT+. Other black personalities had previously come out, but none had Justinโs high profile and national name recognition.
“Justin came out in The Sun newspaper, under the headline: โยฃ1m soccer star: I am GAY.โ He said he wanted to stop โliving a lieโ and was distressed by the suicide of a 17-year-old whoโd been thrown out of his family home by homophobic parents. He wrote in the book, Stonewall 25: โI felt angry at the waste of his life and guilty because I had not been able to help him. I wanted to do something positive to stop such deaths happening again, so I decided to set an example and come out in the papers.โ
His brother, fellow footballer John Fashanu, disowned Justin in the black newspaper, The Voice: โJohn Fashanu: My gay brother is an outcast,โ ran the headline. John later admitted to offering Justin ยฃ75,000 to stay quiet and keep his sexuality secret. He told the Daily Mirror: โI begged him, I threatened him, I did everything I could possibly do to try and stop him coming outโฆI gave him the money because I didnโt want the embarrassment for me or my family.โ
โJustin told me he was heartbroken by what he described as the โterribleโ things John said about him. He never got over what he saw as betrayal by the brother he loved,โ said Mr Tatchell.
The reaction of the wider black community was just as bad. His coming out was condemned by the Voice as โan affront to the black community…damaging…pathetic and unforgiveable.โ
“We heteros”, wrote Voice columnist Tony Sewell, “are sick and tired of tortured queens playing hide and seek around their closets. Homosexuals are the greatest queer-bashers around. No other group of people are so preoccupied with making their own sexuality look dirty.” Sewell only very recently apologised for those comments.
โEven if (Justin) Fashanu had chosen to come out in The Voice rather than The Sun, I doubt his reception would have been any more sympathetic,โ noted Gay Times media columnist, Terry Sanderson, at the time. โRejection by his own community was profoundly damaging to him.โ
Although Justin later said that he “never once regretted” coming out, the hostile reaction from many in the black community hurt him deeply.
Mr Tatchell continued, โHe told me that since black people knew the pain of racial prejudice and discrimination, he expected theyโd be understanding and supportive. Some were, but many denounced him for bringing โshameโ on their race. As far as I recall, not a single black public figure supported his coming out or condemned the Voice and others in the community who denounced him. Justin later told the Voice: โThose who say that you canโt be black, gay and proud of it are ignorant.โ
โJustin was blindsided by the backlash and the โheavy damageโ that coming out inflicted on his football career. He received homophobic abuse from some fans.
Embed from Getty ImagesโLike many black footballers in those days, he was subjected to racist taunts by fans from rival teams. They would make monkey noises and gestures, and throw bananas onto the pitch. But it was anti-gay prejudice that ultimately dragged him down.
“โA bloody poof!โ is how his manager at Nottingham Forest, Brian Clough, described his star player. Although Justin laughed this off, Clough’s sneers hurt inside, making it hard for him to concentrate on scoring goals.
โJustin became erratic and unpredictable, on the pitch and off it. His sometimes bizarre, indefensible behaviour can only be fully understood in the context of a potentially brilliant football career cut short, largely by homophobia.โ said Mr Tatchell.