Australia gay sportsmen
A-League player Josh Cavallo reveals death threats he receives since coming out as gay
Adelaide United defender Josh Cavallo, Australia's first openly queer male professional footballer, says he still receives daily death threats since coming out more than three years ago.
Speaking to FIFPRO's Footballers Unfiltered podcast with former English footballer Joe Hart, Cavallo shared how coming out when he was 21 years old brought a swell of toxicity and negativity into his life.
The player publicly announced he was gay in October 2021, becoming the first footballer to open up about his sexuality while playing in the A-League Men's competition.
Almost four years on, the 25-year-old said while coming out publicly was "the best relocate and decision" he had made, there had been "mountains of downside" that many did not realise.
"Why hasn't this happened in football? Why has no-one ever come out to be themselves and be prosperous and play?" he told the podcast.
"And I understand that now looking assist — all the negativity, all the things that reach your way, there's multiple, multiple, multiple death threats that come my way dail
The Australian athletes championing LGBTIQ+ pride in sport
Australian imaginative gymnast Heath Thorpe says growing into his persona meant creating a pathway that wasn’t “already there”.
Thorpe, 21, has been committed in gymnastics for 14 years, representing Australia at world cups and society championships. He says he is one of not many openly gay gymnasts, both in Australia and internationally.
Coming to terms with his sexuality meant, at first, facing a stereotype within the sport.
“It has been an interesting pathway … I know when I was growing up that I was met with a lot of comments about gymnastics being for girls, or being for gay people,” Thorpe told SBS News.
“For me to realise my identity was a bit of strife, because I had almost not wanted to perpetuate a stereotype that I had been told my whole life. So that was an internal fight in itself.
“And even so now, I am still one of the only openly gay gymanasts on an international level.”
Within the sporting world, he said it has been complicated "creating a pathway that isn't already there".
“It has
OK Boomer, OK Zoomer: You can't be, what you can't see - why we need more out gay male athletes
Andrew Purchas remembers when Ian Roberts came out, becoming the first openly gay professional rugby league player in the world.
"I hold enormous respect for him," says Andrew, who prefers to go by 'Fuzz'.
"The fact he did it in 1995 and there still hasn't been a [male professional] rugby league player since who has show up out."
Fast forward to present day, and Fuzz — sitting alongside 24-year-old same-sex attracted hockey player Davis Atkin — has just rewatched an interview with Roberts about his decision.
"I haven't actually seen that before," says Davis.
"He was one of the first, in general, in sport in Australia [to come out], right?"
"Oh, by far," says Fuzz. "I mean, at that level.
"And still, there's no [other] rugby league player who's come out – certainly who's still playing –, no rugby union player who's still playing who's come out, and no AFL player."
Davis made history in 2023 by becoming the first openly gay men's international hockey player when
Why so many young LGBTIQA+ athletes in Australia are being driven away from community sport - 'just want to exist'
Homophobia is still rife across people sport in Australia, recent research has revealed - and it is the reason why many queer athletes are chasing other life pursuits.
Swinburne University of Technology research, looking at discrimination for LGBTIQA+ fresh people, found three-in-four male lover men witness homophobia and 63 per cent of gay men experience it first hand.
'The young people we spoke to for this study highlighted their desire to be fit to play sport and 'just exist' or be themselves, without having their identities questioned, debated and interrogated,' research fellow Dr Ryan Storr said.
'This investigate clearly indicates that discrimination stops LGBTIQA+ young people from playing sport, and when they do perform, they often have to endure ongoing discrimination.'
More than half of LGBTIQA+ youthful people have seen discrimination on the field, and 40 per cent possess copped it first hand. The researched surveyed more than 1000 people.
Homophobia remains rife across community sport in Australia, new research has found - and it is the reason why many gay athletes
Top-level pro soccer player Josh Cavallo comes out as gay, encouraging others they're 'not alone'
Australian soccer player Josh Cavallo, a midfielder for Adelaide United, came out as gay over social media early Wednesday to become the only men's top-level soccer player to be publicly out.
"I'm a footballer and I'm gay," the 21-year-old athlete said in an emotional Twitter video reading his coming-out story. "I own been fighting my sexuality for six years now and I am happy I can put that to rest. Growing up I always felt the need to hide myself because I was ashamed. Ashamed I would never be able to undertake what I loved and be gay. Being a closeted gay footballer, I've had to learn to mask my feelings in order to fit the mould of a professional footballer. ...Growing up existence gay and playing football were just two worlds that hadn't crossed paths before."
"All I want to do is play football and be treated equally."
Cavallo's international coming out follows a wave in American sports over the past four months that's seen three publicly gay athletes out in the top four professional sports – Carl Nassib (NFL), Luke Prokop (NHL minors) and Bryan Ruby (pro baseball minors).
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