The Blackpool striker came out as gay in an open letter published on Sky Sports News. He is thus the only active British footballer on a professional level who is openly gay.
– Now is the time to do it. I feel ready to tell my story, I want people to know my right and that lying all the time is not what I want to do, he says.
Justin Fashanu was the last active UK footballer, coming out in October 1990.
“I hated her”
Early in his football career, Daniels is just 17 years old, fighting for play in Blackpool, which resides in the second-highest league of English football.
I’ve hated lying all my life and feeling like I need to adapt. There are people in situations similar to mine who may not feel comfortable opening up about their sexuality. “I just want to tell them that you don’t have to change who you are, or how you should be, to suit yourself,” he says in a message posted on the club’s website.
The reactions in the mother country were many.
“Thank you for your courage, Jake. It takes courage to get out and you will be an inspiration to many on and off the field,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson wrote on Twitter.
“Coffee trailblazer. Passionate thinker. Creator. Hipster-friendly internet enthusiast.”
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