Sports
Only 63 Percent of U.S. Soccer Fans Comfortable with Gay and Bisexual Players

Unsplash/Peter Glaser
U.K. and Europe swamp U.S. in accepting queer athletes
December 14 2017 10:51 AM EST
May 31 2023 6:05 PM EST
By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use.
U.K. and Europe swamp U.S. in accepting queer athletes
Soccer fans in the States are trailing behind the U.K. and other European countries when accepting LGBTQ diversity in the sport.
Stonewall and Forza released survey results Thursday showing the opinions of 50,000 fans worldwide about whether they would be comfortable with a player coming out gay or bisexual.
63 percent of American fans said they would be comfortable, against 80 percent of U.K. fans. That put U.S. soccer fans 16th overall in terms of LGBTQ acceptance.
The news that American fans are dragging their feet on accepting queer athletes comes not long after the retirement of openly gay soccer player Robbie Rogers in November. After Rogers's retirement, OutSports declared there were zero openly gay male athletes in the five largest North American professional sports leagues.