Joey Barton: We must accept openly gay footie stars

Posted Monday, January 30, 2012 by The Sun

Joey Barton: We must accept openly gay footie stars
QPR star Joey Barton ... blames the fears of team managers for homophobia in football

JOEY Barton has spoken out in support of gay footballers — as he revealed his own uncle is homosexual.

The tough-tackling QPR midfielder says his father's youngest brother hid his sexuality for years, fearing Joey and society would reject him.

Now the star believes that, if today's players set a better example, Britain could lead the way in stamping out homophobia in football.

And he reckons the Premier League will have an openly gay star within as little as ten years.

Merseyside-born Barton, 29, speaks out in a TV documentary screened tonight on BBC Three.

He tells the show Britain's Gay Footballers: "It's a subject quite close to my heart because my dad's youngest brother, the youngest of my uncles, is gay. And I didn't know for a long, long time.

"He thought because of the society that we were brought up in, which was quite working class, that it would be frowned upon or that we would disown him.

"So for a lot of years he was in turmoil and was resenting himself for the fact he had these feelings.

"I was like, 'I love you for you — not for the fact that you are straight or bisexual or all different manner of things. I love you because you're you.' "

Barton blames the fears of team managers for homophobia in football, where none of Britain's 5,000 professionals is openly gay.

The dad of one — who had a son Cassius at Christmas with girlfriend Georgia McNeil — says he PITIES "archaic" bosses who are frightened of homosexuality.

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