Rio Ferdinand says gay male player told him he was advised not to come out by lawyer
Rio Ferdinand has 明らかにする／漏らすd a gay male player who （機の）カム out 公然と told him that he had been advised by a lawyer not to do so.
Ferdinand gave 証拠 to a 共同の 委員会 of MPs and peers on Thursday morning listening to 見解（をとる）s on the 草案 Online Safety 法案, designed to 取り組む the 天罰（を下す） of online 乱用.
The former England and Manchester 部隊d defender spoke about the 衝撃 of online 人種差別主義者 乱用, but when the 開会／開廷／会期 turned に向かって 問題／発行するs around homophobia, he said: “I’ve just met 現在／一般に a player who had come out, and he was advised by a lawyer not to come out and speak.
“I 最初 said ‘you need to come out and speak your truth and be proud of who you are’. The 推論する／理由 why the lawyer advised him not to come out is because every individual is very different and you can’t use a 一面に覆う／毛布 approach.
“(The lawyer) advised him based on his experience with that individual, and he didn’t think that he was strong enough mentally at that time, and have the 権利 pieces in place to be able to withstand the マスコミ attention and the スポットライト.”
The Football 協会’s director for equality, 多様制 and 傾向 Edleen John said her organisation was working hard to make men’s football a more inclusive 環境, and one a gay player would be comfortable to come out in.
But it remains the 事例／患者 that there are no 率直に gay 現在の players in the English professional game.
Ferdinand felt the attention on men’s football meant it was 不公平な to compare it with how many 率直に homosexual 競技者s there were in other sports.
“The 量 of eyeballs and the 量 of attention and 圧力（をかける） pages that they’re going to get extra is so much more,” he said.
“It’s about, ‘are you 有能な of coming out and 存在 able to withstand that マスコミ attention?’”
