German National Soccer Star Mario Gomez Encourages Gay Players To Come Out; “They Would Play As Though They’d Been Unshackled”

25 year old Mario Gomez - a star striker for Bayern Munich – said Wednesday that gay soccer players should be encouraged to come out, according to Die Zeit, Gomez saying “They would play as though they’d been unshackled. Being gay hasn’t been a taboo topic for a while. We have a gay Vice Chancellor (Guido Westerwelle), the Berlin mayor is gay (Klaus Wowereit). So football professionals should acknowledge their preference.” Gomez’s statements arrive after two national teammates spoke out against a gay player coming out, Werder Bremen goalie Tim Wiese saying in April that an openly gay player would be tormented by “merciless” fans of such a “macho” sport” and Bayern defender Philipp Laham saying that the pressure of being openly gay would be too great, saying last year “The player who would out himself now has to do his job in front of tens of thousands of spectators. Guido Westerwelle doesn’t play football in front of 65,000 fans every weekend.” This past Sunday, according to the report, a media and gender studies expert at the University of Gottingen, Tatjana Eggeling, said on a sport show that she was aware of fake heterosexual marriages set up for gay soccer players in Germany and elsewhere in an effort to hide their sexual preferences, and although not naming specific players, said there even existed agencies that drafted the terms of marriage contracts. According to Die Zeit, it is an open secret that there are homosexual soccer players, but to date none are openly gay.