France international Jonathan Clauss says there are few conversations around homophobia in men’s football due to “selfish” attitudes.
Clauss, 32, has featured regularly for Lens, Marseille and Nice in Ligue 1 over the past five seasons since his move from German club Arminia Bielefeld in 2020. There has yet to be an openly gay male player in the French top-flight and Clauss attributed that to a perceived lack of empathy, causing players to “hide”.
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“If there are homosexual players, they hide,” Clauss said in an interview with L’Equipe. “They don’t dare to discuss it, because people are selfish. As long as it doesn’t concern them, they don’t put themselves in other people’s shoes.
“But just because discrimination doesn’t concern you, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pay attention to it. I haven’t experienced racism, but I’m still interested in saying it’s not cool for the people who suffer it. Come on, we’re getting involved on all subjects.”
Clauss was speaking ahead of International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia, which is on May 17. The defender said he had never witnessed homophobia in his own footballing environment, adding that if he had, it would have “affected” him.
“I didn’t really like it when others were treated badly because of things they can’t do anything about,” Clauss said. “On homophobia as on other subjects, I have always been on the side of those who were not very popular in the playground.”
While openly gay players in women’s football are far more common, there are currently only two examples in major top-flight football around the world — Jakub Jankto of Italian side Cagliari and Josh Cavallo of Adelaide in Australia. Jake Daniels, meanwhile, became the first active openly gay footballer in English football since Justin Fashanu, when the Blackpool striker came out in 2022. There have also been several players to come out after retirement, such as former West Ham United midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger and former Leeds midfielder Robbie Rogers.
Despite the growing representation of gay, male footballers, Clauss said challenges still lie with the heteronormative climate of the men’s game.
“It’s very complicated to change mentalities, because, for most players, the world is ‘a man with a woman’, and it has to stop there.” he said. “I think it’s a never-ending fight, because there will never be 100 per cent people who agree (with the fight against homophobia). And the mere fact that there is a debate is a problem.”
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The fullback, who has won 14 caps for France since his debut in 2022, urged education around homophobia to begin “among young people, starting at school”.
“I’m sure that many people think like me but they don’t dare to say it, so they just follow the stereotypes,” he added. “Raising awareness among a professional group is almost already too late.”
Clauss said he hopes for there to be “no impact” when future players come out as gay but felt he is unlikely to see it in his environment before he retires.
Players of Ligue 1 teams are set to wear armbands in the campaign against homophobia this weekend, the final match of the French top-flight’s regular league campaign.
(Photo: Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images)
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