Gay footballer Jake Williamson ‘cut off’ by members of his team after coming out
“I then experienced homophobia for the first time,” Jake shared.
Publicly gay footballer Jake Williamson shared he was “angry” and “upset” when members of his team isolated him after he came out.
The semi-professional footballer was playing in a Sunday football league in Birmingham when he shared his experience of being a gay footballer on the BBC’s LGBT Sports Podcast in 2021.
After the public declaration of his sexuality, however, some of Jake’s teammates had an unhelpful response.
“I then experienced homophobia for the first time,” he told PinkNews of feeling “shut out.”
Jake notes that he still feels “angry” and “upset” when reflecting upon what happened.
“It’s bad enough that, in the society we live in, we get made to feel like we’re the worst thing on earth sometimes – so it’s not nice when your own football team just cuts you off.’”
Though, the negativity didn’t stop his love for the game. Instead, he says: “That made me say, right, I need to address this rather than be sad about it.”
Since sharing his story, Jake has become a sports ambassador for LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall.
“I’ve seen the impact it’s had. The amount of messages I’ve had, the amount of people who’ve taken part in Q&As on Instagram – it is making a difference,” Jake added.
His comments echo the likes of Jake Daniels and Zander Murray. Both, post-coming out, have shared how moving the experience has been.
“I’ve played football for 20 years and I’m yet to meet an actively gay football player or manager,” Jake says. “To me that is absolutely astounding.”
“I want to make that path easier for the next generation.”
With a continued lack of visible role models in the sporting world, Jake believes some of the problem lies in fan culture.
He explains the footballers at top clubs have gone through a training system where there are no publicly gay people. Therefore, “people tend to come out after [they retire].”
“It’s only because I’ve stopped playing football and met my partner that I’ve realised it’s ok to be who I am,” he detailed. Jake admitted he’s not sure if he would come out if he’d pursued football professionally.
Moving forward, Jake has a very simple but powerful goal to achieve: “I want to make that path easier for the next generation.”