Stand Up, Take Notice, Do Something

“In football, the problem is that people think it’s a ‘macho men’ sport. I think that this sport can be enjoyed by homosexuals, transsexuals, bisexuals, by anyone.” These are the truthful words of Jesús Tomillero, Spain’s first openly gay football referee.

Crossing the Line

First, if you don’t know about Unusual Efforts please get over to their site (here) and check out what they do. Incredible pieces and incredible art by all women, trans or cis, and nonbinary contributors.

Player Given Straight Red For Homophobic Language

Norwegian football is cracking down on homophobic language and taking it seriously as Baerum SK’s Simen Juklerod recently found out.

Arsenal Support Anti-Homophobia Campaign

After that last disheartening story about racism in sport, here comes a bit of good news on another front. Gay rights group Stonewall along with Paddy Power and the Gay Football Supporters’ Network have launched this year’s Rainbow Laces campaign with a little help from Arsenal.

St. Pauli Supports LGBT Community

German second division club St. Pauli announced that as of today, they will permanently fly the rainbow flag symbolizing gay pride in their Hamburg stadium. 

Mid-day Update

Okay, it’s only mid-day because I never seem to make it to bed until the wee hours. Here’s a couple of things and more later.

Calleti & Marta were snapped in Napoli where he underwent a physical today. I’m sure the pictures of his contract signing, etc. will be out soon. (Via @NapoliSphera)

Tuesday Bits & Bobs

Iker was in Qatar today to open an Aspire Academy and look who he was interviewed with – RAUL! (Squee!)

Training, A Luncheon, Juan Mata Profile & More

I’m leaving for the airport in an hour or so if I can peel Max the Cat off me. He’s very sad. I hate leaving him behind but he’s not a beach sort of cat! Maisougio will be your daily Perv Concierge while I’m sunning my rivaling-Iker-Casillas-pallor in Mexico for a couple of days with watishista P. So this will be a drive by. The day has been textbook Lozil thus far. I tripped over my suitcase earlier and nearly knocked myself out. Never fails. I am the world’s biggest klutz. So I’ll be starting the vacation bruised but hopefully I’ve gotten all the drama out of the way. If I owe you an email, please forgive me – I’m totally behind on work, packing, everything. I’ll get on it when I return next week.

The team trained again today and the good news is that Mesut was back with them – hooray! Looks like he’ll be just fine for the final on Friday.

Robbie Rogers In The Press

Robbie Rogers by Tom Jenkins/Guardian

Out former ‘baller Robbie Rogers was the subject of two great articles today in the Guardian and New York Times which talked about his coming out and the aftermath. Sam Borden from NYT also chatted with Robbie via video.

MLS: Don’t Cross The Line 2013 PSA

Been meaning to post this for the past couple of weeks. MLS and MLS Works have produced the 2013 PSA for their “Don’t Cross the Line” Campaign which promotes equality and acceptance in the sport.