""Since coming out as gay in 2021, footballer Josh Cavallo has received daily death threats and abusive messages on social media. "When I first saw these messages it broke my heart," Cavallo tells BBC Sport. "No-one wants to read things like that. "I'm trying to get better as a player and be the best I can be on the pitch, and then get put down because of who I am as a person.""
""It took years for Cavallo to work up the courage to say 'I'm gay' before coming out on 27 October 2021. 'All I want to do is play football and be treated equally,' he said in an accompanying video. In 2014 former Aston Villa and Germany midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger announced he was gay after retiring from football. Cavallo was 21 and making a name for himself at Adelaide United in Australia's top flight when, with the support of his team-mates, he publicly came out.""
Josh Cavallo came out as gay in October 2021 after years of hesitation. Since coming out he has received daily death threats and abusive messages on social media that deeply affected him. Cavallo was at Adelaide United when he became the only openly gay top-flight male professional footballer in 2021. He moved to non-league Peterborough Sports in England, playing in National League North before crowds of about 400. He balances part-time football with LGBTQ+ advocacy, using a social media profile of more than one million followers to champion equality and inclusion. He says football still has a homophobia problem.
Read at www.bbc.com
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