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On Wednesday, Josh Cavallo was briefly the biggest player in world football.
With a message posted across his and his Australian A-League Men club’s social media channels, the 21-year-old Adelaide United utility altered the landscape of football around the globe with one simple sentence: “I am proud to publicly announce that I am gay.”
For six years, the young Australian football player had grappled with his identity and a sense of shame, fearing that he “would never be able to do what I love and be gay” and left feeling “numb.”
But now he was sharing his truth.
— Josh Cavallo (@JoshuaCavallo) October 27, 2021
A day after that announcement, the relief and happiness he felt, the weight of the anchor that had been lifted from his spirit, was clearly apparent.
“I can’t wipe the smile off my face,” Cavallo told ESPN.
“It’s been a long time coming, I haven’t felt this for more than six years in my life.
“It’s taken me to a new level. When I told Ross [Aloisi, United’s assistant coach] and Carl [Veart, United’s head coach] five weeks ago, they welcomed me and said: ‘Josh, you’re still the exact same person, we still love you for who you are. You’re a talented kid and we want what’s best for you.’
“And that really touched my heart. It was very heartwarming going forward. I was very confident when I told the team, and they welcomed me with their arms open. They said the exact same thing and ‘we’re proud of you and we’re glad that you’re comfortable in your own skin.’
“It was a very symbolic moment for me and I’m definitely going to remember it for the rest of my life.”
– ‘Be true to yourself’: 17 LGBTQ+ athletes share their coming out journeys
In coming out, Cavallo became the only current top-flight male professional footballer in the world to openly share his truth. Statistically, of course, it’s impossible that he’s alone; but in one remarkable act of honesty, the youngster from Melbourne’s southeast changed the narrative.
He and United’s media team…
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Source : espn
