Monday 21 August 2017 17:06, UK
Brighton full-back Liam Rosenior has praised the liberal, open-minded society that surrounds the club and hopes it can lead the way in ridding the game of homophobia.
The 32-year-old says Brighton's thriving LGBT community and inclusive spirit is one of the reasons he decided to join the Championship club and move to the city in 2015.
Injured Rosenior was supporting the Rainbow Laces campaign that saw countless Premier League and English Football League players and officials show support for LGBT inclusion in football on Saturday.
And the defender told Sky Sports News HQ: "We live in a society that is a lot more open than it used to be and that's a great thing. Days like today really push things forward again.
"We need to live in a society where everybody is open-minded to other people, and tolerant, and celebrates different kinds of people. We are all different races, creeds, religions, and sexual preference and orientation is just one of those things.
"Living in Brighton, and I've lived here only 18 months, being in the city and on the beach, people are really inclusive. It's a very liberal place to be and I think this club encapsulates that spirit really well.
"I am married with four daughters and I wanted to live in a society where they are included and appreciated for who they are.
"In terms of my career, Brighton are by far the most progressive [club] in terms of the Albion in the Community scheme, what they do with disabled football, academy football, girls and women's football, and I think that's encapsulated in the area it comes from.
"That's the massive thing about this club; it represents a wide community - a wide range of different cultures and people - and I'm really proud to represent the club in that way as well."
Football has had no openly gay players playing at a professional level since Justin Fashanu came out in 1990 and authorities are concerned that the sport's current environment is not a safe place for athletes to come out.
Rosenior does not believe attitudes among fellow players is the problem, instead that the language commonly used at football matches is not supportive of homosexuality and needs to change.
"The way we use the English language is not great. I think it can be improved on," he said. "If there are gay footballers that haven't come out and they are in an environment where the language we use is not appreciative of who they are, then they're not going to come out.
"I'd feel terrible if one of my team-mates today could be gay and didn't feel like he was supported by his team-mates within the football club. It's about taking a step back and thinking about the way we use our language and behave, and hopefully, in the end, that will create a confidence amongst people to be appreciative of who they are.
"I definitely would [support a gay team-mate] and I think 99 per cent of footballers would do. I hope [that players come out in future]. You see in a lot of other sports that players have started to come out.
"But that's their choice. You can't force someone who's not comfortable to do that just for the sake of it. It has to be the right time for them in their lives. Hopefully, as time moves on, and in the next generation, I think we'll see a generation with more and more openly gay players."
