Soccer player Robbie Rogers comes out

Robbie Rogers

Robbie Rogers, a professional soccer player decided to come out as gay and quit the sport. At the age of 25, he was released from the Leeds United last month and explained why he quit soccer on his website.

“Now is my time to step away. It’s time to discover myself away from football. It’s 1 A.M. in London as I write this and I could not be happier with my decision. Life is so full of amazing things. I realized I could only truly enjoy my life once I was honest. Honesty is a bitch but makes life so simple and clear. My secret is gone, I am a free man, I can move on and live my life as my creator intended.”

Roger’s played for the Columbus Crew of the MLS before playing for Leeds and most recently League One’s Stevenage. Born and raised in LA, currently living in London.  By coming out, makes him one of a small number of pro-footballers since Justin Fashanu in 1990 to announce publicly.

The Chicago Fire of the MLS owns his rights and head coach Frank Klopas said this after hearing about Rogers’ coming out: “Yesterday I thought he was a very good player and I still think that today. Should Robbie want to return to the game, we would still be open to him being part of the Fire.”

Roger’s also writes on his website:

“For the past 25 year I have been afraid, afraid to show whom I really was because of fear. Fear that judgment and rejection would hold me back from my dreams and aspirations.   Fear that my loved ones would be farthest from me if they knew my secret.  Fear that my secret would get in the way of my dreams.”

He tweeted by writing this on his twitter account:

@RobbieRogers “http://www.therobbierogers.com/ Just getting some sh*t off my chest. http://fb.me/2G6VcA57v

Support for Professional Soccer Player Robbie Rogers is spreading across the world. He wrote Saturday a update on his twitter account by saying:

@RobbieRogers “Thank you everyone for all of the support and love. Wasn’t expecting this.”

Share your support or opinions in the comments section. Do you think it was a good decision to step away from the sport to deal with his own personal issues reguarding his sexuality? Should he return to soccer in the future? Share your thoughts.

One thought on “Soccer player Robbie Rogers comes out

  • February 28, 2013 at 6:21 am
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    I am glad to see more sports figures coming out. Helps abolish the stereotype that all gays are effeminate.