Anton Hysen states case for coming out and for his father's speech
Glenn Hysen, father | Photograph: Janerik Henriksson/Empics
The former Liverpool defender Glenn Hysen seemed like an unlikely candidate to give the opening speech of the 2007 Pride Festival in Stockholm. Large parts of the gay community were in uproar because of an incident six years earlier, when he had become embroiled in a fight with another man who had tried "to touch him" in the toilets of an airport.
"Did that man deserve to get beaten up?" Anders Selin, the festival's former chairman, asked rhetorically before saying: "Of course not." Hysen had hit the man just because he was a man. "Hysen," Selin wrote, was a representative of "the ugly face of homophobia".
Four years later and we know why Hysen wanted to make that speech. In a revealing interview with the respected Swedish football magazine Offside (offside.org), Hysen's son Anton became the first Swedish footballer at a high level to come out. It was a groundbreaking decision. In the UK, Gareth Thomas (rugby league) and Steven Davies (cricket) have come out during the past year. But the footballers, for the time being, are staying silent.
This is how Anton explained the reasons behind his decision: "Until now only my family and friends have known about my sexuality – well I think so, at least. That was the funniest thing when my dad made that speech. When he was talking about 'a 16-year-old who didn't want to come out because he feared what his team‑mates would think', that was me. And people thought it so bloody strange that he was allowed to speak at the Pride Festival, that he was a homophobe and so on. Shit, they were so wrong.
"It is completely strange, isn't it? It's all fucked up. Where the hell are all the others? No one is coming out."
Anton is 20. He had a contract with the top-flight club Hacken from 2007 to 2009 but a series of injuries meant he was not offered a new deal. He now plays in the second division (the fourth tier) for Utsiktens BK with the hope of moving up the divisions. "I know what I can do," he says. "And if there will be thousands of people abusing me because I am gay then that will only motivate me to play better.
"Me coming out may have a bearing on my career [but that is a risk I am prepared to take]. There are people who can't deal with homosexuals. A club may be interested to sign me but then the coach finds out that I am gay and doesn't want to sign me any more. That could happen, but then it is their problem.
"I may not play in the top flight but I still want to show that it isn't such a big deal. I am a footballer – and I am gay. If I perform as a footballer, then I don't think it matters if I like boys or girls."
Hysen has been widely praised for his decision to come out but there has, inevitably, been some adverse reaction. Swedish channel four had to pull their online article on Hysen because of the amount of abuse the player was getting.
