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800 professional soccer players want to support teammates if they want to make their homosexuality public
Photo: Ben Peters / imago images / Focus Images
SPIEGEL: In the
opinion of former national team captain Philipp Lahm, homosexual soccer players should wait until the active phase of their career is over before coming out.
How do you see it
Näßler: Basically
he's right.
Homosexuality is still a taboo subject that players have to endure.
Nevertheless, the statements are a step backwards because it suggests an absolute and also draws in other players.
That doesn't help the fight for acceptance and rather shows the problem.
Philipp Lahm was one of the best footballers we've had in Germany and is even tournament director of the EM 2024, he has a special responsibility.
In 2013 he said in an interview that it is every person's right to come out.
Eight years later, he is now putting that into perspective with his statements.
It would have been better if he had suggested solutions and expressed his support.
SPIEGEL:
With your “Doppelpass” campaign, you are campaigning for homosexual footballers to no longer be discriminated against in the future.
What has to be done for this?
Näßler:
Trainers and those responsible need to be sensitized - especially when it comes to language.
Comments like "gay passport" or "referee, you fagot" need to be corrected.
In addition, many lack the awareness that there are homosexual football players in the team and that they are harmed with homophobic statements.
If you create a welcoming culture that not only consists of empty words but also follows action, more homosexuals would dare to come out.
The message should therefore be clear: homosexuality among players is of no relevance today, because football is about success and it doesn't matter who you love.
If that gets through, I can also imagine that it will go ahead.
SPIEGEL:
Would you have wished for this stop when you came out?
Näßler:
Yes.
I had to keep denying myself.
Heterosexuals don't worry about that.
I was also insecure because my mother worked for the Catholic Church and we lived in a rural area with 10,000 inhabitants.
I never had the feeling that I could be openly gay in my football club because I knew the sayings.
I knew what people around me associated with the word gay.
That was never a good thing.
SPIEGEL:
Lahm's impression was countered by a publication in the new issue of 11FREUNDE magazine.
There, 800 players from the German professional league pledge their support to homosexual colleagues.
Näßler:
That is exactly the right approach.
Football has a chance to move forward and inspire even more children and talents to play football when they know that they feel understood.
Unfortunately, many also end their careers early because they could no longer bear the pressure.
I saw that DFB President Fritz Keller also sympathized with the # ihrkönntaufunszenken, but posting a photo alone is not enough.
If he wants to have diversity in football, then he has to show the flag in the truest sense of the word.
The DFB is still far too slow to implement.
SPIEGEL:
Would you advise a soccer player to come out in 2021?
Näßler:
I don't think the time can get any more ripe.
Football is several steps behind society.
If no one dares, we will never make any progress.
I can hardly imagine that a football club these days throws a professional out just because he is homosexual.
No club could afford that.
But the problems do not go away when you come out.
SPIEGEL:
What do you mean by that?
Näßler:
Thomas Hitzlsperger's coming out around seven years ago had largely no consequences.
There was a lot of attention for a short time, but little happened after that.
Today an amateur player would not necessarily have an easier time because a professional had his coming out.
SPIEGEL:
The chief organizer of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar has asked homosexual visitors not to show any public affection.
They face imprisonment for up to five years on site.
Would you travel to Qatar as a fan?
Näßler: Not
under these conditions.
Basic human rights do not end at borders.
If a country like Qatar tramples on these rights, a cosmopolitan event really has no place there.
To draw attention to this, I started the petition »Love knows no break« together with a friend.
With regard to the 2022 World Cup, we want to get the DFB to send a clear signal against discrimination in Qatar.
We have already contacted the DFB about this, but have not yet received an answer.
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