Colin Macfarlane: Homophobia must be tackled next in football

The BBC documentary Britain’s Gay Footballers clearly showed the mountain that we still have to climb to ensure that homophobic attitudes are to be removed from our national game.

To those people who watched the documentary, it is clear that the same zero-tolerance approach towards racism in the football industry does not apply to homophobia. Justin Fashanu broke down race barriers by becoming the first million-pound black player in Britain. Coming out as gay destroyed his career.

The fact that in the history of British football there has only ever been one openly gay player, who suffered so much torment from fans, team mates and management that he eventually committed suicide, suggests football to be an industry which is institutionally homophobic.

Fans have told Stonewall that they are clear that it is the lack of any visible action by the governing bodies, clubs and their partners in tackling anti-gay abuse which has allowed it to fester on.

Research carried out by Stonewall found seven in ten football fans who have attended matches in the last five years have heard anti-gay language and chants and many have told us that they fear violence on match days simply because they are gay. What signal does this send out about our national game?

Homophobia must be addressed with the same zero-tolerance approach as any other form of discrimination. Stonewall Scotland believes leadership has to come from the Scottish Football Association, the clubs and sponsors.

It is simply not right that in 2012 a culture remains that prevents an openly gay footballer from playing for their team with pride and to be accepted by fans and team mates alike, or that a supporter does not feel able to attend a match for fear of being targeted because of their sexuality. It is now time for Scottish football to show leadership and to get its house in order on this issue.

• Colin Macfarlane is director of Stonewall Scotland