As I live in North America, where soccer isn’t even a top 5 televised sport, you can forgive me for not knowing much about what is certainly the #1 sport in the rest of the world. But I do at least know the names of the top 3 soccer stars – Cristiano Ronaldo being one of them. What I didn’t know is that it is widely reported – but unconfirmed or publicly acknowledged by him – that he is gay. As in gay, gay, gay not as in just like “once I got drunk and I let a guy blow me”. Rihanna, the pop superstar, outed him in an interview a while ago and then I just read in a recent “New Yorker” magazine that people in the soccer management world have known this for years.

I think I read he recently retired. Soon endorsement $ will stop seeking him out as they move on to the next big shiny star. But if he were to come out publicly the impact he could have would be tremendous and positive – not only to other gay professional athletes who are waiting for the comfort of someone else kicking the door open but as an inspiration and source of strength for young people around the world who are bullied every day for being gay or being perceived as gay.