I’d be first to support a player coming out
If one of my players came out at Celtic, I’d support them. I would be the first one.
If someone came out in our dressing room it would be amazing.
I think the first person to ever come out, it’d be possibly the best thing to happen. For that to happen, it’s going to be hard for somebody to come out, but they need to realise we’re very open, it’s 2019.
Would everyone? I don’t think you can possibly say that 100% would. I’d like to look around the changing room and it would be a vast majority, all day long.
We’ve spoken about it in the changing room before. I don’t know what anyone’s feeling, you don’t know what they’re going to say. In an environment where they’re surrounded by 20 people, because if one goes, some people are like a sheep and everyone can follow.
I have a best friend who is gay, and he went through hard times and he couldn’t pick up the phone to people.
He had to phone on withheld numbers to try and chat to people.
It’s a hard subject when you don’t realise that, but for me, the support he’s had and to see him now with a smile on his face and he’s able to chat about when he’s been through hard times.
Everyone has been through hard times, and I get that, but to see him now with his boyfriend and the two of them are getting married at the end of the year, it’s great to see.
We get abused on way to games
In terms of when players are travelling to games, I think the biggest problem is chanting.
I’ve had it, Graeme Souness has had it, and we take it on the chin but there’s families in the crowd now, it’s a family sport. You don’t want your kids learning that and growing up hearing people slagging other people for being gay. It’s not nice to hear, especially in this day and age.
As a player we hear all sorts of shouting abuse daily to be perfectly honest.
Whether it’s people driving down the street shouting things at you, you know what it’s like. It becomes part of my life, it becomes part of Graeme’s life. And I think you’ve just got to be strong and deal with that.
Because if you let those people get to you, you’re eventually going to be an emotional wreck.
We do a lot for racism now in the game, we’re trying to help out as much as we possibly can, but this is the first thing that I’ve really done (in LGBT) and for me to be a part of this is amazing.
But we need everyone to do it, not just five or six people.
* Scott Brown and Graeme Souness were speaking as part of Paddy Power’s anti-homophobia football campaign, in partnership with GAY TIMES.
