Craig Napier: Scottish category one referee comes out as gay in bid to ‘change climate’ in football | Football News
Craig Napier, a Scottish category one referee, has come out as gay, saying “we need to see the climate change”.
The 32-year-old becomes the first openly gay figure in Scottish men’s professional football since the mid-1990s.
Justin Fashanu, who played for Airdrie and Hearts in the mid-1990s several years after announcing his sexuality, was the last openly gay man to feature in Scottish football.
In a video on the Scottish Football Association’s Twitter account, Napier said: “We need to see the climate change so that people do feel that they can be their true self and live happily and comfortably in their own skin, and that needs to then transcend into football.”
Napier was quickly followed by fellow referee Lloyd Wilson, who referees in Scotland’s lower leagues.
Lloyd Wilson has also come out as gay
Wilson talked about his sexuality in a video on the YouTube channel of mental health charity Back Onside.
When asked why he was speaking publicly now, Wilson said: “I think really the reason being that this has been a horrific journey, to be honest.
“A journey of maybe 17 years of living a life that I didn’t want to live, living a lie, living the way that other people maybe wanted me to live or that I thought other people wanted me to live, and probably dictated and directed in many ways by football.”
More to follow…
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