SKY SPORTS MAKES 17-YEAR-OLD SOCCER KID HERO FOR SAYING ‘I’M GAY.’

It’s been a few days since 17-year-old Jake Daniels broke the UK internet space after publicly declaring his sexuality. Jake, an academy midfielder for the English football league side, Blackpool, told Sky Sports News that he had felt gay since he was six, had to take up girlfriends to cover up, and no longer wants to lie about his identity.

Sky Sports received the news with excitement and began broadcasting Jake’s declaration as an apology to everyone he’s lied to (something a few private phone calls can do); an advertisement to every eligible pro-LGBT suitor and a verbal assault on millions of football fans all over the world who unexpectedly witnessed a “sexuality reveal party” on a sports station.

It is not in the declaration–football fans care less if you identify as a goal post or a ball boy–it’s in the conscious effort to evoke support from people with religious backgrounds that do not support gay practices and LGBT-agnostic people alike. Football cannot wish away or ignore religious beliefs as a critical factor in its social leanings.

It is also in the gaslighting. The constant calls for tolerance and acceptance from a small group of people ruthless and aggressive on the frontlines, and intolerant of other people’s contrary beliefs.

There have been continuous killings in Congo, a war in Ukraine, Islamic terrorism in Nigeria, and several terror attacks in Israel. These are all social issues deserving amplification by the English FA and Sky Sports News, seeing how they long to become active advocates for social good.

With such selective cheerleading of irrelevant social issues like a player’s sexual revelation, the round leather game becomes, time and again, a soggy reflection of the society it is supposed to provide temporary excitement and escape from.

“Britain’s first openly gay footballer” is no achievement for a 17-year-old kid, and Sky Sports News or the retinue of mainstream sports media have no business promoting it in the interest of preserving the sanctity, sanity and original purpose of football.