While looking at how the rescue of the Chilean miners was covered by local papers, I found an interesting study in the Santiago newspaper El Mercurio. According to the paper, futbol fans are becoming less homophobic.
El Mercurio reports that the sample consisted of 3,000 interviews.
“Attitudes towards members of the gay community who practice this sport have improved,” according to the report.
Of those interviewed, 90 percent said the only thing that mattered was the performance of a player and not their sexual orientation.
An even larger number — 93 percent — believe that homophobia in soccer is not applicable.
The percent that want professional soccer players to come out, however is lower. Only 60 percent would like the gay footballers to reveal their sexual orientation. But of the 40 percent who said they should not, the main reason was that they believed it was a private matter.
