In a joint statement between the group and former mayor of Lambeth Christopher Wellbelove, who strongly condemned the group for their opposition, the Friends said they would be working with gay and trans community members to benefit the common.

The Friends of Clapham Common had said last month a gay Pride House event due to be held on the common was “highly likely” to become a “magnet for undesirable elements of the gay community”.

The group had denied claims the objection, which was partly based on perceptions that the event was “exclusively” for the LGBT community, was homophobic, saying all communities have “undesirable elements”.

John Amaechi, openly gay former basketball player and Clapham resident, said the objection was based on “archaic stereotypes and a complete misrepresentation of the facts.

“Today’s LGBT community and their straight friends are as much about family and children, book clubs and Bikram yoga and indeed a fanatical support for the greatest sporting spectacle in our lifetime, as any other part of the community.

“To suggest greater numbers of ‘undesirable elements’ in the gay community is not only pure speculation, it’s an implicitly bigoted insinuation.”

Now, the group has said they wish “to apologise to the LGBT community for any offence caused” in their submission to Lambeth Council opposing Pride House.

It said: “Following a meeting between FCC Chairman Melanie Oxley and Councillor Christopher Wellbelove, who had raised concerns around comments in the FCC’s objections, they have agreed to work together to increase involvement by individuals from the LGBT and other minority groups in the local area, to help strengthen the great work done by the FCC in enhancing Clapham Common for the benefit of all in the community.

“They also agreed that should the Pride House event be approved, that they would work to ensure that the event is a success in the spirit of the Olympics, whilst minimising impact on the local area and ensuring that the Common is restored following this and other events during this exceptional period.”

The message on 19-year-old Morrison’s account read: “Crack head? Go suck out u little faggot your a guy that talks if u see me you try slap me I’m in manchester every week.”

Morrison was signed to West Ham United just over a week ago, on 31 January for three and a half years. The fee the club paid for him is not known.

The midfielder has 63,000 followers on the micro-blogging site. He was reportedly antagonised before the tweet appeared.

Alan Duffy of The Justice Campaign told goal.com: “It’s extremely disappointing to hear that yet another professional footballer in England has used homophobic language.

“Ravel Morrison may well not be aware of the damage those kind of remarks can do, but when football stars indulge in that kind of language, it only reinforces the view that football is not a welcoming place of LGBT fans or players.”

West Ham was relegated from the Premier League last year. The Premier League clubs signed the government’s anti-homophobia charter last week.

The tweet also comes during national LGBT History Month which is focused on tackling homophobia in sport.

Last month, Leicester City player Michael Ball was fined £6,000 by the FA for anti-gay comments he made on Twitter.

Ball, 32, admitted the charge of bringing the game into disrepute with his expletive-peppered tweet directed at actor Antony Cotton.

During Cotton’s appearance on I’m A Celebrity, Ball reportedly told followers: “That fucking queer. Get back to your sewing machine in Corrie, you moaning bastard.”

Also this year, Oxford City FC released Lee Steele from his obligations to the club after the footballer posted a comment on Twitter about gay rugby star Gareth Thomas.

Steele, 38, was not seen at a match on Saturday after writing: “I wouldn’t fancy the bed next to Gareth Thomas #padlockeda**ehole”.

The black-and-white advert showed Beckham only in underwear to promote his new line.

It aired during the National Football League’s championship game, which over 100 million people watched.

Roland Martin tweeted to his 90,000 followers during the game: “If a dude at your Super Bowl party is hyped about David Beckham’s H&M underwear ad, smack the ish out of him! #superbowl”

In response, GLAAD said “advocates of gay bashing” had no place at CNN, where Martin is a regular commentator.

Martin insisted his comment, made during the American Football event of the year, was made because Beckham is a soccer player.

He responded yesterday that it was “furthest from the truth” that he would support violence or bullying towards gays and that he “sincerely regretted” any offence cause by his tweet.

On RolandMartinReports.com, he wrote: “When we witness violence in this country against someone because they are gay, or being beaten because they are Black, that speaks to a vicious cycle that seems to be never ending.

“My joking about smacking someone, whether it was in response to a commercial or food they prepare for a Super Bowl party or wearing an opposing team’s jersey, was stated in jest. It was not meant literally, and in no way would I ever condone someone doing such a thing.

“As I said repeatedly, I often make jokes about soccer in the U.S., and my crack about David Beckham’s commercial was related to that and not to anyone’s sexuality. To those who construed my comment as being anti-gay or homophobic or advancing violence, I’m truly sorry. I can certainly understand how someone could come to a different conclusion than the one I meant.

He added: “As someone who has spoken out forcefully against bigotry against African Americans and other minorities, as well as sexism against women, I fully understand how a group who has been unfairly treated would be offended by such comments, and, again, I am sorry for any offense my remarks caused.

At the time of publication, 5,700 people had signed a petition calling for CNN to stop inviting Martin to comment on current affairs.

As well as criticising the tweet, GLAAD also drew attention to Martin’s previously-expressed views on ‘gay cure’.

In 2006, a post by Roland Martin on RolandSMartin.com apparently equates homosexuality with kleptomania, saying: “… for Christians, going to church is not supposed to be a feel good exercise. We are expected to be convicted, and encouraged to walk away from sin and live a more Christ-like life. In my church, this goes for the woman who is an alcoholic, the child who continues to be disobedient to his parents, the young lady who is hell-bent on stealing, and the person who is gay.

It continues: “My wife, an ordained Baptist minister for 20 years, has counseled many men and women to walk away from the gay lifestyle, and to live a chaste life. She has asked heterosexual men and women to abstain from sex until marriage. For her, the obligation is to her calling as a minister of the Word, rather than bowing to societal pressures. She loves gay and lesbian church members dearly, and prays with them, talks to them, and breaks bread with them. But what she cannot do is compromise the integrity of the teachings of Christ.”

Martin had also previously come to the defence of Tracy Morgan, who caused offence last year after an ill-judged joke at a Nashville about stabbing his own son if he came out as gay.

Barnsley FC’s goalie David Preece suggested Amal Fashanu was the wrong choice to investigate the matter. This viewpoint, in an otherwise thoughtful article, is somewhat unkind: it’s arguably the very fact that so few footballers are willing to candidly speak out on homophobia that it has been left to a 23-year media studies graduate and model to ask some hard questions.

Amal deserves credit for being the first to call to account her own father, John Fashanu, whose chilling, public rejection of his vastly more talented brother, compounded the devastation that Justin must have felt.

The programme was most notable for challenging the perception of football being an impenetrable bastion of homophobia. Max Clifford’s intransigent doom-mongering about how coming out would ruin a footballer’s career challenged, by footage of Sweden’s openly gay player Anton Hysén enjoying changing-room banter with team-mates and support from the stands. Perhaps the greatest coup of all was the willingness of a premiership player, QPR captain Joey Barton, to speak out and ridicule ‘archaic’ attitudes of managers who are preventing players from being open.

There is in fact more reason for hope in the offence taken by Preece at what he regards as the demonisation of footballers. “I couldn’t think of a more welcoming place to reveal your sexual preferences than inside a footballer’s dressing room’

However, the overall picture is far from one of acceptance. Homophobic chanting is a weekly endurance for Brighton’s fans; and a string of homophobic callers, one asking for separate changing rooms, left Nicky Campbell and guests of his BBC Radio 5 phone-in dumbfounded last Thursday. Statistics show that 29 percent of the UK population thinks same-sex relations are sometimes or always wrong, and an Observer poll in 2008 stated that nearly one in four thinks homosexuality should be recriminalised. Football, being the nation’s favourite sport is simply a barometer of the bigotry that is rife and unchallenged in society.

The disappointment with the programme was that no managers or high-ranking FA officials were interviewed. A significant amount of direction and resources will be needed to change the culture and attitudes within football, through club hierarchies and at grass roots, Sunday league level too.

Currently, the FA and the government are patting themselves on the back for putting together an LGBT charter, full of good intentions about banishing homophobia and transphobia from the game. But the precise details of how this campaign will make life better for LGBT players and supporters are anything but clear.

However, instead of pressing the FA on this matter, the media and some in the gay community obsess themselves with the moronic question: when will we see an out gay player? I suspect this is driven as much by the tabloid press going to ever more desperate measures to titillate readers and buck declining sales figures, and some activists seeking another trophy in the role model cabinet.

Why should a footballer come out to the whole nation? Most of us are out to friends and work-colleagues, but that’s all. True, the media is no longer full of homophobic columnists like the Star’s Brian Hitchen and the Sun’s Gary Bushell, whose innuendo-laden diatribes reinforced the very worst prejudices. But even if the coming out were reported in glowing terms, the very experience of being in the media spotlight can be ruinous for concentration and performance. And as the Leveson inquiry has revealed, the extremes that reporters go to, to sniff out an exclusive could make life intolerable.

Here are a number of questions, which clubs – with the exception of Manchester City – have been loathe to answer but must be put under pressure to do so:

How are clubs promoting a welcoming, accepting environment for gay or bi players? What standards are in place with respect to language and conduct, and are these contractually binding? Do these obligations extend to managers and training staff, especially with respect to language used? How is the club monitoring and addressing prejudice? What procedures and disciplinary measures are in place for dealing with homophobic abuse or bullying? What support is available to LGBT staff and players facing abuse or in need of someone to talk to?

The Rugby Football League has made tremendous efforts to make the game fully inclusive. All major clubs have diversity officers, and LGBT working groups that are providing support to a number of players.

Another point, often missed, is that the game already has numerous openly gay teams. The oldest, London’s Stonewall FC in the Middlesex County League, and Village Manchester, have been challenging stereotypes, for 21 and 15 years respectively, by battling it out on the pitch every weekend. As Village Manchester manager Antony Lockley explained to Nicky Campbell, many of his players came from far afield because they saw no way of being accepted in their local club, because outside the big cities, as the prejudice is rife.

By playing regularly with mainly straight teams, these clubs have obliterated the insidious notion of gay people being predators. At least three people on the Radio 5 show called to say how uncomfortable they would feel in the showers or changing rooms in the presence of a gay person. This argument was quashed in the armed forces long ago, but it’s important that people are encouraged to ask themselves how they know this to be true, and that beliefs based on no evidence are suspected, not respected.

Even though it is good to see action taken, the FA is failing to communicate why and how homophobia is damaging when it occurs. And this makes me worry about the effectiveness of its campaigns. Its failure was most apparent when Lee Steele was sacked by Oxford City for his tweets about ‘padlocking his arse’ when near gay rugby player Gareth Thomas. Many fans were outraged, claiming it was an overreaction.

In cases like this, instead of issuing meaningless platitudes about standing firm against homophobia, the FA should have explained how damaging Steele’s remarks were to his own club. For like many league clubs, Oxford City is made up of over ten reserve and youth teams. It is highly probably that up to ten or so team members – perhaps vulnerable teenagers – would have felt isolated and outcast by such remarks. Such remarks are divisive, sow seeds of mistrust and ruinous for team spirit, and it is shameful that nobody thought to point this out.

And a final point about homophobia in the stands, especially for useful idiots like Arsenal fan Matt Lucas: if visitors to Brighton cannot see the cruelty of ridiculing the town for its accepting, tolerant atmosphere with chants of ‘We can see you holding hands’, perhaps club sponsors eventually will?

Even major sporting brands seek to promote values of diversity and inclusiveness nowadays, and distance themselves from old-fashioned ‘macho’ positioning. Brand-owners do not want to see their products being endorsed by narrow-minded homophobic and racist thugs on TV or, more likely, on YouTube.

If nothing else, perhaps the prospect of football’s reputation being dragged through the mire, might make the FA see the value, rather than just the cost, of promoting a diverse and inclusive game? 

The Sports Charter was launched in June 2011 at 10 Downing Street when Chief Executive Richard Scudamore signed on behalf of the Premier League.

All 20 Premier League clubs have now signed the Charter individually, the League said today.

Richard Scudamore, Chief Executive of the Premier League said: “We are pleased to reaffirm our commitment with each of our clubs signing the Charter.

“The Premier League and our member clubs believe that everyone should be able to participate in, watch and enjoy sport – whoever they are and whatever their background.

“When the Sports Charter to tackle homophobia and transphobia in sport was launched in June 2011 the Premier League signed it and we are pleased to re-affirm our commitment to it today with each of our clubs signing it individually.”

Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone added: “Nearly 3,000 individuals and clubs have already signed up and I’m delighted that Premier League clubs have taken a stand by signing the Charter too.

“It sends a really strong signal when clubs in the best league in the world say enough is enough.”

The Charter is made up of four points:

- We believe that everyone should be able to participate in, watch and enjoy sport – whoever they are and whatever their background.
- We believe that sport is about fairness and equality, respect and dignity. Sport teaches individuals how to strive and succeed, how to cope with success and disappointment, and brings people together with a common goal.
- We are committed to making these values a reality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. We will work together, and individually, to rid sport of homophobia and transphobia.
- We will make football a welcome place for everyone – for those participating in the sport, those attending matches and for those working or volunteering in it. We will work with all these groups to ensure they have a voice, and to challenge unacceptable behaviour.

Chris Basiurski, Chair of the Gay Football Supporters’ Network said: “We are delighted that the Premier League Clubs have decided to sign the Government’s charter but we are conscious that is just the first step.

“We are keen to ensure that the clubs are not just making an empty gesture but are truly committed to the cause of tackling homophobia and we are calling on them to commit as much time and resources to this cause as they have previously demonstrated in the largely successful fight against racism.

“With the recent BBC3 documentary highlighting that the issue of homophobia is prevalent in the game today, creating a safe and tolerant atmosphere in football for LGBT people has never been more important and we hope to see some real progress from the Clubs in the wake of their signing the Charter.”

Gábor Vona was referring to his country’s successful bid to host the gay EuroGames, which were held in the Netherlands last year.

According to Hungarian news sources, Vona told an audience this week: “God is my witness, it’s not some kind of homophobia but merely common decency that makes me say that this really is the end of the world.”

Vona, 33, co-founded the right-wing Jobbik party in 2003.

Jobbik Magyarországért Mozgalom (Movement for a Better Hungary) now has 46 of the 386 seats in Hungary’s National Assembly, or 12%, and three MEPs.

Budapest’s EuroGames events will be held in the last days of June this year, ahead of the London Olympics, with 3,800 athletes taking part in nearly 20 sports.

The organisers said the event would aim to “improve the reputation of Hungary as an open minded country”.

Vona’s comments bear some similarity to those made by the Pope last month when he said gay marriage could threaten the “future of humanity”.

According to Reuters, the pontiff said “pride of place goes to the family, based on the marriage of a man and a woman” when discussing appropriate “settings” for children.

Of straight marriage, he said: “This is not a simple social convention, but rather the fundamental cell of every society.

“Consequently, policies which undermine the family threaten human dignity and the future of humanity itself.”

He added that London would “see through this fear-mongering rhetoric”.

The Friends of Clapham Common said last month a gay Pride House event due to be held on the common was “highly likely” to become a “magnet for undesirable elements of the gay community”.

The group denied claims the objection, which was partly based on perceptions that the event was “exclusively” for the LGBT community, was homophobic, saying all communities have “undesirable elements”.

John Amaechi, who came out in 2007 following his retirement from NBA basketball and now lives in Clapham, said the idea of Pride House turning the common into a “den of iniquity” showed the group to be “out of touch”.

An ambassador for Pride House, Amaechi told the Wandsworth Local Guardian: “These comments by the ‘Friends of Clapham Common’ are carefully worded to avoid overt homophobia, but they certainly imply a narrow, outdated understanding of the LGBT community and their friends.

“Their objections are based on archaic stereotypes and a complete misrepresentation of the facts.

“Today’s LGBT community and their straight friends are as much about family and children, book clubs and Bikram yoga and indeed a fanatical support for the greatest sporting spectacle in our lifetime, as any other part of the community.

“To suggest greater numbers of ‘undesirable elements’ in the gay community is not only pure speculation, it’s an implicitly bigoted insinuation.

“The Pride House complex will welcome everybody, and age-old clichés casually asserting that the gay and lesbian families in attendance will somehow turn Clapham Common into a den of iniquity, only indicate just how out of touch this group is with modern Britain.

“Having personally lived by the common for a decade, I know the people of London will see through this fear-mongering rhetoric and come along to celebrate together.”

The claims were part of a Lambeth Council consultation on Pride House, which will include live music, entertainment, LGBT art, sports and tournaments.

Creator Chad Molleken said it would “welcome athletes, dignitaries, media, Londoners and visitors from around the world with a dynamic and entertaining programme in support of the LGBT community”.

20,000 people are expected to attend Pride House during the Olympics. Stephen Fry and Peter Tatchell are among the patrons of the event.

Representatives for the voluntary Friends organisation, which works to “protect and improve” the common, did not return messages from PinkNews.co.uk after the objection was made public.

Christopher Wellbelove, now a Labour councillor, told PinkNews.co.uk: “This is a huge opportunity for Clapham and Lambeth to participate in London 2012, showing their support Team GB during the games together with LGBT athletes from around the world.

“The event will also be a stance against homophobia such as the very unfortunate comments in the objections by the Friends which I would be surprised if it was truly representative of the Friends as a whole.

“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and will be seen by people around the globe demonstrating London (and Clapham) as a diverse community and promote inclusion and diversity which their comments only demonstrate the need for such an event.”

712,000 people tuned in to watch the film at 9pm last night, up more than 50% on the channel’s average over the last year of 470,000 viewers according to Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board.

Amal Fashanu, whose uncle, Justin Fashanu, was the only-ever openly gay player in the UK, questioned figures from the game on why no British professional footballer has come out since.

Justin Fashanu’s niece helped launched the Justin Campaign on 19 February 2010, which would have been the former Norwich City player’s 49th birthday.

A spokesperson for the Campaign said today: “Football still has a very long way to go in properly dealing with the problems of homophobia, biphobia and transphobia within the sport. However, the more the issue is discussed and is brought out of the closet, the easier it will be to address the problems.”

“The Justin Campaign is proud to be working with The FA and a number of Premier League and Football League clubs on the forthcoming Football v Homophobia initiative, which takes places from February 18th – 26th. “

“The fact that we are now working in partnership with major organisations and clubs in the game shows how far we have come. We hope that the momentum increases and we can finally reach a time when sexuality is no longer a barrier to being a footballer or a fan.”

The film included emotional interviews with Justin’s brother and Amal’s father, John Fashanu.

John Fashanu’s critical comments in the press following his brother’s coming out and ensuing media interest in his life came as revelations for the 22-year-old.

In another part of the film, Fashanu spoke with Queen’s Park Rangers captain Joey Barton, who revealed his uncle is gay and said he felt sorry for those players who were not comfortable discussing homosexuality.

Barton said there were “archaic figures” in the footballing world who would discriminate against gay players, but that he expected an out gay player in Britain in the next decade.

Openly gay former NBA basketball player, John Amaechi, told Fashanu: “Football is run by a group of straight, white, old men. Football is clearly not that comfortable with women in board rooms, clearly not that comfortable with black people in management positions. And so, when it comes to gay people, that just blows their mind.”

Amal Fashanu’s uncle killed himself in 1998 following years of struggles with homophobic bullying and an investigation into an alleged sexual assault, which was dropped.

In the film, Justin’s brother John Fashanu tell his daughter: “I think there’s more chance of the next Pope being black, than you finding a footballer who will come out and say he’s gay.

“Even straight players will not talk about gay players or gay society… I don’t think in two decades of football I have ever witnessed the abuse that your uncle Justin [Fashanu] received, from all sections of the stadium.”

Amal Fashanu helped launched the Justin Campaign on 19 February 2010, which would have been the former Norwich City player’s 49th birthday. Now, she questions figures from the game past and present on why none of the 5,000 professional footballers in the UK is openly gay.

In the film, publicist Max Clifford, tells her: “I’d say in the last 15 years, probably half a dozen [players] that I know are either gay or bi-sexual. There have been others that I suspect….When gay footballers have come to me to protect their identity, they have made it very clear that their career would be finished if they were known to be openly gay.”

John McGovern, former Nottingham Forrest Team Captain’s comments were widely reported. When asked about his club’s manager Brian Clough calling Fashanu a ‘poof’, he says: “I don’t even call that discrimination. It’s another word for what we’re talking about, being a homosexual.”

Swede Anton Hysen and American David Testo are the only professional footballer in the world who are publicly out.

On the future of a game with so few openly gay players, Simon Smith of the Gay Football Support Network told PinkNews.co.uk today: “We believe that British football fans and players would be comfortable with an openly gay player.

“Most comments we hear from fans suggest they don’t care about a players sexuality just that they perform well on the pitch.

“We feel there is certainly an ‘old guard’ amongst the football hierarchy who just don’t understand the concept of a gay professional footballer but they are certainly lagging behind the attitudes of modern Britain. In next 10 years we feel that a players sexuality will be a non-story and there will be openly gay people in football in the same way we now have gay politicians, teachers and even soldiers.”

In the documentary, Joey Barton, Queens Park Rangers tells Fashanu: “Certain managers….certain individuals within the game will discriminate against people. These archaic figures think if they had a gay footballer that there would be all kinds of shenanigans going on in the dressing room.”

Openly gay former NBA player, John Amaechi, says: “Football is run by a group of straight, white, old men. Football is clearly not that comfortable with women in board rooms, clearly not that comfortable with black people in management positions. And so, when it comes to gay people, that just blows their mind”

Britain’s Gay Footballers will be shown on BBC3 tonight at 9pm GMT.

I meet Greg near his home in Malibu, California. Despite once dominating the sport of diving, he surprises me by being both affable and polite. He grew up in San Diego, 150 miles south of where we are seated. I want to begin the interview there. How did he get involved in diving?

“When I was very young I used to sneak into my sisters dance classes and copy what they did,” he tells me. “I had my first recital when I was three. Shortly after I got a partner and we started competing together. Our focus was mainly acrobatics. Eventually she took up gymnastics as well, so I decided to join her. I loved it.”

“Then I remember watching my first Olympics. My dad, being Greek, was crazy about them. I decided there and then that I wanted to compete at the Olympics as a gymnast. Not long after we got a pool built in our backyard and I started practicing gymnastics off the diving board. My mum freaked out! She thought I was going to kill myself, so she got me diving lessons.”

“For a while, between eight and twelve-years old, I did all three: diving, acrobatics and gymnastics. But back then gymnastics wasn’t done on sprung floors and the dancing took place on concrete. By the time I was twelve my doctor said I had to give up acrobatics and gymnastics because I had bad knees. From then on I concentrated on diving, still with a desire to one day make the Olympics. After a year, I was world champion for my age group. By the time I was sixteen I’d made the US Olympic team.”

It was at his first Olympics, at the age of sixteen, that Greg won a silver medal in the 10m-platform event. For many athletes an Olympic silver medal is the crowning achievement of their career. Not so for Louganis. His Olympic career was however substantially hindered four years later, when President Carter decided America would boycott the 1980 Moscow Olympics, in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

“At the time I was the diving team captain,” explains Greg, “so I was in all the meetings leading up to the games. As athletes, we wanted to go to Moscow and boycott the opening and closing ceremonies, apart from one representative who would carry the flag. Our voices were never heard.”

The boycott became a reality and in Louganis’ absence the USSR’s Alexander Portov won gold in the 3m-springboard event while East Germany’s Falk Hoffmann took gold in the 10m-platform competition. Nevertheless, Greg’s place at the top of his sport was confirmed two years later at the 1982 World Championships.

“It was funny because at the Worlds we were announced in reverse order,” he tells me. “I’d won the prelims and so was announced last. They introduced Portnov as ‘Olympic gold medallist 1980.’ He only got that title because I wasn’t there. So for the men’s 3m-springboard I felt I had something to prove. I turned it on and in the end I didn’t even have to do my last dive to win. I won by a lot.”

Louganis took home the World Championships 10m-platform gold as well. Two years later at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics he completed another clean sweep, picking up his first two Olympic gold medals. I ask him if he felt the same winning his second gold medal as he did when he won his first.

“For me, each one was totally different. The first time, I wasn’t really expecting it. I really wanted to prove myself on both springboard and 10m-platform. So when they were presenting me with the gold for springboard, I knew my job wasn’t done. I was busy thinking about the next day; what was I doing to prepare for the platform event? I enjoyed it, but I didn’t bask in it. Then when I won gold for platform, I lost it! I was the first man to win both events in 56 years.”

Louganis decided to bow out on a high and announced his retirement.

“I thought that was going to be it,” he tells me, “but it didn’t turn out that way. At the time, I was one of the proponents for trust funds to enable athletes to do commercial work while maintaining their eligibility for competitions as amateurs. I remember speaking to the President of USA Diving shortly after the Los Angeles Olympics. I asked him how the initiative was progressing and he told me that I was the only person in diving it affected and, of course, I was retiring. So I told him: “Fine, I’m not retiring. Do the work.” It took two more years to get it done and by then the Seoul Olympics were just two years away.”

By Seoul, Louganis had turned 28, old for the sport of diving. Some members of America’s Olympic diving squad were even calling him ‘grandpa’. Nevertheless, Greg beat the odds and won two more Olympic gold medals. He did so in breathtaking fashion. In the ninth round of preliminaries for the 3m-springboard event, in full view of the world’s media, Louganis hit his head on the springboard in midair, while attempting a reverse 2½ somersault pike. The world gasped in horror as he fell into the water. Still conscious, he managed to pull himself out of the pool.

“I’ve hit my head twice my entire career,” says Greg. “Seoul was the second time. My coach said I didn’t have to carry on, but from my point of view we’d worked too long and hard to get to where we were. I didn’t want to give up without a fight.”

The wound on the back of Louganis’ head was duly stitched up and he was back on the springboard just over half an hour later.

“The split second I hit the board I became the underdog,” he says. “The pressure was off of me. I didn’t even know if I was strong enough to compete. I just took it one dive at a time, one event at a time.”

Remarkably, come the 3m-springboard finals, he nailed all his dives and retained his Olympic title. His third Olympic gold was swiftly followed by his fourth when he bagged the 10m-platform event as well. He announced his retirement again, this time for good and turned his attention to another passion of his: acting.

It was while appearing in New York in the play ‘Jeffrey’ that Louganis was approached by Kile Ozier to record a message for the opening ceremony of 1994’s Gay Games. Louganis, who had long been out to his friends and family, decided it was time to make a public announcement and agreed.

“I’d never been open about my sexuality with the media before,” he tells me. “If I’d discussed my sexuality while diving I would have been known as ‘the gay diver’. The US media would have jumped on it. They love labels. I always wanted the focus to be on my diving, which is why I kept my sexuality to myself.”

Regardless, I put it to Greg that he would still have won the medals he did whether he’d been out or not.

“I don’t know,” he says. “I had a tough time making the teams. Although I usually won the titles, there were a lot of National Championships where I came in second. Diving is definitely one of the more objective sports because in competition they always knock off the highest and lowest scores, but homophobia ran pretty deep in the sport at the time.”

Louganis had another secret he wanted to be free of as well: six months before the 1988 Olympics he’d tested positive for HIV. He’d kept the diagnosis secret for a simple reason: the Korean authorities wouldn’t have let him in for the Olympics had they known his status. Greg knew this very well. He had wanted to share his Olympic experience with his friend, Ryan White, but White was denied a Korean visa on the grounds that he was HIV positive.

“By 1994 I was still paying cash for all of my meds. I even paid $80,000 out of my own pocket for a hospitalisation bill because I was worried that if my insurance company picked up the bill the tabloids would find out. I needed to tell people so I decided to write a book. A friend of mine introduced me to a writer called Eric Marcus and we started writing together. The first thing Eric asked me was what was going through my head when I hit my head in Seoul; it was my concern for other people; I didn’t want anyone touching my blood. No one was going to get HIV from a chlorinated pool, but I hadn’t told the doctor who sewed up my head about my status. He was the one I felt bad for.”

When Louganis’ HIV status was made public, Dr James Puffer, the US Olympic team physician who treated Louganis in Seoul, announced he had since tested negative for HIV. He also said he did not fault Greg for not revealing his HIV status at the time. Louganis traces his infection to one of two previous long-term relationships: his previous boyfriends Jim and Kevin. Both are now dead.

“My dad always wanted to blame Jim because he didn’t like him, but it could have been either one of them,” Greg tells me. “When word was spreading about a ‘gay cancer’ I thought I was in a stable relationship. I didn’t know I wasn’t. Jim and I ended up being diagnosed around the same time. When I told a friend that my doctor wanted to put me on AZT right away, he started sobbing. A lot of his friends on AZT had wasted away. It was pretty toxic. Nowadays they prescribe it in much lower doses than they did back then.”

Greg’s achievements are made all the more remarkable when one understands the challenges he faced, particularly in 1988. These days however, Greg’s name is being mentioned in the same breath as that of a much younger diver. In May 2008, shortly before the Beijing Olympics, Matthew Mitcham announced he was gay in an interview with Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald. When did Greg first hear about Matthew?

“The first I heard was friends asking me if I’d seen the story,” he answers. “By the time he reached Beijing he was constantly being asked about me and vice versa. It was easy for me: I was at home so I could just not answer the phone. He was at the Olympics. There was no avoiding it. I understand why people make the comparison, but it’s really not fair on either of us. He’s his own person and that’s something I really tried to convey to him when I met him recently. He’s doing great. He’s just got to believe in himself and not worry about the other stuff.”

Like me, Greg watched on television as Matthew won Olympic gold in Beijing’s 10m-platform event. I ask him if his own wins flashed back at that moment?

“It wasn’t a flashback,” he tells me. “I just knew what he was going through. It was unfortunate that NBC’s commentary here in America was so distracting. Matthew was the only openly gay athlete competing in Beijing, but NBC ignored the wider story and referred to Matthew’s partner as his ‘friend.’ I have to admit my appreciation of the moment was overshadowed by my annoyance with what appeared to be censorship by NBC.”

The tennis player-turned-church leader attended the Australian Open today, despite speculation that she might get caught up in demonstrations by those opposed to her views.

Protest coordinator of last week’s flag-waving demonstrations, gay journalist Doug Pollard had said they were: “not asking for a lot of noise.”

The 69-year-old ex-tennis player said in a comment piece for the Melbourne Herald Sun, maintaining her stance on the subject:

“Let me be clear. I believe that a person’s sexuality is a choice. In the Bible it said that homosexuality is among sins that are works of the flesh,” she wrote.

“It is not something you are born with. My concern is that we are advocating to young people that it is OK to have these feelings.”

She goes on to say: “A nun at my primary school once gave me the cane and it was one of the best lessons of my life”.

Tennis legend and LGBT rights campaigner, Martina Navratilova, commented on Court’s “outdated” views earlier this week: “It is not about any one person,” she said. “It’s about human rights. It is a secular view, not a religious view.

“I have spoken to her years ago but she was all about Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. She repeated that four or five times so I just felt I couldn’t get through to her.”

Calls by Court’s opposition to rename the Margaret Court Arena after Martina Navratilova have been met with mixed responses.

Protesters are reportedly planning to wear rainbow colours and wave more rainbow flags on Friday.

British Tennis player, Laura Robson, caused a stir by wearing a rainbow coloured scrunchie whilst competing in the Open last week, but said she had not intended it as a political statement against Court’s views.

Causing controversy for the second time in a month, Court has made it clear that she won’t change her stance on gay marriage.

She said: “To target me and the tennis is a political stunt.”

She told the Herald Sun: “I love (gays), I even work with them… but what concerns me so much is the amount of hatred that has been directed at me.”

The Friends of Clapham Common opposed plans for the green space to host the LGBT event because it coincided with Pride London and would be used “exclusively” by gay, bi and trans people for two and a half weeks.

The group denies the objection was homophobic, saying all communities have “undesirable elements”.

Former Mayor of Lambeth Christopher Wellbelove today called the objection “incredibly offensive”.

The claims were part of a Lambeth Council consultation on Pride House, which will include live music, entertainment, LGBT art, sports and tournaments.

Creator Chad Molleken said it would “welcome athletes, dignitaries, media, Londoners and visitors from around the world with a dynamic and entertaining programme in support of the LGBT community”.

20,000 people are expected to attend Pride House during the Olympics. Stephen Fry and Peter Tatchell are among the patrons of the event.

The Friends also objected to the use of the common for Pride House because it would not “raise a decent income for Lambeth since much of it will be for charitable purposes benefitting the LGBT causes”.

In the consultation document, Lambeth Council responds to the Friends’ objection saying the event will be open to all, and adds: “Lambeth has a very diverse cultural community. The Council welcomes the important cultural, economic and social contribution the LGBT makes to the wellbeing of the borough.”

Christopher Wellbelove, now a Labour councillor, told PinkNews.co.uk: “The idea that this event is only for the LGBT community is clearly ridiculous, LGBT events are regularly attended by a wide spectrum of our community.

“Reference to ‘undesirables’ is incredibly offensive and exposes the real motivation for this objection. This is a huge opportunity for Clapham and Lambeth to participate in London 2012, showing their support Team GB during the games together with LGBT athletes from around the world.

“The event will also be a stance against homophobia such as the very unfortunate comments in the objections by the Friends which I would be surprised if it was truly representative of the Friends as a whole.

“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and will be seen by people around the globe demonstrating London (and Clapham) as a diverse community and promote inclusion and diversity which their comments only demonstrate the need for such an event.”

The Friends of Clapham Common had not responded to requests for comment by PinkNews.co.uk at the time of publication, but Chairwoman Melanie Oxley told the South London Press: “We have absolutely nothing to hide and are emphatically not homophobes.

“Our objections are based on the scale and length of the event.

“There are undesirable elements in any community.

“We fear greatly that numbers will get out of hand and the availability of alcohol for such a long duration will simply fuel an impossible situation for the police and the event organisers.” 

Ball, 32, admitted the charge of bringing the game into disrepute with his expletive-peppered tweet.

The hefty sanction is, the Daily Mirror reports, the highest ever handed down to a player for a homophobic incident.

Ball is the second footballer in recent months to vent on the micro-blogging site after a gay man appeared on a reality TV show.

The subject of the message was Antony Cotton, a gay actor most famous for his role as Sean Tully, a gay character on Coronation Street.

Cotton was appearing in I’m A Celebrity last year.

Ball went to his Twitter account, reportedly writing: “That fucking queer. Get back to your sewing machine in Corrie, you moaning bastard.”

The left-back, who has played for England once in a friendly against Spain, was let go by his club last night after joining on a one-year contract.

The club tweeted: “Leicester City have today reached a mutual agreement with Michael Ball for the cancellation of his contract.”

It has not indicated that Ball was released as a result of his conduct.

Earlier this month, Lee Steele was sacked by his club, Oxford City, for comments he made about gay rugby star Gareth Thomas’s appearance on Celebrity Big Brother.

Steele, 38, was let go after tweeting: “I wouldn’t fancy the bed next to Gareth Thomas #padlockeda**ehole”.

In the summer of 2011, Cotton received some anti-gay abuse from another Twitter user.

The actor was told by user ‘kittykatlovex’: “I hope you get AIDS and die you freak.”

He responded: “I think we should report this one to the police.”

Later, Cotton wrote: “Don’t worry tweeps – I’m not upset! She looks like Worzel Gummidge!”

He added: “It is important to stand up, speak out and stamp out homophobia.

“And for that reason it’s important that I stand up for myself and make a point at least.

“Homophobia has no place in our society.

“What anyone thinks of me, the actor off the telly, is none of my business.

“But as a gay man, I am proud of who I am and the community I am part of. Some people are gay, get over it.”

On entering the house the gay, Welsh national team player vowed that he would “be myself and prove my family proud,” and seems to have done so as he is now favourite to win by some stretch.

William Hill, Ladbrokes and Bet 365 all named 10/11 odds for Thomas to win, whilst the odds on Skybet were 4/5 and Betfair, 101/100.

Thomas, now retired from professional rugby, was not, however, party to the biggest gay controversy in the Big Brother house so far. On the first night, So-Solid Crew member, Romeo Dunn and Pineapple Dance Studios instructor Andrew Stone were shown in an awkward discussion around Stone’s sexuality.

Stone told Dunn: “Look, I’m straight. I’m very straight.”

Romeo initially expressed disbelief, but accepted what Stone said as the discussion went on.

Meanwhile, outside of the house, Lee Steele was sacked by Oxford City football club after posting a comment, which was deemed homophobic, about Thomas on Twitter.

Steele, 38, who now plays for Nantwich Town FC, wrote on Twitter: “I wouldn’t fancy the bed next to Gareth Thomas #padlockeda**ehole”. He later issued an apology for the comment through Nantwich Town FC, and said that it was intended to be “tongue in cheek.”

Michael Madsen is second favourite and Frankie Cocozza is third – according to oddschecker.com, but Thomas is the clear favourite to win.

Thomas also made the news recently, but for reasons other than his appearance on the reality TV show. He bought the drinks company Turbo Drinks with Gareth Williams, a fellow Welsh national rugby player, and his business partner Sean Smith in a £7m takeover deal.

Mickey Rourke, set to play Thomas in a film about his life, has also been training for the role at gay rugby club in Los Angeles.

Thomas will find out is fate at the final of Celebrity Big Brother, which will be shown on Channel 5, on the 27th January at 9pm.

Barton told a BBC3 documentary: “Certain managers will discriminate,” and “these archaic figures think if they had a gay footballer there would be all kinds of shenanigans in the dressing room.”

Max Clifford, who has apparently known several gay players too frightened to come out, said: “When they have come to me to protect their identity, they have made it very clear that their career would be finished if they were known to be gay.”

Coming out in the world of professional football is a topic which has been heating up recently, as the head of the German Football Association, Theo Zwanziger, recently promised the institution’s support for any player wishing to come out, and that they should take “courage” in doing so.

Philipp Lahm, the German football captain, was also quoted to have said “society is not ready for gay footballers.”

Barton, who was imprisoned in 2008 for six months over common assault and affray, is well known for not keeping his opinions to himself. He recently used Twitter to launch an attack on singer and convicted paedophile Gary Glitter, and earlier made comments highlighting the ‘hypocrisy’ in professional football.

The documentary, about sexuality in sport, will be aired on the 30th of January on BBC3. It is presented by gay footballer Justin Fashanu’s niece. Fashanu hanged himself in 1998 after years of struggling with homophobic bullying, and following an investigation into alleged sexual assault, which was dropped.

There are currently no openly gay professional footballers in Britain, and only two in the world.

Theo Zwanziger spoke during a discussion on Tuesday at the Sportschule Hennef, which was centered on sexuality within professional sports.

Zwanziger said that the situation is now the best ever for gay footballers and that they should take the “courage to declare themselves.”

This statement comes just days after the German football captain, Philipp Lahm, told press “society cannot accept gay footballers”.

Lahm, also the captain of Bayern Munich, went on to say, “Sure, politicians can now come out as homosexuals. But they don’t have to play in front of 60,000 spectators week after week,” according to Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung.

66-year-old Zwanziger made another pro-gay statement last year, reportedly promising the support of the German Football Association to any player wishing to come out.

Zwanziger is not the only German football figure encouraging players to come out. In 2011, Bayern Munich goalkeeper, Maunel Neuer, told Bunte that professional footballers should not fear coming out.

He said, “Those who are homosexual should say so. That would take a load off their minds. And the fans would get over it quickly.

“What is important to them is the performances on the pitch of the player, not his sexual preferences.”

Fellow Munich player, Mario Gomez told press in 2010, “Being gay should no longer be a taboo topic.”

There are currently only two openly gay professional footballers in the world, Anton Hysen and David Testo, neither of whom is German.

WalesOnline reports that the player bought the Turbo Drinks Company with his business partner Sean Smith and Gareth Williams, who was also a Welsh national team player, for around £7m.

The beverage company’s main product is the 4% shandy Turbo, which comes in a black bottle and is made from British lager and lemonade.

The manufacturer says the drink is taking the club world “by storm”, as it “appeals to both lager and alcopop drinkers due to being both a beer and a premix drink, bridging the gap between the two”.

Thomas, currently appearing in the Celebrity Big Brother house, has been in the news recently as the target of an offensive tweet which led to a footballer being sacked.

Lee Steele, who was let go by Oxford City, had said he “wouldn’t fancy” the bed next to Thomas and made a crude remark about protecting his body.

Steele apologised through his new club, Nantwich Town, saying the remark was “tongue-in-cheek”.

While Thomas is in the Celebrity Big Brother house, Sean Smith, of Sean Smith & Associates, told the paper about his partnership with the gay rugby star.

He said: “Gareth and I had months of painstaking talks about what he wanted to do with his career. We discussed things and there was an instant passion for the brand.”

Commenting on the job production the takeover and expansion of the drinks range would mean, he described the desire to create a “product for Wales”.

He said: “I really believe in this. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a millionaire and I watch the pennies like everybody else. But I really believe in Gareth and Gar [Williams], I have so much admiration for them.”

Wearing a rainbow-coloured scrunchie in her hair, Australian-born Robson, 17, left the court to questions from the press about her support for a peaceful protest against Margaret Court’s recent comments on the ‘choice’ of homosexuality.

The protest organizers came under fire by Bernie Finn, Liberal MP, on radio station Sydney Radio 2UE who described to have Court’s name removed from the arena as “rainbow fascism.”

Finn went on to say that some gay “extremists” had done a disservice to their own cause.

Robson told the press that she didn’t wear the hair band to make a political statement, and she “didn’t see anything about a protest”.

She said: “I wore it because I believe in equal rights for everyone. That’s it.”

The teen tennis star was aware of the comments made by Court, now an evangelical Christian church leader, but did not address her comments directly.

A few flags were visible, which did not cause a huge stir, but the protest coordinator Doug Pollard had said, “We are not asking for a lot of noise,” but they “ just wanted to say that we don’t agree with all the lies Margaret Court has been peddling. “

Court also later denied homophobia, but said in an interview with the New York Times that it was the “choice” she took issue with, rather than the person themselves.

Tennis Australia, the Australian governing body over the sport distanced themselves from Court’s comments and issued a statement which said: “We concur wholeheartedly with the WTA [Women's Tennis Association] who stated that ‘all human beings, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or otherwise, should be treated equally.’”

Openly gay tennis player Martina Navratilova, who came out in two decades ago, told tennischannel.com: “A lot of people have evolved, as has the Bible. Unfortunately, Margaret Court has not … Her myopic view is truly frightening as well as damaging to the thousands of children already living in same-gender families.”

Laura Robson’s accidental protest overshadowed her performance in the competition, which she exited in the first round after 69 minutes.

Speaking to Fr-Online.de, Lahm likened football fans to spectators in a gladiatorial arena, and attributed the difficulty in acceptance to the “politically incorrect” nature of the sport.

He said: “The football stadium is rarely politically correct. Football is like gladiatorial combat. I do not think that society is at the point where it can accept gay professional footballers, as is already possible in other areas.”

The 28-year-old also went on to discuss the issues of depression and “burning out” which he said are still, in some cases, regarded as weakness within the football industry.

Lahm has previously been said to have advised professional footballers not to come out if they are gay, whilst dismissing rumours that he is gay himself.

He also went on to downplay alleged rifts between himself and Michael Ballack, his predecessor as German captain, saying: “I think our relationship is made worse in public than it actually is.”

There are currently two openly gay professional footballers in the world: Anton Hysen and David Testo.

Hysen, 21, came out in 2011 and in an interview later that year said: “The worst thing a player can think of is the reactions from the fans, and their family and teammates.

“But if you’re secure in yourself, it shouldn’t matter. If you just focus on football and what you like and what you’re good at, it shouldn’t matter.”

Testo, 30, came out earlier this year saying: “I really do regret not coming out publicly earlier”.

“It’s like carrying around a secret, you know, and carrying around luggage and just never being allowed to be yourself.”

Flag-owners are being called on after the former world number one made inflammatory comments about gays last month.

Court is now a minister and has an arena named in her honour at the annual tournament.

Court, 69, prompted a row with other tennis greats by saying gays were “aggressively demanding marriage rights that are not theirs to take”.

A Facebook group has the aim of providing “peaceful, non-disruptive support for the gay community by inundating [Margaret Court Arena] with rainbow flags during the Australian Open” has over 1,700 supporters.

Protest coordinator, the gay journalist Doug Pollard said: “We are not asking for a lot of noise.”

“We just want to say that we don’t agree with all the lies Margaret Court has been peddling.

“People think that she has got away with it for too long and have heard enough of her trading in on her tennis halo.”

Craig Tiley, the Australian Open’s director, said: “People have every right to express their views and that extends to those who want to attend the tennis on Monday and wear the rainbow colours. Indeed we embrace their right to do so.

“We do remind though, that we are running a Grand Slam tennis event and as such are conscious of ensuring there is no disruption to play or to the experience of the thousands of fans who flock to the Australian Open every year.”

Court reportedly told The Australian she would still attend the competition if there were protests, saying: “I don’t run from anything.”

On Twitter, user @paulkidd said it was a “lovely day for tennis, and for standing up against homophobia.”

Court insisted her comments had been taken the wrong way if people concluded she took issue with gay people rather than the “choice” of homosexuality.

She said: “I think there’s young people today that need to know it’s a choice in life. And that was my side of it, bringing that forth. I’ve got nothing against the people themselves, I’ve always said that all the years I’ve been a minister.”

In advance of the tournament, Doug Pollard tweeted: “Margaret Court says lesbians ‘ruined’ tennis: yeah, like gay men ‘ruined’ musical theatre!”

In opposition to the rainbow flag display, a Facebook group entitled “No Rainbow Flags Over Margaret Court Arena” calls for people to stop “hassling” public figures and leave the tennis tournament “for the tennis”.

Administrators wrote that complaints about the page were “boring dribble, and typical of the arrogant, self centred approach, of the gay community. As always, all too willing to turn whatever forum they can, into a massive arguament about ‘gay rights’.”