MP David Mundell has heaped praise on a young professional footballer who came out as gay – almost six years after the politician took the same brave step.
The Dumfriesshire representative retweeted a video by 21-year-old Josh Cavallo that has gone viral online.
Josh, a footballer with Adelaide United in Australia, shared a powerful and emotional short video publicly admitting he was gay.
In it, he said: “I’m tired trying to perform at the best of your ability, and to live this double life – it’s exhausting.
“It’s something that I don’t want anyone to experience.”
The three-minute video titled Josh’s Truth struck a chord with Mr Mundell as he also came out in January 2016.
He was believed to be the first openly-gay Conservative cabinet minister.
The 59-year-old politician said: “He is to be absolutely commended. There are one or two footballers who have come out previously and, given the number of professional footballers there are, those have been miniscule and it tends to be when they are at the end of their career.
“So, for somebody who is just 21 and building their career to make that statement was a really positive thing.
“As I’ve said before, I hope we get to a stage where people don’t have to ‘come out’ as such – but we’re not there yet.
“Particularly in an area like football, I think it is important this is done.
“It was emotional, an extremely brave thing to do, and it was very, very genuine.
“He was struggling to get through it, but you also see at the end of it that he feels a burden lifted.
“Obviously all the feedback he’s had was overwhelmingly positive. That’s an experience I had myself, but it’s still tough.
“I always feel that everybody has to do what’s right for them. There aren’t and shouldn’t be any set rules that you have to come out in a certain way, or whatever.”
Josh’s video was viewed more than seven million times in the 24 hours after it was released.
He said: “Growing up I always felt the need to hide myself because I was ashamed. I was ashamed I’d never be able to do what I love and be gay.
“Hiding who I truly am to pursue a dream I always wished for as a kid. All I want to do is play football and be treated equally.”
Crying during the video, Josh said: “I thought people would think of me differently when they found out. They would start treating me differently. They would start saying bad things about me, or making fun out of me.
“That’s not the case. If anything, you will earn more respect from people.
“Coming out to my loved ones, to my peers, my friends, my team-mates, and my coaches has been incredible.
“The response and support I have received is immense. It’s starting to make me think ‘Why have I been hiding this burden for so long?’.
“I want to inspire and show people that it’s okay to be yourself and play football. It’s okay to be gay and play football.
“Be yourself. You were meant to be yourself, not someone else.”
