A former footballer once on Kilmarnock’s books has become only the second British professional men’s player to come out.
Thomas Beattie did not feel that he could reveal he was gay when he began his career in Hull City’s youth team.
He crossed the Atlantic aged 19 to complete a football scholarship at Limestone College, in Gaffney, South Carolina.
After graduating, he spent time at Kilmarnock FC and Sandefjord Fotball in Norway before playing in Canada and Singapore.
He then set up tech firms in the Far East.
Beattie, 33, is only the second British full-time men’s pro to come out, 30 years after ex-Norwich City and Hearts star Justin Fashanu in 1990.
Fashanu killed himself in 1998, aged 37.
Former Aston Villa midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger came out in 2014, a year after LA Galaxy’s Robbie Rogers.
Beattie told Advocate magazine: “I never thought about coming out while playing. I used football as a form of escapism.”
