CASEY STONEY has hailed the Rainbow Laces campaign after revealing football “saved her life”.
The Manchester United boss first spoke openly about being gay in 2014 and now has three children with her partner Megan Harris, who she played with at Lincoln.
Casey Stoney says the Rainbow Laces campaign has hugely impacted her life
Stoney’s Red Devils will wear rainbow laces for the next two weekends – to press home the WSL’s commitment to diversity in its partnership with LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall.
The former Arsenal skipper, 38, believes the campaign has had a huge impact on her own life as an openly gay footballer.
She said: “I won’t hide away from that. I think there were times in my life where sport probably saved my life to be honest.
“You can struggle with sexuality. Living online now is probably even more difficult as a gay person because of the amount people can say to you and the things you can read.
“Being able to come away from technology, play sports and just be yourself and be valued for what you do as a person and as your job, I think is key.”
Stoney has 116 caps for her country and also captained Great Britain.
And by publicly coming out, she became the most high-profile active gay footballer in England at the time.
She continued: “It’s about visibility and awareness isn’t it.
It should be about normalising that love is love.
Casey Stoney
“I don’t hide away from the fact it massively impacts on my life and has done for many years.
“Campaigns like this – I hate the word acceptance because it shouldn’t be about acceptance.
“It should be about normalising that love is love.
“It shouldn’t be anything other than that or viewed in that way. Campaigns like these are about visibility and raising awareness and it’s important.”
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
