It’s right in the midst of Awards season, and if Queerguru had one to give for Queer Hero , then we would undoubtedly be giving it to Jake Daniels.  Three years ago, just aged 17, he became the first British active male professional footballer to come out as gay in more than 30 years. Its hard to believe, especially as his predecessor, Justin Fashanu, had come out in 1990 towards the end of his football career and endured years of hostility and homophobic abuse from everyone before taking his own life at the age of 37.

When Daniels hit the headlines, he became an overnight star and even Vogue interviewed him. That’s really when we fell in love with him once we read he didn’t come out in order to reveal the secret life he was already living. He came out so he could begin living his life.  And he’s off to a good start with his first ever boyfriend, 46-year-old Mark who Jake publicly declared as his soul mate.

If ‘coming out’ in such an overtly heterosexual environment wasn’t enough to show what a big set of balls Daniels has, then his public rebuke of a footballing superstar did. David Beckham, who had always previously stood up for gay rights, never hesitated to sell out to Qatar for a multi-million dollar deal, even though they are one of the few violently anti-gay countries that still imprison people for being queer.  Daniels said  “That felt like backtracking from him. He shouldn’t have signed it. By signing with [Qatar], you’re saying you don’t care, you’re with them.” He liked the comedian Joe Lycett’s stunt, in which he threatened to shred £10,000 on live TV if Beckham refused to cancel his deal, though he wasn’t surprised that the former England captain didn’t.’   

Not everyone has a price ….. but Beckham definitely does