Worth noting is that England's Sports Minister Tony Banks, who has the appearance of a heart-throb silverfox, has called for Britain's gay football players to "come out" to help combat homophobia in sport.

Mr Banks said if there were one or two stars or sports heroes who could "declare their sexuality" it would help to start dealing with the problem.

He told the BBC Radio 4's "Today" program: "Unless we can raise the issue, unless we can actually discuss it then quite frankly people will pretend it doesn't exist."

"But," Mr Banks added, "I have to admit that it would be a very, very brave footballer who admits he is gay and then goes out on the pitch."

Mr Banks suggested that statistically there must be a large number of gay footballers and fans. It must be confronted.'

"If they have to submerge this sexuality in a macho display because that is what is expected of them then, frankly, they don't feel - and I would agree - that they can give of their best either in terms of their athletic prowess or support."

He said homophobia was something which "it is difficult to legislate for" but it is something "which must be confronted. A feeling is beginning to grow that sport is twisted if it isn't inclusive. Clearly it isn't if there is a great deal of homophobia in sport.

"It isn't just football, incidentally," he added. "It extends across all sport."

His statement follows a major argument over homophobic taunts on the field involving two star players, as well as last year's suicide by a popular black athlete who seemed to have been able to endure prejudice about both his color and his homosexuality until a homosexual involvement created a scandal when he visited the United States, which led to his hanging himself.

Mr Banks also told the BBC: "As long as people stay in the closet, people who are professional footballers or professional anything else, the problem is not going to be resolved."

Thanks, Mr Banks, for making statements no American politician near the top of government would dare to make. Just as when Prime Minister Tony Blair recently called for universal cooperation in Britain in overcoming racial hatred and homophobia after the Soho bombing, it seems that some British politicians are trying to make the world a better and safer place in which to live as what we are, naturally homosexual as much as others are naturally heterosexual.

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