That's a very valid point, haven't thought of that before. They may also be afraid of the reaction from the stands. When you see what some black players must endure in certain stadiums I understand that they are reluctant to be honest about it.
Breaks my heart, really. Imagine not being able/allowed to love. It must be very hard mentally.
Its interesting you mention racism.
I remember when Justin Fashanu came out. 1989/1990 ish. The following Saturday his brother John got a lot of stick about it at the game he was playing in. Cat calls, wolf whistling etc. He scored a great goal. From his point of view I suppose the homophobic stuff made a change from the racism he usually had to endure. To be fair John Fashanu's views on his brother and sexuality weren't the best either to say the least.
I was at The Arsenal Stadium approx. 30 years ago to the week (God I'm getting old) for the opening fixture of the 1987-88 season to see John Barnes and Peter Beardsley make their debuts. I clearly recall standing in the corner of the Clock End in the away section as we defended a corner in the first half and John Barnes took up his position at the near post. A banana flew from over my head and landed at John Barnes' feet. He picked it up and threw it behind the goal. A few minutes later, same situation. this time the banana wasn't as accurate and it landed near Charlie Nicholas who picked it up, shook his head at the crowd and threw it behind the goal.
I'm not saying things like this don't happen anymore but we have generally moved on a lot with racism in football and I believe we would be a lot more grown up about homophobia as well. I hope.
About 5 years ago on the front page of the Mirror they had a picture of a fan at Stamford Bridge with his hands under his armpits and an oval shape to his mouth. He was monkey chanting Danny Welbeck (I think it was Welbeck). ONE bloke....on the front page of the paper.
I went to Stamford Bridge, last league game of the season, a week before the Cup Final in 1988 for Chelsea 1 Liverpool 1 and the stick Digger took was untold. 3 sides of the ground monkey chanting. Not one bloke. Thousands. This isn't an anti Chelsea thing either because we weren't always the best either. 'De-Oh, De-Oh, Daylight come and me wanna go home'. I haven't forgotten that ringing round Anfield.
I really do think we as fans have moved on a lot. I don't think someone coming out now would be the stuff of nightmares but who knows.