In December 2020, Jordan Henderson was emphatic in his support for the LGBTQ+ community. “You’ll never walk alone, Keith,” he told a fan who had detailed to the England international about coming out as gay aged 17 and the struggle he faced during his teenage years.
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Henderson continued: “If wearing the rainbow laces armband helps even just one person then it’s progress. Everyone is welcome at Liverpool Football Club.”
It was not Henderson’s first foray into full, unwavering, unambiguous support for the community. Keith was responding to a tweet from the Liverpool midfielder in which he proudly told his followers that: “Football is for everyone. No matter what.”
The accompanying picture showed him wearing a rainbow-coloured captain’s armband, part of the Premier League’s rainbow laces campaign. When many of his England team-mates refused to divulge their views on World Cup hosts Qatar’s human rights record, Henderson boldly stuck his head above the parapet.
The 33-year-old said the country’s treatment of its LGBTQ+ community and women was “shocking, disappointing and horrendous”.
Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson has actively supported the LGBTQ community (Image: Getty)
Henderson, the captain of Liverpool, the man who lifted the club’s first top-flight title in 30 years and an England international since 2010, is - or, perhaps, was - one of the LGBTQ+ community’s strongest and most high-profile allies within a sport where there remains enormous stigma for LGBTQ+ players, fans, staff and other stakeholders.
Kop Out, one of Liverpool’s LGBTQ+ fan groups, has said it is “appalled and concerned” by the possible move. To complete the transfer would be for Henderson to ditch that allyship, for he will have become one of the many new faces of a project desperately washing its hands of blood.
This is not just about Henderson’s possible decision, even if some of the framing of a Premier League footballer - already earning a reported £160,000 per-week - being offered a “life-changing” contract is particularly galling. It is about the exhausting false hope that the LGBTQ+ community constantly faces.
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Jordan Henderson is reportedly considering a transfer to Saudi Arabia (Image: Getty)
For decades, LGBTQ+ football fans have come so close to finding heroes with whom they can identify, a high-profile individual who even if not sharing their identity, actively supports its rights. In a sport where there has not been an openly gay top-flight footballer in men’s football this century, just one of England’s best players voicing their solidarity with the community felt momentous.
But more often than not the community’s optimism has not come to pass, instead tossed back in their faces. Henderson moving to Saudi Arabia to take home £700,000 per week will be an extension of just that. Any of the usual tiring nonsense about hoping to change the culture should be met with derision.
Jordan Henderson slammed Qatar's human rights record as "shocking, disappointing and horrendous" (Image: Getty)
Even when the simple act of wearing a rainbow-themed captain’s armband adorning the phrase ‘One Love’ became a possibility at the World Cup, it turned out that sporting such colours was a yellow or red card offence - depending on whose spin you had the misfortune of consuming.
Go back further to when there was an anonymous Twitter account claiming to be a Premier League footballer preparing to come out as gay. What should have been a seismic moment for LGBTQ+ rights was ultimately a hoax, the account disappearing without a trace.
Those within the community can be forgiven for never believing anything ever again, for PR stunts and money seem far more important than allyship.
The transfer has not happened yet. Henderson could decide to stick by the values he has vocally claimed to possess. Becoming the first elite footballer to publicly reject Saudi’s sportswashing and declare solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community would be a huge victory.
Express Sport has contacted Jordan Henderson for comment.