Justin Fashanu

In 1990, English footballer Justin Fashanu publicly came out as gay in an interview with the tabloid press, becoming the only prominent player in English football so far to do so. Many former colleagues spoke out in anger against him, stating that homosexuals had no place in a team sport, and his brother John publicly disowned him. Although he claimed that he was generally well accepted by his fellow players, he freely admitted that they would often joke maliciously about his sexual orientation, and he also became the target of constant crowd abuse because of it. He began a trial with Newcastle United on 24 October 1991, but he never played a first-team game for the club and manager Ossie Ardiles refused to give him a permanent contract. In 1998 he was questioned by American police when a 17-year-old accused him of sexual assault. The police dropped the allegation because of lack of evidence, but Fashanu committed suicide in May of that year, protesting that he had "already been presumed guilty". [Source: Wikipedia]