The Justin Campaign Responds To John's Fashanu's Comments

The Justin Campaign is shocked and disappointed to hear John Fashanu’s recent comments about his brother’s sexuality.

John has stated that he does not believe that Justin was gay, but that he was simply ‘looking for attention’.

We do not know why John has decided to make these statements now, particularly coming not long after the airing of BBC3’s documentary “Britain’s Gay Footballers”, which was presented by John’s daughter, Amal. The programme, which also featured John, received a huge amount of positive feedback and goodwill.

However, we are not interested in judging John or his statements, as difficult as they are to digest. Instead, we want to use this situation to reiterate our respect for what Justin achieved in his life and to continue to honour his memory by keeping up the fight for equality for all in football.

The Justin Campaign has achieved so much over the past few years and this year, in particular, there have been some massive positive steps made by the football family in dealing with homophobia. Most recently, the third edition of the campaign’s annual Football v Homophobia initiative saw over 20 professional clubs, including eight from the Premier League, get involved.

Things are changing for the better, and we hope that we are slowly but surely moving towards a time when a footballer, if he chose to come out, would receive the kind of support and help which was so sadly lacking for Justin himself.

Founding Director of the Justin Campaign, Jason Hall, said: “Many years ago, Justin courageously decided to leave the closet well and truly behind him. While Justin may no longer be with us, we should continue to respect that and not attempt to put him back in it.”

You can read the article in question here - http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/john-fashanu-brother-justin-wasnt-764445

For more information, please contact Alan Duffy – alan@thejustincampaign.com / 0781 4347566