Just by being himself, professional footballer Josh Cavallo has made history.
In October, the Adelaide United player posted a statement to social media about his sexuality.
"I am proud to publicly announce that I am gay," Josh shared in an Instagram post, making him the only current top-flight male professional footballer in the world to come out.
"It's been a journey to get to this point in my life, but I couldn't be happier with my decision to come out," Josh continued. "I have been fighting my sexuality for six years now, and I'm glad I can put that to rest."
Josh shared further comments about the difficulty he has faced navigating his sexuality in the sporting arena as well as the public eye.
"Being a gay closeted footballer, I've had to learn to mask my feelings in order to fit the mould of a professional footballer," he wrote.
"Growing up being gay and playing football were just two worlds that hadn't crossed paths before. I've lived my life assuming that this was a topic never to be spoken about."
In an emotional video following his statement, Josh said he grew up feeling ashamed he'd never be able to do what he loves and be himself.
"All I want to do is play football and be treated equally," he said.
Following his announcement, the 21-year-old football player received an outpouring of support from both the international football community and the LGBTQI+ community.
"I definitely think the culture needs to change [so that] people can be themselves and they don't have to put on a brave face."
Team sport became Katrina's safe space after experiencing adversity in school.
"At school, nobody had really come out, and no one understood what that meant... and in a schooling environment, people aren't that nice and they'll pick on anything," she said.
"We definitely got bullied, and as footballers, we're a bit more strong and not [always] the 'girly girl' type - I definitely wasn't - so, I'd get called a boy and things like that.
"As a 14, 15-year-old kid you don't really realise why it's happening until you look back now, and I'm really proud of who I am and who I love," she said.
Katrina and her teammates find the culture of female football to be "pretty accepting of everyone and everything."
"We knew people had had struggles in the past, whether that was coming out or being gay or through other issues in their life - we always helped each other through it," she said.
"It's definitely something we're really proud of as footballers."
She hopes that Josh coming out will create a positive change in the male side of the sport and steer them in the same direction.
"It's a massive conversation that needs to be had, especially across the male game. It's scary to think so many people are living in a shadow at the moment," she said.
"Hopefully this changes things."
Feature image: Instagram/@joshua.cavallo and Getty.
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