Secret pain that’s kept locked up in the closet

Wonder how many young gay footballers in the UK have ever heard of Stanley Baxter?

They weren’t around when Baxter ruled the airwaves and yet, it turns out, they have much in common with the 94-year- old entertainer.

Many of them will be the grandsons of individuals who gathered round TV sets in the 60s and 70s to watch the country’s best-loved – and most outrageous – performer.

And because Baxter’s star status lasted several generations, their parents were l i kely among the millions who belly-laughed at the man who invented Parliamo Glasgow.

Today’s lads couldn’t even translate “Raperorum Tummul- tinty Bed”, even though that’s probably what hat their parents did to bring ng them into existence (“the he pair of them tumbled into nto bed”– for those who don’t n’t speak the lingo).

But what these young sportsmen share with this elderly, reclusive actor is fear, a terror that homophobia will destroy their careers, and their lives.

Baxter has, at the age of 94, finally felt able to emerge from the closet.

He hasn’t burst out singing a bawdy song while done up in the high- drag of his panto days. He’s stepped out cautiously but bravely in his f irst authorised biography – The Real Stanley Baxter by Brian Beacom – and the anguish of keeping his secret is very much in evidence.

“There are many gay people these days who are fairly comfortable with their sexuality,” he says. “I’m not. I never wanted to be gay. I still don’t. Anyone would be insane to choose to live such a very difficult life.”

Every time I read that quote, it makes me sad. It’s a brutal irony that someone who brought joy and laughter and light to so many should have spent his entire life hiding from attention, reluctant to leave his London flat and wracked with guilt because the fall-out affected people around him.

His late wife Moira knew he was gay before they married but struggled terribly with mental health and died of an overdose.

We could say that Baxter’s is an agony of the past. He is of different times. It’s still hard to believe that homosexuality was illegal in Scotland right up till 1980. We’ve certainly moved on but not far enough, even in the relatively diverse world of showbiz.

Phi l lip Schofield, who recently revealed he is gay, says the pressure at times made him physically ill

In these enlightened days of samesex marriages and LGBTQ rights, gay men and women – no matter how high- prof ile – should be free to live their lives and do their jobs without fear of judgement or discrimination or abuse.

But that’s not reality, is it? If it was, surely those young professional footballers would COURAGE Stanley Baxter not be following in Baxter’s footsteps by keeping their sexuality hidden.

Official statistics show that around 2.5 per cent of the male population in the UK identify as gay or bisexual – that would mean about 14 of the 558 players in the English Premier League or about eight in the top Scottish league. Not one is openly gay. In fact, the only openly gay footballer in the UK is Weatherfield County’s James Bailey (played by actor Nathan Graham) since Coronation Street chose to delve into the storyline.

In an open letter written for a campaigning charity, one real- life Premier League player explained why he doesn’t want to “live like this forever”.

“I am at an age where I would love to be in a relationship,” he says. “But because of the job I do the level of trust in having a long-term partner has to be extremely high. So I avoid relationships. The truth is I just don’t think football is ready yet for a player to come out.”

Now there’s another comment which is achingly sad and not so different from Baxter, eh? He left it very late to “come out”. But it was important to do so. And the courage of this impressionist should be inspiration to young men struggling today. In the end, the only thing that matters is being themselves.

Anyone would be insane to live choose to such a very life difficult