John Amaechi OBE

I wasn’t sure I would ever come out publicly.

Until I attended Manchester Pride one year, and noticed a teenage boy watching the parade from the Cathedral gardens, hiding behind the tombstones.

As Ian McKellen drove by on the back of a pink Cadillac, he waved in the boy’s general direction.

I watched as this shy kid, previously too embarrassed to come out from his hiding place, emerged from his shell – just for a minute.

I thought:

‘Maybe I could do that for people who don’t look like Ian McKellen.’

People need to know that Black people can be gay. And that one does not make the other lesser.

And so I made the decision to come out.

#PrideMonth

Coming out as a professional sports player is not something to be underestimated.

We often talk flippantly about courage, but it's in moments like these we see it in its rawest and truest form.

Jake Daniels has just made thousands of young people feel accepted and represented - and should feel immensely proud.