LGBTQ community attacks Beckham, calls him a hypocrite for supporting gay footballer

David Beckham, one of the most recognized figures in world soccer, has become the target of criticism from the LGBTQ community, accusing the fashion icon of being hypocritical after he decided to support the normalization of homosexuality in professional sports.

This controversy has arisen after the former Manchester United and Real Madrid player publicly supported young Jake Daniels.

The 17-year-old Blackpool midfielder came out of the closet a few days ago and thus became the first active professional footballer in the UK to make public that he is gay since the late Justin Fashanu in 1990.

Beckham's words of support for Jake Daniels

"It's a shame that when someone does come out that it's such a strange thing. I've always felt that way about when someone does come out, it shouldn't be," Beckham wrote in a statement.

"At the end of the day there will be a huge amount of gay people in sports, and why should they be any different from anyone else?" he added.

Gay magazine responds to Beckham

However, gay magazine Attitude was quick to respond to Beckham's words by reminding him that he seeks to publicly support gay athletes while adding millions of dollars to his fortune by being the face of the World Cup in Qatar, where marriage and same-sex relationships are banned.

"Beckham asks why gay people in sport should be any different to anyone else. One reason that David might consider is that in many places around the world queer people are not only marginalised and oppressed but also persecuted. One such place is Qatar, a country that he is about to become the face of," reads the magazine's press release.

The Qatari government reportedly paid the owner of MLS's Inter Miami around $187 million to be the face of the World Cup this coming winter.