Gay Australian Footballer Josh Cavallo Speaks Against Qatar Hosting World Cup

Gay Australian footballer Josh Cavallo is speaking out against the World Cup being hosted by Qatar, where homosexuality is criminalized.

As reported by CNN, Cavallo said it is "quite concerning" for his team to be headed to Qatar to compete where he can treated like a criminal over his sexuality.

After announcing his sexuality last year, Cavallo became the first active and out football player. He early on expressed that he would be "scared" to play in Qatar. And he shared that he gets a lot of messages from LGBTQ people living in Qatar.

"You get a lot of messages via social media of people in countries like Qatar and they say: 'Josh, please help me. I want to come out, I want to be myself but they're going to criminalize me. I'm going to get the death penalty,'" he shared.

To assuage Cavallo's fears, Nasser Al Khater, the chief executive of the tournament's organizing committee, told CNN that Cavallo would be "welcome" in the state.

"Nobody feels threatened here, nobody feels unsafe," he shared.

"I know personally, if I go there, I will be protected because I'm in the public eye," Cavallo told CNN. "But it's not me that I'm worried about. It's those ones that are messaging me. It's those people that aren't in the public eye that are scared to even be themselves and walk the streets."

Cavallo was recently named "Man of the Year" by Attitude Magazine, and he shared the importance of other footballers with big public followings to uphold their stances as LGBTQ allies. David Beckham was reportedly paid millions by Qatar to be an ambassador and was criticized by the Gulf state's first openly gay resident for making no mention of the state's criminalization of homosexuality.

"Look, I don't know David personally, so I can't really comment on him and his actions," Cavallo said about the situation, "but having allies in the game is really helpful and when I came out to my changing room, my teammates and to see the reception – every single one of them is an ally of me."

He added, "If someone like David Beckham with his platform does get around us and becomes an ally that we we are wanting him to be, it is really helpful."

If Beckham can truly show what it means to be an ally, "that would be fantastic," said Cavallo.