Gay referee soccer
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I've struggled and I've tried to get through it in my own way and made poor decisions in doing so.
“I hope that others make better decisions and that referees are given an easier ride in the levels of scrutiny, and levels of abuse that come in their direction. And so I found myself in that position — escaping.
“I've had long periods where I've not used it — but it was one of the escape routes I had.
"I can't resonate with how I felt then, but that was me.
"I was struggling with the schedule and there was no opportunity to stop.
Ryan Atkin, who has refereed both in the English Football League and National League, shared his experience of coming out as a gay man in the world of sport. And that's led me to a whole course of behaviors.”
Coote said he was “not sober” when he gave his personal opinions on Klopp and Liverpool, adding the video was taped by a friend and he had forgotten about it.
“The video has been sat with somebody for four years, I'd forgotten it existed,” Coote said.
"I was sat waiting for my car to be serviced and I received a call to say that this video has surfaced on social media.
Follow BBC Devon on X, Facebook and Instagram. Now he’s taking a stand against the hatred he’s been subjected to since he came out as a gay man on social media about two years ago at the age of 19.
Tomillero spoke to The Bleacher Report about the dangers he faced. “I am always afraid — afraid of insults and wondering, “What will happen today?
They may not show them, but it will impact them when they're receiving abuse. Will they hit me? I hope this shines a light on the impact it can have on a person.”
Gay referee says football has to 'drive out hate'
Archie FarmerBBC News, South West
A football referee from Plymouth is calling on clubs to do more to tackle homophobia and racism within the game.
Send your story ideas to spotlight@bbc.co.uk.
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Just getting away from the stresses, the relentlessness of the job. You can tell from the video I clearly wasn't sober and I deeply regret that I found myself in that position.“The first thing I want to do is apologize to anyone I've offended by my actions.
I recognized they fell well short of standards that are expected of a top-level referee and I deeply regret saying what I said.”
Shortly after the first video, another video was published by The Sun showing him using cocaine during the European Championship last year.
“I don't recognize myself in the cocaine video,” Coote said.
How will the match go? But I'm not telling an authentic story if I don't say that I'm gay, and that I've had real struggles with hiding that.
“I hid my emotions as a young ref and I hid my sexuality as well — a good quality as a referee but a terrible quality as a human being. Coote was fired in December after an investigation by the English referees' body.
In an interview with The Sun, Coote said: "My sexuality isn't the only reason that led me to be in that position.
What am I doing here? I don’t feel like refereeing.
In August 2017, he became the first man refereeing in England's professional leagues to come out as openly gay.
He appeared on an episode of the LGBT Sport Podcast this week to urge football to do more to combat prejudice.
"Football must take positive steps and it must take it now to drive the hate out", he said.
"So many football clubs have top of the range security so people shouldn't be able to hide anymore.
"Just because you're a paying member of public attending a football game, it doesn't give you the right to abuse other people."
Mr Atkin said: "Is homophobia or racism taken seriously?
What will I do?'”
As a result of his experiences, Tomillero founded and now presides over Roja Directa Andalucia-LGBTI, an organization in Spain that advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex people who are victims of homophobia in the sports world.