Joey Barton aiming to tackle homophobia in football with 'rainbow bootlace' campaign

Queens Park Rangers player Joey Barton is reportedly aiming to stop homophobia in football by encouraging the sport to accept its gay players like other sports.

The midfielder is spearheading a campaign by Irish bookmaker Paddy Power and gay charity Stonewall to get footballers to don rainbow bootlaces this weekend in support of homosexuality.

According to Metro.co.uk, the laces have been sent to footballers from 134 British professional teams to promote the Right Behind Gay Footballers message, which aims to tackle homophobia in the national game.

Stating that the campaign represents a discussion which he believes should not be an issue at all, Barton said that the politicians and lawmakers are guilty of not taking a tough stance to tackle the problem, adding that despite having a liberal democracy, Britain still has to face this problem in 2013.

However, Barton hoped for the issue to gradually decrease from previous proportions, saying that as he believes that the modern-day footballer is open-minded and that people's sexuality has become less of an issue now, he hopes that a large number of players will get behind the campaign.

However, Barton admitted that it would not be easy for the first British player to come out until the game makes it easier for gay players to do so despite former rugby star Gareth Thomas and cricketer Steven Davies being openly gay.

The report adding that former footballer Justin Fashanu committed suicide years later after revealing that he was gay in 1997, while American soccer player Robbie Rogers came out earlier this year.