Marcus Urban
Marcus Urban | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Bauhaus-Universität, Weimar | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation(s) | Diversity adviser; life coach | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Organization(s) | FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt; Verein für Vielfalt in Sport und Gesellschaft | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Known for | Football player; spokesperson for LGBT issues | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Website | www | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Marcus Urban (born 4 August 1971, earlier Marcus Schneider
As a child, he took on his step-father's surname, Schneider, but as an adult he changed it back to his mother's maiden name.[4]
In 2008, the sports journalist Ronny Blaschke published an authorised biography of Urban. This is titled Versteckspieler: Die Geschichte des schwulen Fußballers Marcus Urban ('Hidden Player: the story of the gay footballer Marcus Urban')[4][5]
Life
Urban was born and grew up in the city of
In 1990, he was given an amateur contract to play for Rot-Weiß Erfurt. He played against future players of the German national team such as Bernd Schneider, Thomas Linke, Steffen Freund and Frank Rost.[3][2] He was about to become a professional football player, but in 1991, he decided to quit due to the pressure of having to hide his homosexuality from the football world.[6]
In 1991, he began studies in urban and regional planning at
Urban came out to family and friends in 1994, but it was not until 13 years later, in 2007, that he publicly came out in an interview with the newspaper Welt am Sonntag in which he spoke about the difficulties of gay football players.[6] A year later, his biography was published.[5] Grand Hotel Pictures, a Berlin film production company, started developing a film based on the book in 2009, but as at July 2017, nothing had been released.[7][4]
Today, he is an adviser on
Urban is on the management team of the Verein für Vielfalt in Sport und Gesellschaft ('Association for Diversity in Sport and Business').[10] In March 2010 he co-founded the diversity expertise network Fußball für Vielfalt ('Football for Diversity'), originally called Fußball gegen Homophobie. This is a project of the de:Bundesstiftung Magnus Hirschfeld ('Federal Foundation of Magnus Hirschfield'), an organisation that aims to carry on the work of the pioneering social scientist Magnus Hirschfeld (1868-1935), researching LGBT issues and seeking to prevent social discrimination against the LGBT community in Germany.[6][11]
As at May 2017, Marcus Urban lives in Berlin with his partner. He plays football in the over 40s team for Hertha BSC.[6]
Further reading
- Beasley, Neil (2016) Football's Coming Out: Life as a Gay Fan and Player. [London]: Floodlit Dreams Ltd. ISBN 978-0992658564
- Blaschke, Ronny (2008) Versteckspieler: Die Geschichte des schwulen Fußballers Marcus Urban. Göttingen: Verlag Die Werkstatt. ISBN 978-3895336119
- Leibfried, Dirk; Erb, Andreas (2011) Das Schweigen der Männer: Homosexualität im deutschen Fußball. Göttingen: Verlag Die Werkstatt. ISBN 978-3895338151
- Magrath, Rory (2016) Inclusive Masculinities in Contemporary Football: Men in the Beautiful Game. Abingdon: Routledge. ISBN 978-1138653610
- Rohlwing, Christoph(2015) Homosexualität im deutschen Profifußball: Schwulenfreie Zone Fußballplatz?. Baden-Baden: Tectum-Verlag. ISBN 978-3828835962
- Walther-Ahrens, Tanja (2011) Seitenwechsel: Coming-Out im Fußball. Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlagshaus. ISBN 978-3579066998
See also
References
- ^ a b Bogena, Kai-niels (11 November 2007) Schwule Fußballer haben Angst in Welt N24. Retrieved 16 July 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f Marcus Urban website Archived 2017-11-08 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 17 July 2017
- ^ a b c Kirbach, Roland (21 June 2007) Schwulsein heute - ganz normal? in Die Zeit. Retrieved 16 July 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f Blaschke, Ronny (2008) Versteckspieler: Die Geschichte des schwulen Fußballers Marcus Urban. Göttingen: Verlag Die Werkstatt
- ^ a b Schall, Tobias (3 November 2008) Ich dachte: als Kicker ist man nicht schwul in Stuttgarter Zeitung (archived 9 November 2012). Retrieved 16 July 2017.
- ^ a b c d Ehrlich, Betting; Schirmer, Lisa (12 May 2017) Fußball-Star Marcus Urban im Thüringen Talk Schluss mit den Versteckspielen Archived 2017-06-29 at the Wayback Machine on Antenne Thüringen website. Retrieved 16 July 2017.
- ^ German gay footballer to get biopic treatment in Pink News, 9 February 2009.Retrieved 16 July 2017.
- ^ DOSB Expertinnen-Datenbank. Retrieved 16 July 2017.
- ^ "Homophobie ist im Sport noch stark ausgeprägt". Deutscher Bundestag Dokument, 2011. Retrieved 16 July 2017
- ^ Verein für Vielfalt in Sport und Gesellschaft. Retrieved 18 July 2017
- ^ Fußball für Vielfalt website. Retrieved 16 July 2017.
External links
- The story of Marcus Urban, a gay soccer player in DDR (YouTube 8:00 min) (An Italian Television report, in Italian)
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