Phuti Lekoloanealso known as Phuti Minaj, is a South African

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

and

LGBTQ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (sexuality and gender), questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, Asexuality, asexual, ...

activist, from Moletjie, Ga-kolopo, a rural township near Polokwane in the

Limpopo Limpopo () is the northernmost Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The term Limpopo is derived from Rivombo (Livombo/Lebombo), a ...

province. He played for JDR Stars, a

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

-based organization, on their second division team as

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

, and now does so for Tornado F.C., also in the

SAFA Second Division The SAFA Second Division (known as the ABC Motsepe League for sponsorship reasons, and previously the Vodacom League between 1998 and 2012, was founded in 1998 as the overall third tier of South African association football, football. The compet ...

. He is Africa’s first

openly gay Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

male footballer, having

come out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

publicly in July 2015. His nickname Phuti Minaj came from his mentor

John Moshoeu John "Shoes" Lesiba Moshoeu (18 December 1965 – 21 April 2015) was a South African football player who was part of the South African team that won the 1996 African Cup of Nations. He played as an attacking midfielder. Shoes, as he was best ...

, who caught him

twerking Twerking (; possibly from 'to work') is a type of African-American dance, dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving Pelvic thrusting, throwing or thrusting the hips back or shaking the buttocks, often in a Partial squat, ...

while watching a

video Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...

from

Nicki Minaj Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty (born December 8, 1982), known professionally as Nicki Minaj ( ), is a Trinidadian rapper, singer, and songwriter. Regarded as the "Queen of Rap" and one of the most influential rappers of all time, she is noted for her ...

Early life

Phuti Lekoloane was born in Moletjie,

Polokwane Polokwane (, meaning "Sanctuary" in Northern SothoPolokwane - The Heart of the Limpopo Provin ...

in the

Capricorn District Municipality The Capricorn District Municipality () is one of the 5 Districts of South Africa, districts of the Limpopo province of South Africa. The district is named after the Tropic of Capricorn which runs through it. The capital is Polokwane. As of 2011, th ...

, the largest

province in South Africa. He was raised in

Tembisa Thembisa, formerly Tembisa, is a large Township (South Africa), township situated to the north of Kempton Park, Gauteng, Kempton Park on the East Rand, Gauteng, South Africa. It was established in 1957 when black people were resettled from Alexandr ...

. His family has a farm going back generations; their “extended family owns about 300

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...

s in Mooiplaas, Mpumalanga, about 40km from

Polokwane Polokwane (, meaning "Sanctuary" in Northern SothoPolokwane - The Heart of the Limpopo Provin ...

.” Lekoloane says he has always known he was gay, being born as such, and that his family was accepting and supportive. However, he was

bullied Bullying is the use of force, coercion, Suffering, hurtful teasing, comments, or threats, in order to abuse, aggression, aggressively wikt:domination, dominate, or intimidate one or more others. The behavior is often repeated and habitual. On ...

at school for being gay. When he was about 13, he was playing

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

and was pulled into being the football goalie when the team was short of players. He has been playing football since he was fifteen. At seventeen he was playing for

Highlands Park F.C. Highlands Park Football Club are a South African professional association football, soccer club who played in Modderfontein (East Rand), Modderfontein, Johannesburg. They were founded in 2003 as a phoenix club (sports), phoenix club to the earl ...

and realized he had a talent for the sport. He also played for Platinum Stars F.C.’s development team before they were moved to

Royal Bafokeng Stadium The Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace is a football, rugby and athletics stadium in Phokeng near Rustenburg, South Africa. It was built and is managed by the Royal Bafokeng Nation. It was used as the home stadium for Premier Soccer League club P ...

Career

JDR Stars

Lekoloane played for JDR Stars, an ABC Motsepe League team, a

-based organization, on their

team as

. He wears the 91 shirt in honor of

, a South African Nations Cup champion in 1996, who was his

mentor Mentorship is the patronage, influence, guidance, or direction given by a mentor. A mentor is someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person. In an organizational setting, a mentor influences the perso ...

. " oshoeuis fondly remembered for wearing the number 10 jersey", Phuti says, "9 plus 1 equals 10;" he sought permission from Moshoeu's family, and they gave their blessing. His nickname, ''Phuti Minaj'', was given to him by Moshoeu who caught him

while watching a

from

. He is South Africa’s first

footballer, after

coming out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

publicly in December 2015. His teammates have been mostly supportive, Lekoloane thinks because he has a good attitude and accepts himself. However opposition teams and their fans have taunted and harassed him. Lekoloane has learned to channel that hatred into motivation to make things better for other gay footballers. He left because of homophobia, including a teammate who believed being gay was on par with being a murderer. Being gay remains a crime in many African countries; he has met many

closeted ''Closeted'' and ''in the closet'' are metaphors for LGBTQ people who have not disclosed their sexual orientation or gender identity and aspects thereof, including sexual identity and sexual behavior. This metaphor is associated and sometime ...

gay soccer players. South Africa was the first country on the continent to legalize

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal Legal sex and gender, sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 ...

. Lekoloane’s goal is to be the first openly gay player in the

South African Premier Division The South African Premiership, also known as the Betway Premiership for sponsorship reasons, and commonly referred to as the PSL after its governing body, is a professional soccer league in South Africa and the highest level of the South Afric ...

of the

Premier Soccer League The Premier Soccer League (PSL) is the administrative body for professional soccer leagues and cups in South Africa. It is based in Johannesburg, and was founded in 1996 following an agreement between the National Soccer League and the remnant ...

Dealing with homophobia

Lekoloane has dealt with homophobia in the sport; at a team’s trial in the mid-2010s, the organization’s representatives said they did not know how to accommodate him, and thought he would be bad for their image. , he has been on trial with five

teams but they were concerned about his sexuality. Lekoloane noted that while European teams have tried to eradicate

homophobia Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who identify or are perceived as being lesbian, Gay men, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred, or ant ...

—for instance, the 2016 #RainbowLaces campaign developed by Skins sportswear, to raise awareness about homophobia in sport with Pride in Diversity,—South Africa has not; while they have worked on issues of

racism in association football Racism in association football is the abuse of players, officials, and fans because of their skin colour, nationality, or ethnicity. Some may also be targeted because of their association with an opposing team, although there have been instances ...

. Homophobia, and

toxic masculinity The concept of toxic masculinity is used in academic and media discussions to refer to those aspects of hegemonic masculinity that are socially destructive, such as misogyny, homophobia, and violent domination. These traits are considered "toxi ...

has long existed in football, going back to before

Justin Fashanu Justinus Soni "Justin" Fashanu ( ; 19 February 1961 – 2 May 1998) was an English footballer who played for a variety of clubs between 1978 and 1997. He was known by his early clubs to be gay, and came out publicly later in his career, becoming ...

, the first professional gay footballer, who never came out but his sexuality was an

open secret An open secret is information that was originally intended to be confidential but has at some point been disclosed and is known to many people. Open secrets are ''secrets'' in the sense that they are excluded from formal or official discourse, b ...

, faced it from his own coach in the 1980s. It continued to

Robbie Rogers Robert Hampton Rogers III (born May 12, 1987) is an American former professional soccer player. He played as a winger and as a left back. Rogers has also represented the United States men's national soccer team. In February 2013, Rogers came ou ...

, and others since. The atmosphere for LGBTQ people in South Africa is still dangerous. The

South African Institute of Race Relations The South African Institute of Race Relations (IRR) is a research and policy organisation in South Africa. The IRR was founded in 1929 to improve and report upon race relations in South Africa between the politically dominant White South Africa ...

found that 40% “who identify as LGBTQIA+, 49% if they are black, know someone who has been murdered because of their sexuality. Those who are not murdered are discriminated against.” He feels the homophobia has held him back professionally from playing in the

. He has vowed to be visible and stand up to the discrimination:

Tornado F.C.

Lekoloane joined

Athlete Ally Athlete Ally is a nonprofit LGBTQ athletic advocacy group based in the United States. The group aims to make athletic communities more inclusive and less discriminatory and help athletes to advocate for LGBT movements, LGBTQ equality. History ...

, a sports-focused LGBTQ advocacy organization. He left JDR Stars because of the homophobia, but was later recruited by Tornado F.C., another

team. Doing so, he had to move from

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

East London, Eastern Cape East London (; ) is a city on the southeastern coast of South Africa, in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality, Eastern Cape Provinces of South Africa, Province. The city lies on the Indian Ocean coast, largely between the Buffalo River ( ...

, a place known for violence against LGBTQ people. The same Institute of Race Relations study showed LGBTQIA+ identifying people “are three times more likely to be attacked in the Eastern Cape than in any other province in the country”. Team manager, Yanga Nyobo, daughter of Tornado’s former chairman, Siphiwo “Mawawa” Nyobo, came out to him as gay, and stated the team strives for diversity. He has become the club’s top goalkeeper. In October 2018 he was nominated for the Feather Awards’ Sports Personality of the Year award for “iconic personalities and achievers who inspire” the LGBTQI communities. 2019,Phuti Minaj founded, a Phuti Lekoloane foundation, a not profit organisation which aims to provide development and training about the LGBTIQ community in sports, Phuti Lekoloane is also the founder of LGBTI Legacy Games, a football tournament that focuses on tackling homophobia out of sports. In 2021, Phuti Minaj as Lekoloane is famously known in the football circles was nominated for both Role Model of the year and Sports personality of the year for the feather awards 2021, Phuti Lekoloane walked away with the feather awards sports personality of the year.

References