Coronation Street Blog: Stonewall praises Corrie gay footballer story

Coronation Street has been praised for its "really powerful" storyline about gay footballer James Bailey, reports the BBC.

The plot sees James balance being gay with sporting ambitions after coming out to his family. It all comes to a head this week, when rumours about James's sexuality spread on social media, forcing his club to confront him about how he'll respond.

LGBT charity Stonewall tells Radio 1 Newsbeat it hopes the storyline will help "moving national conversations on" about being gay in football.

And actor Nathan Graham, who plays James, says he hopes the story might encourage young viewers who are LGBT and involved in football to come out.

"I think as long as it helps somebody that might be going through the struggle of telling their family or if they are a young footballer who watches the show," Nathan tells Newsbeat.

"They might see it and think 'okay, you know, I can do this. Maybe I could be the first player to come out in this era'."

Read Nathan's full interview here.

Glenda Young

Author of gritty family saga novels with Headline