{{short description|British footballer}} {{Use British English|date=August 2011}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}} '''Aslie Pitter''' MBE (born 1960) is a British footballer who joined Stonewall F.C., Britain's first and most successful gay football club, in 1991. He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2011 New Year Honours, "for voluntary service to Stonewall FC".<ref name=UK>United Kingdom: {{London Gazette|issue=59647|date=31 December 2010|pages=21|supp=1}}</ref><ref name="pink">{{Cite news |work=PinkNews |url=http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2011/02/08/gay-footballer-collects-mbe-from-buckingham-palace/ |date=8 February 2011 |title=Gay footballer collects MBE from Buckingham Palace}}</ref><ref name="eveningstandard">{{Cite news|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/black-gay-bullied-a-footballers-journey-to-honours-at-the-palace-6560358.html |work=Evening Standard|location=London|first=David |last=Cohen |title=Black, gay, bullied: a footballer's journey to honours at the Palace |date=27 January 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110303201006/http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/lifestyle/article-23917950-black-gay-bullied-a-footballers-journey-to-honours-at-the-palace.do |archive-date=3 March 2011}}</ref><ref name="bbc">{{Cite news |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-12095985 |title=Gay footballer in New Year Honours list |date=30 December 2010}}</ref>
Pitter grew up in Balham, South London. His parents, Vincent and Evelyn, were Jamaican immigrants. Pitter realised at the age of 10 that he was gay, and dealt with homophobic abuse from his schoolmates. He has played football since his youth for a number of amateur clubs.<ref name="independent">{{Cite news |work=The Independent |date=30 January 2011 |title=Free kicks: 20 years of Stonewall FC |first=Nick |last=Duerden |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/free-kicks-20-years-of-stonewall-fc-2196342.html}}</ref> He was chosen to play midfield for the Sutton United youth team and had a trial at Wimbledon. While playing for his local club, he suffered homophobia from other players and was dropped from the first team to the fourth team after one of his teammates found out that he was gay.<ref name="eveningstandard"/> Observing that they wanted him gone, Pitter quit.<ref name="independent"/> In 1991, after seeing a listing in Capital Gay and ''Time Out'', he joined a group of gay men playing football in Regent's Park. This was Stonewall F.C., the first gay football club in Britain.
In November 2010, he was informed that he would be appointed a MBE for his work against homophobia in football. His father died shortly after, before the honours list was made public in December. Pitter collected his MBE from Buckingham Palace on 8 February 2011 accompanied by his sister, his fiancé, and his future mother-in-law.<ref name="pink"/> He was conferred with an Honorary Doctorate by the University of East London in 2011.<ref>{{cite news|last=Eysenck|first=Juliet|title=Honour for gay football club founder|url=http://westminster.londoninformer.co.uk/2011/11/honour-for-gay-football-club-f.html|accessdate=9 February 2012|newspaper=Westminster Chronicle|date=22 November 2011}}</ref>
Pitter lives in Balham with his husband Alan Glover and works as an assistant manager at Boots. He plays for Stonewall F.C. while also managing and coaching their women and non-binary 1st and 2nds teams.<ref name="eveningstandard"/>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pitter, Aslie}} Category:Living people Category:1960 births Category:Men's association football midfielders Category:Black British sportsmen Category:English men's footballers Category:English people of Jamaican descent Category:Sportspeople of Jamaican descent Category:Footballers from the London Borough of Wandsworth Category:People from Balham Category:English gay sportsmen Category:English LGBTQ footballers Category:Black British LGBTQ people Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire Category:21st-century English LGBTQ people