Albion head coach Hope Powell has said being openly gay has helped her be the best she can be.
“There's no hinderance, no outside influence, it allows me to do the best I can in this role. I am a coach, I am the manager of Brighton, not the manager of Brighton who is gay, or the manager of Brighton who is black. It isn't about that, it's about the football, the team and the staff.
“I can only speak from the perspective of the women's game and I have had no issue with it. The club support it, the environments I have had the privilege to work in it's not even spoken about, that's really important.
“There isn't a spotlight on me because of my sexuality. There might be a spotlight on me because I manage a football team – it's not to do with sexuality, it's to do with football.
“I am very open as are a lot of players in the game, it's widely accepted. It hasn't ever hindered my career in the game which is fantastic. It's not about outing anybody – if there are gay players we have to respect their privacy, but campaigns like Rainbow Laces show there are safe spaces for people who want to talk about their sexuality and that's really important.”
The 53-year-old believes that Stonewall's Rainbow Laces campaign has been of huge benefit for the LGBT community.
“From my personal point of view the campaign shows that the LGBT+ community exists, there are players in the game that are proud of their sexuality.
“There are people in the game as well who are supportive of people with those sexual orientations, it's important that in the environment of football it's a safe space and you can be who you are and play the game.
“We're supporting it over two weekends, the away game at Tottenham and the home game against Chelsea.
“We've got shirts printed, the players will be wearing the laces, I will be wearing the laces 365 days of the year because I can't take them out of my boots! But I quite like them.”