Premier League players across England will don rainbow-coloured laces today to show their support for gay footballers.
Gay rights charity Stonewall has sent thousands of pairs of the laces to professional players and clubs across Britain in the hope they will use them as part of a nationwide awareness campaign.
It says that homophobia is still rife on the football terraces and that there are no openly gay footballers playing the professional game.
The drive has had the backing of a number of Arsenal players including Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain who took part in a promotional video to spread the message.
But as well as footballers, other supporters of the charity were also lacing up their footwear to show solidarity.
The Leicestershire Police Tactical Dogs and Firearms Unit (TDFU) posted a picture of themselves dressed in full tactical gear with rainbow laces in their boots.
Sgt Carl Mee, of the TDFU, said the team had been invited to take part by the force's LGBT group.
Sgt Mee, who is one of the force's 'straight allies' – officers who have made a commitment to support LGBT colleagues - said: "To say it's been busy on Twitter is an understatement.
"In the main the comments on the picture have been positive, although there have been a couple of negative things said too.
"We hope we've done what we set out to do and that is to get people talking about the issue.
"We are dressed head to toe in black and carry firearms and a lot of the work we do is in confrontational situations.
"There is a perception we are a macho, elitist unit but that is not the case."
And their gesture was echoed by Leicestershire Police Chief Constable Simon Cole who also uploaded a picture of his laces to Twitter, saying: "Something for this weekend....time to lace up my boots."
It has also been backed by ex-Leicester City striker Emile Heskey, who showed his support on Twitter.
He wrote: "We can change the game. #RainbowLaces."
