Gay icon Beckham shows attitude on magazine cover

David Beckham has confounded football's regressive reputation by agreeing to an interview and cover shoot for the gay lifestyle magazine Attitude.

Beckham recently demonstrated his willingness to dispense with football's traditional macho image by applying rouge, baby oil and black nail varnish for a GQ photo shoot, with an accompanying interview conducted by Elton John's boyfriend, David Furnish. His confirmed status as a huge gay icon has evidently prompted the approach by the magazine, which will feature him on the cover of its next issue.

The magazine was unable to discuss the interview yesterday, although a source confirmed that Beckham would feature.

The magazine deal almost certainly benefited from the close relationship between Beckham and Richard Desmond, the owner of Attitude and the Express Newspapers titles. He and his wife, Victoria, regularly grace the pages of OK!, another of Mr Desmond's titles.

In another cover story interview, for Marie Claire, Beckham said he was "flattered" that homosexuals found him attractive. He said: "I'm very comfortable with it." Boy George is among those to have publicly professed a penchant for the player.