The future of sports is LGBTQ-inclusive, but how long will it take us to get there?
By Zoe Schulz, myGwork
When it comes to inclusivity, professional sports have one of the worst reputations. This is a place where discrimination and exclusion are not just present within the sphere of LGBTQ+ acceptance, but sweep across gender, race, class and ability. With such stark issues, you’d think players across games and teams would be standing up for change. Yet, with such deep-rooted issues, from the normalisation of homophobic chants to harmful stereotypes and the policing of gender, the road to change is complicated.
On the other hand, sports have historically been used as a tool to bring people together, bonding communities and uniting countries. Famous athletes are looked up to by children around the world and given platforms to speak up for the things they care about. Sport reaches and connects so many different people and can be a powerful tool to inspire and change minds. Sports has always been political, whether people like it or not. From the 1968 Olympic Black Power salute, to more recently with Colin Kaepernick taking a knee during the American national anthem to protest police brutality against people of colour.
So why, as institution, does it still fall short in creating a safe environment for everyone to be a part of?
Little over a week ago, Tyson Fury became the WBC heavy-weight champion in a match against Deontay Wilder, which has been described as one of the best British boxing performances in years. Across social media and the British Press, Fury was honoured as a hero and given a platform across global sport. Labelled as a role model, he has helped to destigmatise the Gypsy community, from which he comes from and was previously nominated for BBC Sports Personality of the Year award. However, in an interview in 2015 he stated that he believed homosexuality should be outlawed and compared same-sex relations to paedophilia. For LGBTQ+ people this idyllic status of someone who doesn’t believe you deserve basic human rights, leaves you with an all too familiar nauseating feeling.
Sadly, this is not an anomaly in sports. In 2016, Stonewall reported 72% of football fans had heard homophobic abuse, with this being commonplace at live games. Just last year, Kick It Out, a football equality organisation, reported that this kind of abuse is sharply rising, and their Chair, Lord Ousley, responded “It is hugely disappointing to have to reveal, yet again, increasing levels of all forms of discriminatory abuse at football… Football cannot be complacent about the risk to the game this represents.” It might seem obvious, but it’s important to note that anti-LGBTQ+ attitudes are not just present in sport, but taught in sport, with a recent study by Danny Osborne and William E. Wagner, showing teenage boys who play football are significantly more likely to hold homophobic views. This stigma affects coaches as well, with research revealing many parents would not agree with their child having an LGBTQ+ coach. With 90% of queer people agreeing that homophobia and transphobia in sport is a problem, is it really a surprise that there are so few out and proud professional footballers?
One of the rare ex-footballers who is openly gay, Thomas Hitzlsperg, has said that it would have been impossible for him to come out while he was still playing. The German footballer chose to reveal his sexuality in 2015, only after having retired. In an interview, he said “Gay football players are invisible”, reminding us that LGBTQ+ people exist within these institutions, but the environment makes it impossible for them to be open about who they are.
Despite this, British player, Justin Fashanu, was the first professional footballer to come out as gay while still playing. He made history in 1990 when he came out to the press, however, sadly committed suicide in 1998. He was recently recognised in The National Football Museum Hall of Fame, his niece Amal, who has campaigned against discrimination in football, commented that “we're still waiting for a current footballer to say 'this is who I am, and I'm going to follow in Justin's footsteps and I'm going to be real about my sexuality and who I am so I can live the best life I possibly can… I don't understand, even today, how Justin did it - he's one of the bravest men I've ever come across. You've got a black man who is gay and religious, all in one, and you can add it all up and it just sounds like a recipe for disaster because it was a very different time.” It is heart-warming to see he is finally getting the recognition he deserves; however, it remains incredibly saddening that this could only happen decades after his death.
Fashanu is often referred to as the only professional gay footballer to come out while playing, however this completely discounts the Women’s League. In The Women’s World Cup last year we saw a monumental 41 gay and bisexual players, showing fans across the world that sports can be both enjoyable and inclusive. Among them, was now renowned legend, Megan Rapinoe. The outspoken and bold player is a breath of fresh air, proudly lesbian and unafraid to speak her mind. The co-captain of the US Women’s team rose to fame after their victory in the World Cup last year. After winning, she turned down a visit to the White House and has been happy to stand up against Trump since, remarking in an interview, in reference to her team, that “We're everything Trump loves – except that we're powerful women.” She’s not just the role model that young queer women want, but the one that they deserve.
Although women’s sports do often enjoy a more accepting and diverse environment, this is not to say that they are immune from the LGBTQ-phobia that haunts their industry. Beth Fisher, sports reporter, describes the harmful stereotypes that loom over girls who enjoy sports from a very young age “as a girl, being good at sport automatically made me a ‘tomboy’ … Looking back it amazes me that gender stereotyping is a problem from such a young age. The idea that sport is for boys is still unconsciously encouraged by society, schools and parents.” For many girls these gendered stereotypes can put them off sports, and for queer women these stereotypes can go even further. Beth continues to explain how these views resulted in her rejecting her own lesbian sexuality “Starting secondary school, tomboy suddenly became ‘lesbian’… Wanting to watch and play sport with the boys, wanting to grow muscles so I could be better at sport, all added up to me being called a lesbian. As far as society was concerned, sport = lesbian, lesbian = different, different = something you don’t want to be.” These gendered stereotypes are unrealistic and pigeonhole athletes who are multi-dimensional people, essentially harming sport players from all genders.
It’s not just gendered stereotypes that the sports industry needs to combat, but the harmful policing of gender, which has been weaponised against trans and gender non-conforming athletes. Trans athletes have been openly competing for decades, with one of the first being Renée Richards. In 1977 Richards became the first openly transgender person to play professional sports, competing in the US Open. The tennis star had previously played the men’s draw in 1953, before transitioning and had to fight a chromosomal test, boycotts from other players, scrutiny in the media, a ban enforced by the sport’s officials and a lawsuit to overturn the ban, just to be able to compete. Despite all this, Richards recalls the match with appreciation, “There was tennis to be played” she said “My heart lightened at the prospect. I was about to do the thing that had saved me so many times before—and on the greatest stage in the world, I would do it as Renée.” Richards had to fight just to be able to play and everyone in the public had an opinion about this, at the time she was in her 40’s, older than the other players, so was eventually allowed under the impression that she wasn’t a threat. However, this feeling that trans women were a threat to the integrity of sports was ever present. "If we could be sure it was only Renée, then I think we could all just let it ride," one anonymous player told The Washington Post, "but there's always the nagging feeling that there will be another [trans woman], younger and stronger, in a better position to dominate the tour." This baseless fear of trans women, sadly persists today, with cases of young trans girls being banned from their school teams and the debate on whether trans people should be able to compete in professional sports, 40 years after Richards competed, still dominating headlines.
This ‘argument’ against trans athletes is a fallacy and used as an excuse to spread transphobic hate. The idea that trans people will ‘outperform’ their cis counterparts has put trans athletes, particularly trans women, under unfair intense scrutiny. Trans athletes have now been allowed to compete professionally for over 40 years, and if this was true, we would expect to have seen them break world records and take home mass gold medals. If this argument was genuinely believed by the public, surely coaches would purposefully seek out trans players, to give their country and their teams unprecedented advantages. However, none of this has happened. In fact, what we have seen is trans athletes face immense investigations and criticism, that none of their cis-counterparts deal with. Trans athletes continue to be ridiculed by the media and forced to undergo genetic testing, tests that again, their cis peers are never asked to endure. While their competitors are focussing on training, trans athletes are trying to ignore tabloids that misgender and attack them.
Just last year, Olympic champion, Caster Semenya was a victim of exactly this. As an intersex athlete, she has been forced to undergo tests to show the natural level of testosterone in her body. The athletics governing body, the IAAF, has ruled that if she didn't chemically suppress the natural testosterone in her body, that she would not be able to compete. Semenya, who has dedicated her life to her profession, has not been beaten at the 800m since 2015, and had she not been intersex, would have been reigned a global hero and inspiration. She continues to fight this decision, voicing that she should not be singled out and forced to take medication against her will, which will have permanent effects on the natural state of her body. She commented on the ruling “I know that the IAAF’s regulations have always targeted me specifically. For a decade the IAAF has tried to slow me down, but this has actually made me stronger. The decision will not hold me back. I will once again rise above and continue to inspire young women and athletes in South Africa and around the world.”
Meanwhile, one of the worlds most watched sports, the NBA, continues to have no openly LGBTQ+ players. With 1 billion unique viewers in 2017, this is a game that has the power to influence and change the hearts and minds of people around the globe. Disappointingly, in the history of the sport we have only ever seen one player come out as gay while playing and nine others after their careers had ended. With no trans representation, it’s a sport that doesn’t offer much of a welcome for trans players or fans. However, Dwyane Wade, famous former player, recently surprised the world with his authentic allyship to the trans community. The former NBA star opened up about his 12-year-old daughter, Zaya, coming out as transgender in a heartfelt interview on Ellen. He explained “We are proud parents of a child in the LGBTQ+ community and we’re proud allies as well. And we take our roles and our responsibilities as parents very seriously, Zion, born as a boy, came home and said, ‘Hey, so I want to talk to you guys. I think going forward I am ready to live my truth. I want to be referenced as ‘she’ and ‘her.’ I would love for you guys to call me Zaya.” In response, Wade said it’s their responsibility as parents to get information so their child can be “her best self.” This one of the first times we have seen such strong outspoken support for the LGBTQ+ community from an NBA player. With an audience of sports fans that most LGBTQ+ advocates would not usually reach; this is a big moment. The example Dwayne is showing, by simply being a good parent who supports and unconditionally loves their child, in the current climate that is bombarded with anti-trans discourse, is monumental.
This year we also saw the first ever openly gay and female coach at the Super Bowl, Katie Sowers. At the same time, preparations for the next Gay Games, in 2022 to be hosted in Hong Kong, have begun, with this being a safe paradise for queer competitors since 1982. It does finally feel like there is a hunger for a more inclusive game when it comes to sports and LGBTQ+ representation is finally on the rise. However, if we are going to ensure that no one in our community is left behind, we cannot stop pushing for a more accepting and inclusive playing field.
