Homophobia widespread in team sports, international survey shows

Homophobia in sports remains a rampant obstacle on the field, in schools and for spectators across the English-speaking world, a new international survey found on Sunday. While other parts of society are making strides to be more inclusive of all sexual orientations, sport remains a terrain unwelcoming or intimidating to many.

Robbie Rogers in a press conference for the US national team in 2009 Open access/Wilson Wong

“The biggest problem I think is the language, I used to hear the word fag all the time and it sent me a strong message that coming out was not an option, it was very stifling,” said former top-level New Zealand rugby player Ryan Sanders.

Out of the nearly 9,500 people interviewed for the Out on the Fields study only one per cent of people feel that lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) people are “completely accepted” on the sporting field.

Billed the first international study and the largest of its kind, Out on the Fields was initiated by organisers of the Bingham Cup, a gay rugby tournament held in Sydney last year and reviewed by seven leading experts on homophobia in sport.

Focusing on issues of sexuality, instead of gender identification, the survey does not include people who identify as transgender and intersex (as normally included in LGBTI).

Overall, 62 per cent of respondents - 75 per cent of whom identified as LGB - said homophobia was more prevalent in team sports than in any other sector of society.

Nearly half (46 percent) of the respondents, mostly from Australia, Britain, Canada, Ireland New Zealand and the United States, believed LGB people are “not at all accepted” or are only “accepted a little”.

The study also found that 66 per cent of respondents believe that openly LGB spectators would not be very safe at a sporting event, with school physical education classes and spectator stands being the most likely locations for homophobia to occur.

A further 80 per cent of all survey participants and 82 per cent of LGB respondents – representing nearly 75 per cent of all survey participants – said they had witnessed or experienced homophobia in sport, while some 19 per cent of gay men and nine per cent of lesbians surveyed said they had been "physically assaulted".

An overwhelming majority of gay men (84 per cent) and 82 per cent of lesbians also said they have received verbal slurs such as “faggot” or “dyke”.

Young people – 81 per cent of gay men and 74 per cent of lesbians who were under 22 at the time of the study – also reported being completely or partially in the closet while playing youth sports, more than often because they feared rejection from team mates.

“The study has found there are a lot of gay men like me who are playing football and other sports and keeping their sexuality secret. I think sports will only change when
more gay men decide to become more visible and get the support they need from coaches, teachers, officials and fans,” said Brad Thorson who briefly played in the NFL with the Arizona Cardinals and now plays for the Gotham Nights, a gay and inclusive rugby team in New York.

Survey respondents also said that remedying homophobia rampant across all sports needs to be addressed early, starting with schools, coaches and parents. National sporting organisations also need to “adopt and promote clear anti-homophobia and LGB inclusion policies” and LGB professional sports need to come out of the closet, said survey respondents in outlining three key solutions.

Caroline Symons from Melbourne's Victoria University, who has studied the mental health impacts of homophobia in sport on young people, said efforts to hide one’s identity can distract players from enjoying and improving in their sport.

“Some LGB people can thrive in sport but many others feel compelled to remain closeted to keep playing the sport they love, monitoring every word they say, to ensure they keep up the appearance of being heterosexual which is seen as the ‘normal’ way to behave,” Symons said.

LA Galaxy football player Robbie Rogers, one of the world’s only current, openly gay male professional athletes, said he hopes the study’s findings will help spur change at all levels.

“Change can start with every athlete or fan who decides not to use homophobic language even if it’s meant as humour,” said Rogers. “This kind of language is no longer acceptable because everyone should be able to enjoy sports without fear of discrimination.”