LGBTQ people have made many gains over the past few decades but homophobia and transphobia persist in sports. And in a recent survey by conversation.com they sought to determine the nature and extent of this.
In recent years, more professional athletes, from U.S. women’s soccer team player Tierna Davidson to Olympic gymnast Danell Leyva, have come out of the closet.
Compared to sports activities and careers, LGBTQ people in places like schools or workplaces enjoy some openness Many sports teams and figures have publicly campaigned against homophobia and transphobia, but half of LGBTQ respondents in this recent study said that they’d experienced discrimination, insults, bullying or abuse while playing, watching or talking about sports.
And this mistreatment doesn’t discriminate by age.
For the study, Martin La Monica the Deputy Editor for science coverage at the conversation.com surveyed 4,000 U.S. adults and asked them whether they’d been mistreated in various sports-related contexts. They also asked them whether they believed LGBT athletes were unwelcome in sports.
They found that this sort of personal mistreatment, 36% of U.S. adults said they’d experienced some form of it. But LGBTQ adults were particularly likely to have fallen into this camp, with half of adults who identify as LGBTQ responding that they were personally mistreated. About 60% of nonbinary adults in the survey said that they’d experienced sports-related mistreatment.
Continuing, the survey also found that perceptions of homophobia and transphobia are common, and LGBTQ adults seem more attuned to them. Amazingly, 30% of heterosexuals somewhat or strongly agreed that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender athletes are not welcomed in sports, 45% of adults who identified as a sexual minority did so. About 42% of nonbinary adults felt that these athletes aren’t welcomed in sports.
How about younger LGBTQ adults? Are they less likely to disclose that they’d been insulted or abused while playing or watching sports?
But that wasn’t the case. In fact, there was no generational differences in sports-related mistreatment among LGBTQ adults, which suggests that LGBTQ barriers and backlash in the world of sports have endured.
This begs the question: why mistreatment remains so prevalent?
Hyper-masculinity in sports could be the “norm” in sports. Sexual boundaries are thus established in such communities and cultures. In addition, these attitudes may make athletes, coaches and fans more comfortable openly maligning LGBTQ people.
All of this can cultivate a strong dislike of sports, causing many LGBTQ people to avoid or withdraw from sports altogether. In doing so, they may risk the ability to exercise and develop teamwork in non sport areas.
Playing and following sports are a huge part of American culture, and participating is an important aspect of human development. With LGBTQ Americans who play sports reporting better mental and physical health than those who don’t, the more welcoming playing fields and stadiums can be, the better.
So how about sports and racism?
Practices like racist chanting in the stands and trash talk on the field, the ice or court has gone on for years with little pushback.
Racism in sports has been a prevalent issue throughout the world, and in particular racism towards African Americans has been especially severe over the course of the history of sports in the United States and around the world.
Wikipedia reports:
“In the US College football, despite universities making strides to diversify their student bodies, racism has had an effect on universities’ athletics”. They” go on to say “No bigger issue has faced the United States during the reign of big-time college sports than the blot of racial segregation and discrimination.”
Another report from the National Bureau of Economic Research, gives a damning indictment of the current caste system in sports.
What makes this report particularly timely—and particularly dangerous for the powers that be—is that college athletes in these revenue-producing sports have never been more confidently outspoken, particularly on issues of racial justice and health and safety, than in the age of Black Lives Matter and Covid-19. While these athletes have been making an array of demands, they’re united in their desire to take charge of their own destiny and have a voice that is commensurate with their importance to the university.
Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence, even issued a five-point plan for racial justice this week. In addition to calls to register college athletes to vote and for the right to wear political decals on their helmets, Lawrence tweeted.
So here at the NABWMT we fight hard against homophobia and racism not only in the community at large but condemn these in sports.
++++++
Sources: https://theconversation.com/sports-remain-hostile-territory-for-lgbtq-americans-157948
