Category Archives: The Gay Sports Report

The Gay Sports Report: Why aren’t there more gay men in tennis?

  By O-Posts Team | July 18, 2024 - 15:09 | , ,
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Top 50 tennis professional Sergiy Stakhovsky from Serbia has claimed that there are no gay men on the professional tennis tour but that “every other player is a lesbian” in women’s tennis, and for that reason he wouldn’t let his daughter play tennis.

Putting aside the aggressive homophobia and misogyny of his comments about women’s tennis, unsettlingly Stakhovsky does make a valid point: Women’s tennis seems to be much more accepting of diversity than men’s tennis.

It’s easy to point to women who are lesbians that have had phenomenally successful careers in tennis – Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova are among the most famous; Amélie Mauresmo (now Andy Murray’s coach) has recently announced that she is pregnant and expecting a baby with her female partner. No one bats an eyelid.

Can you name a gay player in the men’s top 100? Can you name a gay player who has ever been a successful tennis player? Maybe Stakhovsky is right and there simply aren’t any, or maybe his homophobia is one of the factors forcing gay tennis players to conceal their sexuality.

Predictably, both the Women’s Tennis Association and the ATP (the men’s association) have publicly condemned Stakhovsky’s comments as unacceptable. Navratilova took to Twitter to confront Stakhovsky directly.

But what are the ATP doing to address the obvious homophobia within their ranks? What are they doing to promote diversity and support gay players? On the face of it, nothing.

We know from research around the world that there are a range of complex factors that prevent gay men from participating and excelling in sports. The research indicates that steps that can be taken to help make sport accessible for gay men is high-profile role models at the elite level, as well as grassroots support at the local level to provide an environment that is welcoming of all athletes regardless of sexuality.

It seems that the ATP are a long way behind other sports organisations, saying the right things publicly (when forced into a corner by rampant homophobes like Stakhovsky), but not taking any action to make men’s tennis a safe and supportive space for players who are gay.

Tennis is a fantastic sport. A sport that provides opportunities for individual excellence as well as teamwork. It seems a shame that it is a sport that gay men are being excluded from.

Sergiy Stakhovsky may not speak for the ATP, but if in any way he represents the culture within men’s tennis then we will have a long time to wait before we see an openly gay man playing at the elite level.

Ultimately, tennis is the loser here.

 

Written by Gareth Johnson

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The Gay Sports Report: Marching with Pride

  By O-Posts Team | July 3, 2024 - 17:47 | , ,
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The end of June is always a busy time for gay pride parades. Amidst all the glitter and glamorous floats it’s easy to forget that gay pride events started out as protest marches – small groups of brave people fighting for equality and an end to criminalisation and discrimination.

It was on Saturday 28th June in 1969 that the Stonewall Inn (a gay bar on Manhattan in New York City) was raided by police, triggering a riot by the local gay community who were fed up with the intimidation and persecution that defined gay life at that time. An annual event was then held to commemorate the day that the gay community fought back.

Today there are pride celebrations in hundreds of cities in countries around the world. Each Pride event has its own unique local flavour, but generally there will be some kind of parade with some associated parties and cultural events. Most cities now actively support and encourage their annual gay pride festivals as a way to attract visitors and boost tourism revenue.

Marching in the parade you will see community groups, organisations, corporate supporters, and sports clubs – dressed up, carrying banners, being visible, being proud.

My water polo club, London Orca, marched in the London pride parade this year – as did most of the gay sports clubs that operate in the UK capital. For us it’s not about attracting new members (we’re already exceeding our capacity for new players), marching in the gay pride parade is about visibility.

When you’re making that tricky transition from your teenage years into adulthood, one of the complicating factors for young gay guys can be trying to work out what sort of gay you should be.

If you watch a gay pride parade, what hits you is the diversity of the marchers that are passing you by: The gay police officers; the drag queens; the gay military personnel; the leather daddies; the gay firefighters; the gays with children; and the sporty gays just to name a few.

There’s a lot that young gay guys can take away from watching a gay pride parade. I’d like to think that one important lesson is that you can be whatever sort of gay you want to be; that being gay doesn’t define who you are, it is simply one of the things that makes you who you are.

I’m a sporty guy. I like sports. I like playing sports. I’m a member of a water polo club. I’m also gay, and I’m proud of that too.

 

Written by Gareth Johnson

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The Gay Sports Report: Why Sports Fans Should Cheer For Marriage Equality

  By O-Posts Team | June 29, 2024 - 22:03 | , ,
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It’s been a big couple of months for advocates of marriage equality – small advances being made in many parts of the world but with big milestones in the public vote in the Republic of Ireland, and the Supreme Court ruling in the US.

It’s a topic that obviously carries a lot of emotions on both sides, but in most western countries the tides of change seem to be turning in favour in making the concept of marriage available to everyone – regardless of sexuality.

Of course this doesn’t mean that we’re going to see a rush of gay weddings. Not every gay guy wants to get married. Lots of gay guys struggle to sustain any kind of meaningful relationship. People will get married and then regret it – there will probably be the same proportion of gay divorces as there are straight divorces.

What’s interesting is the shift in language and attitude that we’re seeing as part of the marriage equality evolution.

As always, it was President Obama who said it most eloquently and most powerfully. He celebrated the decision of the Supreme Court and recognised that it was the result of: “…the countless small acts of courage of millions of people across decades who stood up, who came out, who talked to parents – parents who loved their children no matter what. Folks who were willing to endure bullying and taunts, and stayed strong, and came to believe in themselves and who they were, and slowly made an entire country realize that love is love.”

To have the US President celebrating marriage equality and declaring that “love is love” is a pretty big deal. It’s a pretty big deal for everyone, but imagine if you’re a young gay kid, feeling a bit isolated, struggling to figure out your sexuality. The US President just told the world that it’s okay to be gay, and that your relationships, emotions, and heartbreaks are just as valid as anyone else’s.

So what’s that got to do with sports?

We know that there’s not many openly gay sportspeople at the elite level. There seems to be two main reasons for that – elite sportspeople that are gay seem to be reluctant to be open about their sexuality; and young gay athletes seem to opt out of sports participation before reaching elite levels.

Marriage equality, and the inclusive language we are hearing from world leaders as part of that process, has to mean that we will see better performances from gay athletes at the elite level (who can confidently be themselves and focus on their sport instead of concealing their sexuality); and that we will see more gay athletes reaching their full potential and not feeling like being gay is some kind of barrier to success.

If you love sport then you want to see the best. Marriage equality is one of the small steps required in order to get there.

 

Written by Gareth Johnson

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The Gay Sports Report: Why are we cool with lesbians playing football unlike with gay men?

  By O-Posts Team | June 18, 2024 - 16:51 | , , ,
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With the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2015 coming to a close in Canada, the consensus seems to be that this has been a good tournament.

However one of the things that has struck me about this Women’s World Cup has been that this has probably been the world’s biggest sporting event where lesbian and bisexual players have not only been accepted but celebrated.

As part of their pre-tournament coverage, Gay Star News (an international news service focusing on LGBTI stories) counted 14 openly gay or bisexual women who would be playing at the Women’s World Cup 2015.

These were:

  • Nadine Angerer from Germany;
  • Lisa Dahlkvist from Sweden;
  • Katie Duncan from New Zealand;
  • Nilla Fischer from Sweden;
  • Isabell Herlovsen from Norway;
  • Michelle Heyman from Australia;
  • Hedvig Lindahl from Sweden;
  • Erin McLeod from Canada;
  • Megan Rapinoe from the United States;
  • Trine Ronning from Norway;
  • Lianne Sanderson from England;
  • Caroline Seger from Sweden;
  • Casey Stoney from England; and
  • Abby Wambach from the United States.

You can also add to that list Ramona Bachmann from Switzerland who subsequently confirmed that she was in a relationship with a woman.

While you would expect the gay press to be focusing on the lesbian and bisexual players competing at the tournament, what surprised me was the coverage from the Daily Mail in the UK. The Daily Mail isn’t renowned for its balanced or sensitive reporting, but in its preview of the Women’s World Cup 2015 it offered a round-up of the HABS and WAGS who would be there supporting the players. There were no bad-taste headlines or homophobic puns, it was just simply presented as here are some of the players to watch out for and here are their partners who will be there to support them – some of them are guys, some of them are women.

The obvious response is that this seems all very grown up and sensible. We know that a proportion of the population are lesbian or bisexual, and to a certain extent you would expect any event to reflect the makeup of the wider population. It’s no big deal.

What makes it interesting is when you compare what we’re seeing in the Women’s World Cup to what we see in the men’s competition. The gay players are either pretending to be invisible, or for some reason footballers that are gay are not making it to the elite levels of the game.

 

Does it matter?

It’s undeniable that some of the best players at the Women’s World Cup 2015 are lesbian or bisexual. From a football purist’s point of view, you would have to wonder if the game is perhaps missing something by not recognising and celebrating gay players. If elite players are gay and being forced for whatever reason to be invisible, would they actually be better players if they could confidently be themselves? Are there talented gay players who for some reason are not making it to the elite levels of the game?

What are we missing by not being mature enough to recognise and celebrate diversity of sexuality in the way that the women’s game seems to have mastered?

Football isn’t an equal opportunity sport, but football needs elite athletes who can perform at their absolute best. It seems that we haven’t quite worked out how to help gay footballers to realise their full potential. If we can figure that out, it’s the game of football that will benefit.

 

Written by Gareth Johnson

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The Gay Sports Report: What’s the appeal of a gay sports team?

  By O-Posts Team | June 11, 2024 - 21:01 | , ,
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It was interesting to read the results of the latest government survey of sport participation in the UK. The numbers aren’t good – in the last six months over 200,000 people have stopped regularly taking part in sport or exercise of some kind.

From a government perspective there’s obviously a bottom-line impact with results like these. A population that is not getting regular exercise is going to be a greater burden on the health service. That is bad news for the budget.

One of the sports that has recorded the greatest decline is swimming – the UK’s most popular sport.

I find these results really surprising as it is almost the complete office of what I’m seeing at a grassroots level.

I play water polo for a team in London. It’s a gay team. We’re called London Orca. We have an active membership of about 75 – active in that they’re training at least once a week. If you’ve ever tried to book pool-time in London you’ll realise the limitations and challenges of trying to find sufficient pool space for 75 people to train at the game of water polo.

The struggle to find sufficient pool time has led to the club placing a hold on accepting any new members for the time being – we now have a waiting list of 90 people wanting to join. We simply don’t have the capacity to meet the demand.

There’s lots of gay sports clubs across the country, covering all sorts of different sports, and most of them are reporting a similar situation – struggling to cope with the number of enthusiastic people who want to join, who want to take part, who want to play sport.

The obvious question is – why are gay sports clubs attracting new members while sports participation across the general population is declining?

It would be easier to explain it away as gay men just looking for ways to meet other gay men. While that certainly is one factor that attracts gay men to gay sports clubs, there’s a lot more going on. What we find is that our new members are wanting to get fit, they’re wanting to feel part of a team, and they’re wanting social interaction.

The reason that they want to do that with other gay men is that they feel that by being part of a gay sports club they can simply be themselves. Almost everyone that joins our club used to play sport at school, or when they were younger, but stopped because for one reason or another they just didn’t feel welcome.

So what are the lessons that the UK government could learn from the country’s gay sports clubs? Simply urging people to take up sport isn’t enough. The reasons that people start (or stop) playing sport can be relatively complex. A focus on grassroots clubs and participation is likely to deliver the best results – people need to feel a connection or have a motivation beyond the simple logic of health and fitness.

Having the right facilities available is also a key determining factor – if the minister for sport could find my water polo club some extra pool time in London we could get another 90 gay men fit, healthy, and happy. That’s a solution that worth investing in.

 

Written by Gareth Johnson

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The Gay Sports Report: Which team would Caitlyn Jenner play for?

  By O-Posts Team | June 4, 2024 - 19:33 | , , ,
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One of the biggest stories in the world’s media in recent weeks has been the release of the Vanity Fair cover featuring Caitlyn Jenner (the former-Olympian previously known as Bruce Jenner). Caitlyn is an example of someone with gender dysphoria – where a person’s biological sex doesn’t match with their gender identity.

Understandably, this mismatch between physical appearance and emotional identification can be incredibly confusing and upsetting. Embarking on the journey to transform you body to match your gender identity is a huge step.

Gender dysphoria is a relatively rare occurrence. Due to the small numbers, the study of how and why gender dysphoria happens is relatively limited and inconclusive. The simplest explanation that researchers can offer is that there is somehow a mismatch in the brain’s wiring between the appearance of the body and the gender of the person. It’s not a mental illness, it is a medical condition.

While we only have a limited understanding of how or why gender dysphoria happens, thankfully there is a growing understanding and acceptance (in most western countries) of the people that we describe as Trans.

Movies such as Transamerica; television programs such as Transparent, and Orange Is The New Black; and public figures such as Laverne Cox, Janet Mock, and Carmen Carrera are all helping to raise the profile and visibility of Trans people.

In that context, it’s a pretty big deal that it has now been revealed that Bruce Jenner had been grappling with gender dysphoria and has now made the move to live life as Caitlyn Jenner. On the whole, public reaction and media coverage has been overwhelmingly positive and supportive.

So what has this got to do with football?

While the beautiful game has been working hard to eliminate racism, and to make the game more inclusive regardless of your sexuality, the needs of Trans people raises a whole new level of complexity.

If Caitlyn Jenner had been an elite footballer, at what point would the sport’s governing bodies accept that she should be playing on a women’s team?

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) became the first athletic body to adopt a policy of inclusion regarding Trans athletes.

The IOC clearly outlines the criteria that a Trans woman must meet before she can compete in events that are consistent with her gender identity. She would need to have:

  • undergone sex reassignment surgery;
  • had hormone treatments for at least two years; and
  • received legal recognition of her transitioned sex.

The Football Association (FA) in the UK has declared a general policy that a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity shouldn’t be a barrier to participating in and enjoying football. In relation to children who have completed gender reassignment before puberty, the FA makes it clear that they can play as their acquired gender.

However for adults, the FA has tried to find a solution that minimises any gender-related advantage that a Trans person may have in matches. On that basis, they have adopted the IOC’s three stage criteria that must be met before a Trans woman can play football in women’s teams.

While the regulations adopted by organisations such as the IOC and the Football Association certainly set a fairly high bar before a Trans woman can participate in sport at an elite level, it is encouraging that the question has been considered thoughtfully and clear guidelines have been put in place.

While Caitlyn Jenner’s football days may be behind her, she is helping to create a world that has a better understanding of gender dysphoria and all of the complexities that some people face when trying to be themselves.

 

Written by Gareth Johnson

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