This is the best summary I could come up with:
I can’t know just how corrosive it is to walk in the hyper-masculine world of football as a gay man, hearing deeply offensive homophobic slurs used when someone instead means “weak” or “annoying”, as current players have told me they’ve heard.
Media managers offer vague reasons like, “We feel this is a wider AFL conversation and should be led by the league,” or they’ve already done their rainbow event for the year, or the (highly articulate and intelligent) player we ask for simply doesn’t know what to say.
The words of encouragement and love we heard in The Silence from former Bulldogs captain Bob Murphy (now Fremantle Dockers’ head of AFLW and leadership) and former Melbourne Demons midfielder Brock McLean, demonstrate all the great things about AFL culture.
UNSW Eastern Suburbs Bulldogs player Michael O’Donnell, who chose to go public with his sexuality to Four Corners, and his predecessors in the amateur competition, Jason Ball and the late Matt Hall, showed great courage, but they are far from typical.
Most people I speak to in club land blame social media: they say the AFL system is a great place to be, but some fans are terrible trolls and it would be devastatingly difficult for a young gay man to be exposed to that, especially the first one.
Danielle Laidley, formerly a player and coach for the Kangaroos — and the first transwoman in the AFL — experienced this after being publicly outed at her lowest ebb by Victoria Police officers when she was arrested on drugs charges.
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This post is not going to express my support for or against the LGBT, for it is quite nuanced. However, I will offer my theory on why this lack of openly gay players exists.
First of all: AFL players aren’t just put into a team. They have to go through years of training before they start professionally playing, in smaller, more local teams. While many gay players might enjoy the sport, many would be deterred from the sport because the training they do before becoming professional has a culture that make jokes about LGBT people, which can be commonly perceived as threatening to their identity.
The truly gay men that do make it through fear loss of respect or sponsorships in a career that they throughly enjoy. They fear losing sporting progress. There always will be those who actively dislike the LGBT, as well as people who deeply support them. This brings about uncertainty.
To conclude, as the world shifts to a more diverse and inclusive society, we are likely to see an increase of openly gay players in sports.
There always will be those who actively dislike the LGBT, as well as people who deeply support them.
Then these people need to have their chains yanked. That behaviour is not ok and has no place anywhere in society. Frankly, if they can’t learn to be nice, they should not be permitted anywhere near an AFL club/ground. As a nation, we just got behind a World Cup squad that had at least 10 publicly gay players. We absolutely are ready for this.
Judging a person based on the group they are part of should not be encouraged, no. As generations change, perceptions change.
What the fuck does who someone has sex with have to do with their professional sporting lives? Respect people’s privacy and fuck off with the diverse woke bullshit. I have a dream…
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@unionagainstdhmo What exactly do they think will happen if their players come out? Lost sponsership deals? Not bloody likely! So it’s just cowardice.
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