As a former Rugby League player, a mol and a youth worker, straddlg worlds is what Casey Conway do bt. But beg a gay, Aborigal man the world of profsnal sport required a particularly fe balancg act.
Contents:
- FIRST OPENLY GAY GBY LEAGUE PLAYER KEEGAN HIRST OUT OF RETIREMENT
- COREY PARKER: GAY PLAYERS STILL FEEL THE NEED TO HI NRL AND ’S TIME TO DO BETTER
- IS GBY AS GAY AS LOOKS? A CURUFC PLAYER’S PERSPECTIVE
- DISMANTLG STEREOTYP: EIGHT INSPIRG GAY RUGBY PLAYERS AND PERSONALI
- CASEY CONWAY BAR ALL: BEG A GAY ABORIGAL MAN PROFSNAL SPORT
- DAN PALMER, FORMER PRO GBY PLAYER, OUT AS GAY TEAR-JERKER OP-ED
- GREG INGLIS URG GAY NRL PLAYERS TO E OUT
FIRST OPENLY GAY GBY LEAGUE PLAYER KEEGAN HIRST OUT OF RETIREMENT
I n only image how mt feel to be a gay gby league player today’s world. * are there any gay rugby league players *
Keegan Hirst, the first Brish gby league star to e out as gay, has reversed his retirement cisn wh the hope to play for the Batley Bulldogs for the rt of 2022. “After the recent thly-veiled homophobia over a rabow shirt, I thought how n I help wh visibily and cln?
And a lot of would be seen as beg MUCH “gayer” than a rabow on a jersey…. Hirst beme the first Brish profsnal gby league player to e out as gay 2015. Gay sportsmen.
Homophobia sport. It tly pas me to thk that wh our game, gay players still feel a need to hi. I n only image how mt feel to be a gay gby league player today’s tly pas me to thk that wh our game, those players still feel a need to hi.
COREY PARKER: GAY PLAYERS STILL FEEL THE NEED TO HI NRL AND ’S TIME TO DO BETTER
While there are an timated 500,000 men and women petg the world, there are still only a surprisgly small number of gay gby players. * are there any gay rugby league players *
Yet gay players and the LGBTQI+ muny more broadly … that’s one group we’ve mostly left alone. I n only speak for myself, but if a guy me out my team and said, ‘I’m gay’, personally I wouldn’t give a sh. If the young men who are refg to play wh rabow strip on a jersey later have a child who is born gay, do they disown them?
IS GBY AS GAY AS LOOKS? A CURUFC PLAYER’S PERSPECTIVE
* are there any gay rugby league players *
Image the stris that uld be ma terms of unrstandg and acceptance, not jt wh gby league but wir years, the NRL have had a float at Sydney’s Gay and Lbian Mardi Gras. Image that we n help break remag stigmas around homosexualy. That we n help end the cycle of gay people havg to hi themselv away, and all the emotnal damage that would be groundbreakg.
FIND YOUR NEAREST GAY & INCLUSIVE RUGBY CLUB. Wh lots of new Gay & Inclive Rugby Clubs settg up across the globe each year, ’s more and more likely that you live close enough to one to get volved wh and enjoy all kds of gby – regardls of your genr, sexualy, ethnicy, relign, size or gby the Map Search below or scroll through the Global Club Listgs lower down this page to fd an IGR club. Wh the issue of homophobia football htg the headl, one player reveals his experience as a gay man the world of gby.
DISMANTLG STEREOTYP: EIGHT INSPIRG GAY RUGBY PLAYERS AND PERSONALI
One stunt attribut the solidary among gby teams to his posive experienc as a gay gby playerOli Butler. Rugby, taken out of s sportg ntext, is about as homoerotic as a platonic activy n get.
I beme obssed wh gby at the same age I began to realise I was gay: 11.
I was very lucky to have this social pal to protect me when mours emerged that I was gay. (If you didn’t know, I’m gay and play gby #niche). The only b of -game homophobia that has ever been directed at me me one of my first XV gam when the opposn hooker emerged om a scm and lled me a “f***g f*ggot”.
CASEY CONWAY BAR ALL: BEG A GAY ABORIGAL MAN PROFSNAL SPORT
It was this reactn which has epomised my relatnship wh homophobia: gby, your teammat have your back. My favoure recent one has been: “Do you watch gay porn?
This nocent ignorance do filter through to what I would refer to as ‘lazy homophobia’. General “locker room banter”, to quote Mr Tmp, is omniprent – like llg someone gay for not enjoyg the fensive aspect of the game. Comments like this don’t make someone homophobic, but they do pat an image of an unwelg environment, which n make very timidatg to e out to people – particularly if those around you are olr (and bigger).
DAN PALMER, FORMER PRO GBY PLAYER, OUT AS GAY TEAR-JERKER OP-ED
I thk ’s a shame that flippant ments like this give the imprsn that gby is not a sport for all sexuali bee, while may seem disuragg om the outsi, homophobia, om my experience, is not particularly apparent a team. A major reason for this is the high-profile openly gay dividuals who are begng to brg gby’s hidn diversy to light.
Nigel Owens, who is wily regnised as one of the bt refere the world, is openly gay and has been vol on how the gby world has been hugely acmodatg. It is the sport’s rponsibily to posively promote anti-homophobia, and anti-bullyg general, so that the majory of people who are acceptg have a lour voice than those who prott.
GREG INGLIS URG GAY NRL PLAYERS TO E OUT
The players have bee a bean of light bee they overme stereotyp and other challeng faced by homosexual athlet way too often. In May 2007, Owens publicly me out as gay an terview wh Wal on Sunday.
Shortly after the 2007 Rugby World Cup, Owens was named ‘Gay Sports Personaly of the Year’ at gay rights group Stonewall’s awards ceremony London. In 2015 he beme the first Brish profsnal gby league player to e out as gay.