Qutns have swirled this week about the sexualy of NFL prospect and Inter hoax victim Manti Te'o. Audie Cornish talks wh sportswrer Stefan Fatsis about the ntroversy around Te'o and how other profsnal sports have reacted to gay players the locker room.
Contents:
- WISPREAD DISCRIMATN AGAST GAYS SPORTS: STUDY
- WHY THERE ARE FEW OPENLY GAY ATHLET IN MEN'S PROFSNAL SPORTS
- GAY ATHLET FACE DISCRIMATN IN PROFSNAL SPORTS
- DISCRIMATN AGAST GAY ATHLET ON SPORTS AGENDA
WISPREAD DISCRIMATN AGAST GAYS SPORTS: STUDY
Two athlet recently g out has highlighted the arth of openly gay players the world of U.S. men's profsnal sports, often dubbed "the last closet" for s lack of LGBTQ reprentatn. * discrimination against gay athletes *
SYDNEY - One four gay men said they had received verbal threats of harm or had been bullied while participatg sports, and around 80 percent of people said they had wnsed such discrimatn, acrdg to a survey of 9, 500 fdgs were ntaed 'Out on the Fields', released Sunday, which officials said was the first ternatnal study and the largt nducted on discrimatn agast gay, lbian and bisexual participants study, which also nvassed heterosexual rponnts, surveyed nearly 3, 000 people Atralia, 2, 025 the Uned Stat and 1, 780 Bra. It was iated by anizers of the Bgham Cup, a gay gby tournament held Sydney last rults om the on-le study were reviewed by seven amics om six universi, cludg Victoria Universy Atralia, Penn State Universy and the Universy of Massachetts the Uned Stat, Bnel Universy Bra and the Universy of Wnipeg and Laval Universy Canada. The study also showed one four gay men did not play youth team sports bee of negative experienc school physil tn class, or bee they feared they would be rejected bee of their said 46 percent of all participants and 54 percent of gay men believe LGB people are "not accepted at all" or only "accepted a ltle" sportg 84 percent of gay men and 82 percent of lbians the study said they had received verbal study was open to anyone, although heterosexual participants were given fewer qutns than lbian, gay and bisexual participants.
WHY THERE ARE FEW OPENLY GAY ATHLET IN MEN'S PROFSNAL SPORTS
* discrimination against gay athletes *
In the Uned Stat, 55 percent of the 2, 025 rponnts were gay men.
Ranked hight for discrimatn some areas, wh 54 percent of participants there sayg lbian, gay and bisexual people sports were accepted only slightly or not at gay former Wal gby star Gareth Thomas said "this massive ternatnal study has st a very bright and much-need light" on the Atralia gby pta John Eal said that "as a father I was really disappoted to hear how wispread homophobia is some parts of sport, pecially the PE class and spectator stands where so many kids learn how to behave. For all of the gas LGBTQ people have ma over the past few s, sports rema a highly visible remr that homophobia and transphobia persist. And though many sports teams and figur have publicly mpaigned agast homophobia and transphobia, half of LGBTQ rponnts our recent study said that they’d experienced discrimatn, sults, bullyg or abe while playg, watchg or talkg about sports.
But LGBTQ adults were particularly likely to have fallen to this mp, wh half of adults who intify as gay, lbian, bisexual or another nonheterosexual inty rpondg that they were personally mistreated.
GAY ATHLET FACE DISCRIMATN IN PROFSNAL SPORTS
At a recent sports nference Reykjavik, Iceland, hundreds of leadg media profsnals, amics, and officials met to discs ntroversial issu the sports those topics, which clud chang to the current dopg policy, was addrsg the discrimatn agast the growg number of gay athlet."Play the Game" is an pennt stutn which aims to strengthen the basic ethil valu of sport. * discrimination against gay athletes *
We also found that perceptns of homophobia and transphobia are mon, and LGBTQ adults seem more attuned to them. While 30% of heterosexuals somewhat or strongly agreed that lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr athlet are not weled sports, 45% of adults who intified as a sexual mory did so.
DISCRIMATN AGAST GAY ATHLET ON SPORTS AGENDA
Turng a bld eye to homophobia tak a toll.
Furthermore, while homophobic beliefs may have cled, many athlet, ach and fans tend to prume one another’s heterosexualy. Practic like homophobic chantg the stands and homophobic trash talk on the field, ice or urt went on for years wh ltle phback. Still, over one-third of lbian and gay adults are voted sports fans.