10 Inspirg Gay Rugby Players and Personali

Contents:

• JOZI CATS: SOUTH AI'S FIRST GAY AND CLIVE GBY CLUB
• JOZI CATS: AI’S FIRST GAY GBY TEAM TACKL HOMOPHOBIA
• AI’S FIRST GAY GBY TEAM: JOZI CATS
• JOHNSTONE: FORMER ALL BLACK GBY PLAYER OUT AS GAY
• DISMANTLG STEREOTYP: 10 INSPIRG GAY RUGBY PLAYERS AND PERSONALI

JOZI CATS: SOUTH AI'S FIRST GAY AND CLIVE GBY CLUB

Ai’s first gay and clive gby club has lnched a provotive mpaign featurg homophobic slurs a bid unrme new recment drive featur posters of team members acpanied by words such as “queen”, “fairy” and “pansy” Cats club chairman and player Tevhan Kuni said: “We are a small club wh no budget, so we thought we’d lnch a recment mpaign that might get picked up by a few lol publitns, pecially the LBGTQI muny.

”Kuni said many gby players don’t feel they n be both openly gay and play the sport petively. In June 2014 an anonymo German footballer pated a grim picture of his treatment by his team-mat after he revealed to them he was gay. ‘Ready for a gay Sprgbok’Though attus towards homosexualy vary greatly om untry to untry, the suatn is particularly cril on the Ain ntent, where 38 untri still crimalise while South Ai has a famoly clive nstutn that protects the rights of s gay cizens, an Aobarometer survey recently found that 21% of South Ains “aren’t tolerant” of homosexuals, wh rrective rape of women and hate crim agast gay men, pecially ral muni, ntug to pose a ser is hopeful that the Jozi Cats n go some way to changg attus, and hop the day will soon e when players feel fortable talkg about their sexualy.

JOZI CATS: AI’S FIRST GAY GBY TEAM TACKL HOMOPHOBIA

“I thk if you look at other players who have e out, then y, fely we’re ready for a gay Sprgbok. He says the Cats are hopg to reprent South Ai at the global Gay Rugby Champnships, and are aimg to eventually reach the Gay Gam, a global tournamentA versn of this article first appeared on the Daily Maverick. Gay gby team lnched South Ai.

In the macho world of sports, ’s not easy to be openly gay – and sults like the make difficult to e out the locker room. But one fledglg gby team is g such stereotyp to not only create awarens of homophobia, but to promote self as a safe haven for those who don’t feel fortable wh the game’s culture.

AI’S FIRST GAY GBY TEAM: JOZI CATS

Formed this year, Johannburg-based Jozi Cats is Ai’s first gay gby team – and s provotive marketg mpaign has had a greater impact than s members ever dreamed possible.

Ai's first gay gby club shatters stereotyp.

Homosexualy is outlawed many Ain untri, but that is not the se South Ai.

JOHNSTONE: FORMER ALL BLACK GBY PLAYER OUT AS GAY

However, an Amnty Internatnal report poted to at least seven murrs what appeared to be homophobic attacks between June and November 2012.

“We said let’s do somethg that tak gay stereotyp and turns them on their heads, and ask the qutn, like ‘Are you or aren’t you? “We had to e words – tradnal gay slurs – which didn’t need translatn to the broar straight muny, which people would get whout too much explanatn. So that’s why we went to our six gay stereotyp.

“It’s started a nversatn about homophobia sport, more specifilly homophobia gby, ” says Kuni, who portrayed “Pillow Ber” the photo shoot. There’s also que a big gay gby scene globally that we want to put teams together for, bee South Ai is not reprented there at all. So we looked at them, and he said ‘But they don’t even look gay.

DISMANTLG STEREOTYP: 10 INSPIRG GAY RUGBY PLAYERS AND PERSONALI

“It’s great to have started the nversatn – and that nversatn is, ‘Why do we even need to have a gay gby team?

Verrijdt is wary of nmng gby as a homophobic sport, and says tn n create wir awarens.

“A lot of homophobic slurs have a certa jocular humor to , so I often thk ’s unnsc and ’s not even meant the way out, ” he says. “But n be hurtful, absolutely, and that’s why we e the payoff le, ‘Rugby, that’s so gay, ’ bee I’ve been out wh straight iends – as iendly and clive as they are – and even wh them slips out, and you have to tch yourself.