Inclusive clubs have an important role to play in promoting LGBT+ participation in sport at a grassroots level. Aberdeen Taexali is looking to do exactly that, as the north of Scotland's first inclusive rugby club.
Category: Sport
Fin Annand: “There was nobody in my team that was gay when I was in America, openly anyway. I was the odd one out at the time.”
Fin Annand has seen football take her across the world, but even though she spent years at college in America her story is still a positive one of support.
Jack Murley: “I get to speak to amazing sportspeople, and that isn’t anything I’m going to wish away in a hurry.”
How can we expect elite athletes to be open and honest about who they are when the people telling their stories are not doing the same? When looking at LGBT+ in sport, the media has such a crucial role to play, and Jack Murley is one broadcaster who is doing all he can to promote LGBT+ sportspeople.
Craig Stephen: “I was just looking for role-models in general, but there was a distinct lack of gay sporting role-models in general.”
Basketball player Craig Stephen struggled to unite the idea of being gay and playing sports as a teenager, and a lack of prominent LGBT+ athletes did not help. Now, he tries to be the role model he needed when he was younger.
Kim Jappy: “Football has always been 90 minutes of freedom, it’s an escape.”
Kim Jappy spent 22 years in football before retiring last year, and for her it was always a chance to forget about illness, or falling out with her family. This is her story.
LGBT+ in Sport
The holy grail around most discussions of LGBT+ in sport is that we don’t have an out footballer in the English Premier League. I think that would be a big step, but I don’t think that is the magical cure all for homophobia.
