Tales From the Pitch: LGBTQ+ Experiences in Sports

Inclusion in sports should on the surface be simple: sports are great for mental health, wellbeing and building community, why shouldn’t everyone be welcome? However, the reality is often very different with discrimination rife across games. myGwork hosted a panel putting the spotlight on the reality of life for LGBTQ+ athletes.

Check out the full conversation, moderated by Devin Ibañez and sponsored by Unilever, in the video link below.

Sponsored by Unilever, expert panelists, Devin Ibañez, Isabella Williamson-Hawkinson, Vitor de Oliveira, David Mason, Skwirel Vincent, Joe White, Emery Fung, Sarah Kendall and Joanna Lohman, they came together to discuss how we can make the sports world welcoming for everyone.

The session kicked off with a welcome from professional rugby player and public speaker, Devin Ibañez. About a year ago Devin came out to become the first-ever openly gay Major League Rugby player and is dedicated to LGBTQ+ advocacy in sport. Moderating the session, he emphasized his commitment to inspire the next generation of LGBTQ+ athletes and make sport an inclusive space for all.

Emery Fung joined us from Hong Kong. Two years ago, Emery wrote a post on Facebook coming out as transgender and since then has been an advocate for trans inclusion which led him to his involvement with the Gay Games. His work with the Gay Games spans across different areas but includes football coordination, sitting on the trans advisory council, and is working to ensure success when the Gay Games comes over to Hong Kong.

Joanna Lohman, also known as the rainbow warrior, was a professional soccer player for sixteen years who retired in 2019, gave a fresh perspective on the importance of authenticity. She is also the author of "Raising Tomorrow's Champions", an extraordinary parenting and life lessons book.

“The beauty of sport is that it gives you the opportunity to fail,” explains Joanna. “I always say that failure is the most important building block of authenticity, and there is nothing better than sport to put you in a situation where you are going to lose, get cut and possibly injured, and I’ve done all of that in my career. But looking back failure was the most important part of my journey to authenticity because I lost what I thought was a part of my identity. So, I want to encourage everyone to fail often, because that will help you find your authenticity and sport is a beautiful way to do that.”

David Mason, a Safety Scientist for Unilever based in the UK who is also an active member of their PROUD network for LGBTQ+ people and allies also shared his story. Outside of work he is the commodore for the leading LGBTQ+ sailing club in the UK and is committed to creating inclusive spaces both in and outside of the workplace. He shared how he never felt encouraged to be a part of sports as a child, and it wasn’t until he left school that he was to discover the wonderful side of sports. But finding his inclusive sailing club allowed him to sail with like-minded people who didn’t care who he was, giving him a community.

Isabella Williamson-Hawkins, Head of Mobile at IG. At IG, she leads their Diversity and Inclusion committee and works closely with all of their networks to ensure an inclusive culture for everyone. She has also played competitive hockey for two decades, starting at the age of seven and going all the way up to Team GB. She spoke about how ambition and a competitive nature cross across both trading and sports and how valuable traits in both are so similar. Coming out at age fifteen, she started to realize there is always an element of discrimination within team sports.

“If there is someone who is straight and someone who is gay trying out for a team, unfortunately, there will always be that element of discrimination, especially back in the day,” shared Isabella. “This has significantly improved in my two decades in hockey and I have seen a big shift with this, especially in the last ten years. When I was playing semi-professionally it had already improved but it was still there. One thing I will always tell people though is there is always another team. If the team you’re on isn’t the right fit for you, don’t ever feel constrained. The opportunity in sport is so huge and it is such a humbling environment so I would always recommend it for everyone, it is such a fantastic opportunity and should never matter who you are.”

Next up, we heard from Sarah Kendall, Managing Partner at Fuse Sport and Entertainment, with their work focusing on sports marketing with major brands such as HSBC, Vodafone, PepsiCo and more. On a personal note, Sarah explained that throughout her twenty-year career in this area she is a huge advocate for the positive impact that sports can have on the community and across society, and Fuse has championed her desire to push this forward.

Vitor de Oliveira, volleyball athlete and Senior Office Manager at Synechron explained how through sports he was able to gain a scholarship to leave his hometown in Brazil and build the life he had dreamed of. Playing professionally since the age of sixteen.

“Through sports was the only way I could leave Brazil; I wouldn’t have been able to afford it otherwise, so it opened doors for me,” Vitor said, opening up about his journey. “But the whole time I was playing in Brazil I was not out, not to friends, coaches or my family because of what I saw around me. Volleyball in Brazil has a lot of gay players, but you never see them in the professional field. And the further you grow in the sport the fewer LGBTQ+ people you see. You hear homophobic jokes and people losing out on opportunities because of who they are. So, you have this important opportunity to change your life and you don’t want being gay to jeopardize this. But I realized I couldn’t leave Brazil and start a new life without coming out to my family, and if I had known how well accepted I would be from them I would have done it much sooner.”

Bringing a grassroots perspective, Skwirel Vincent shared his story having started playing Rugby in his twenties. He explained how he was at first put off joining a team as he presumed you would always need prior experience and wasn’t until 2016 when he saw an inclusive group recruiting for a team of beginners that he realized he would also be welcomed. Outside of the pitch, he is the Executive Reporting and Planning Manager at HSBC UK, as well as communications lead for their Pride network. After starting to play in 2016 he’s been learning and practising rugby ever since and loving it. He emphasized for those watching that all groups across the country are usually looking for players of all levels – beginners included – so don’t ever be put off trying because it’s your first time.

Joe White shared with the audience their point of view as a non-binary fan. They are co-chair of Pride in Football which is the UK LGBTQ+ network for fans, as well co-chair of Arsenal’s Gay Gooners, their LGBTQ+ fan group, which was the first of its kind in the UK and has now been around for nine years.

“I’ve always been a massive football fan and it was probably the one thing that me and my dad really bonded over,” said Joe. “We’re Arsenal fans going back generations on my dad’s side. I enjoyed sports growing up, but generally – especially in football – you start to hear homophobic slurs and those comments really started to make me feel like it wasn’t a place for me… I found Pride in Football and it made me realize there are other people who love sport and are like me. Sport isn’t the issue, it’s the people who are being homophobic, biphobic or transphobic that are. As soon as sport starts tackling those issues head-on it starts welcoming a whole load of people back in, and that’s what we are seeing across our network at Pride in Football.”

A theme throughout the panel was the realization that we are seeing a shift in sports becoming a more welcoming place for LGBTQ+ people. Almost all panelists mentioned that growing up they never felt included because of their sexuality or gender identity, but everyone recognized that it feels as though it is changing across games for the better. That doesn’t mean we should be complacent though and there is still much to be done to create better LGBTQ+ representation across sports, and this panel was an important part of the conversation on how we will achieve this.