Equality in athletics: the role of LGBTQ+ inclusion in shaping US sports culture

By Javier Echeverria

Culture in the United States—and much of the Western world—has shifted dramatically for the better when it comes to the inclusion of people who identify as LGBTQ+, but there’s still plenty of work to do. It feels bizarre to say, but it still hasn’t even been nine years since the Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court decision legalized same-sex marriage across the nation. While there have been plenty of positive changes in that time, the battle for equality and acceptance isn’t linear: for instance, the push for trans rights has gained quite a bit of widespread understanding and support in the past few years, but with increased visibility comes increased pushback.

One of the best battlegrounds for winning acceptance is on the playing field. Although people may say that politics should be kept out of sports, the simple fact of the matter is that the two have always been intertwined, whether it was Jackie Robinson breaking baseball’s color barrier or Kathrine Switzer fighting off would-be tacklers as she attempted to become one of the first women to run a marathon. LGBTQ+ rights are no different, and yet sporting culture has long remained a holdout where people don’t feel comfortable being who they are. Here’s a look at why that is.

Macho ideals

In the United States, sporting culture is dominated by men’s leagues—although their women’s counterparts are starting to gain more visibility— and as such, they’re defined by the cultural ideals of 'what men should be like'. Athletes are typically the fastest and strongest of their peers in general (although there are always expectations for willpower, intelligence and savvy) and the stereotypes of LGBTQ+ men as being more effeminate in nature run in direct contrast to that. Similarly, homophobia is still ingrained in American culture, making it so that few athletes feel safe coming out: they want to be able to fit in with their teammates, not to be falsely accused of making a move on them.

There are certainly dozens, if not hundreds, of LGBTQ+ athletes in collegiate and professional sports across the United States, but almost all of them are in the closet. Rather than being a frontier for the push for equality, sports lag behind because of the gender role discussions and cultures that are ingrained from the very first time kids begin playing sports on the playground.

Looking at the flip side

For women in sports, these stereotypes are painfully reversed. Rather than being criticized for appearing too soft, women receive criticism for not ascribing to gender norms, like having short hair or wanting to have kids—which is a difficult barrier during one’s athletic prime. As such, women who take part in sports past the high school level are often stereotyped as 'not womanly enough' or seen as queer regardless of their identity.

With that said, there are plenty of high-profile LGBTQ+ athletes like the recently-retired Megan Rapinoe of the US Women’s National soccer team (who are always a top pick for Fanatics Sportsbook Promo Codes if you plan to use it because they’ve won two of the past three world cups and four of five Olympic gold medals between 1996 and 2012) or Sue Bird and Brittney Griner of the WNBA.

Women’s leagues have been more progressive than men’s leagues in accepting people of diverse gender identities and sexualities, partly because they give athletes an opportunity to subvert gender roles and succeed in spaces typically dominated by men.

All the same, women in sports are all too often criticized for just existing, receiving LGBTQ+-phobic criticisms for daring to challenge cultural norms, even if they’re cishet.

Culture war targets trans and intersex athletes

Right now, it's transgender athletes who are catching much of the flack in these played-out culture war crusades. There are a number of athletes who don’t fit the gender binary, like Lia Thomas of the University of Pennsylvania swim team and Caster Semenya of the South African Olympic team, who has been classified as intersex—although she herself rejects that description.

While Thomas and Semenya’s identities are included and respected by the NCAA and the International Olympic Committee, respectively, they still have to deal with accusations of cheating and stealing opportunities that otherwise would’ve gone to women in sports… which is interesting criticism, especially when one considers that most of the small-minded people complaining are often the ones that don't give women's sports enough credit to begin with.

If the science says that trans and intersex athletes on hormone blockers are able to compete fairly in the athletic competitions that fit their identity, there really shouldn’t be any debate. Unfortunately, it still takes time to break down barriers.

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