Women’s Euro 2022 Championing LGBTQ+ Inclusive Sport: What Men’s Football Can Learn From Their Victory
August 1, 2022By Dominika Navratilova, Marketing Executive at myGwork
International sports tournaments are a great opportunity for people from all over the world to come together and share their passion for the beauty of sport. UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 represents that passion for the game hand in hand with LGBTQ+ inclusion.
The 2022 UEFA European Women’s Football Championship is an exemplar of LGBTQ+ inclusion and could encourage more athletes to come out, benefitting public attitudes towards issues of sexuality, according to University of Gloucestershire’s Dr. Rachael Bullingham.
The biggest women’s sports event in Europe, hosted by England, kicked off on the July 6 at Old Trafford, Manchester. Since the beginning, we’ve seen impressive sport performances, unforgettable matches and the joy of the tournament experience – both on the players’ and audience’s sides.
Sunday’s victory of English Lionesses over the strong German team was a cherry on the top of the cake of this fantastic tournament. The dramatic match, leading to extra time, was sold-out long time ago. A record for attendance of a European Championship final – men's or women's – was broken by 87,192 spectators at London’s Wembley Stadium.
A moment we'll remember forever! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/5owX8FJ8Ki
The tournament featured a number of LGBTQ+ players including one of the stars of the English team – forward Beth Mead. She said in an interview with Sky Sports: “It's important everyone knows it’s normal to just be themselves.” She explained that it’s a good thing if players like her can make people feel more comfortable and proud of who they are.
HISTORY MAKERS. EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS. 🏆 pic.twitter.com/zVFlqZqXU5
In contrast to many other sports, women’s football players and fans created a community full of respect, support and passion for equality. As GiveMeSport emphasizes, being a member of the LGBTQ+ community is not just accepted, but celebrated. Women’s football is known as a safe space for LGBTQ+ community where everybody is encouraged to be their true selves.
Many players are out and proud and share their personal life experiences on social media and with press. Rainbow flags are often present at the matches both on the audience’s and players’ side. Euro 2022 teams’ captains wear rainbow armbands to represent the message even further.
Unfortunately, men’s football is significantly behind in representing diversity and equality. According to Sky Sports, when German captain Manuel Neuer wore a rainbow armband during Pride month in Euro 2020 matches, it resulted in UEFA investigating a possible breach of its rules regarding ‘on-field political statements’. In the end, the investigation was dropped. However, UEFA stepped in again and blocked Munich’s Allianz Arena from lighting up in rainbow colors during a match between Germany and Hungary. During the game, a fan of the German national team ran onto the pitch holding a rainbow flag in protest of the Hungarian anti-LGBTQ+ laws. This is just another case showing why the women’s game leads by example – protesting for LGBTQ+ equality has never been needed.
The difference in queer representation itself in the men’s and women’s game has always been massive. Many of the women’s players became LGBTQ+ icons and they keep fighting for normalizing queer visibility in sports. However, they wouldn’t be able to do that without the huge support from their fans. The whole women’s football community is much more progressive in this than the men’s.
Dr. Bullingham, co-author of Out in Sport: The Experiences of Openly Gay and Lesbian Athletes in Competitive Sport, said: “Euro 2022 offers LGBTQ+ players visibility on an unprecedented international platform. Unlike previous points in history, female athletes now coming out publicly receive very little backlash, enabling others to follow their lead more easily. This is allowing more players to be open about their sexuality.”
In contrast, Blackpool’s Jake Daniels, who came out this year, is the UK’s only active out professional player and the first since Justin Fashanu came out in 1990, according to GiveMeSport.
Another issue of the men’s football environment is common homophobic comments both on the pitch and social media. Dr. Bullingham added: “There are many positives to developing awareness and knowledge around homophobia in sport. There are, however, some changes and developments to consider and I would call on governments, sports authorities, players and fans to all make a difference by working together and agreeing positive action against homophobia in sports.”
But can any significant progress be made when the upcoming men’s World Cup is taking place in Qatar this November? In a country where male homosexuality is illegal and punishable by imprisonment, and where punishment for same-sex activity could be death penalty for Muslims under sharia law. Not surprisingly, Qatar’s government doesn’t allow people to campaign for LGBTQ+ rights.
This will be a significant barrier for LGBTQ+ athletes, coaches and fans alike attending. The freedom of being yourself and showing the passion for LGBTQ+ equality will fall silent and the contrast between women’s and men’s football will once again be starkly obvious.