SPORTS
Survey: Wide Acceptance for LGBTQ Student-Athletes
Yet, trans athletes continue to experience brunt of bad experiences on sports teams
BY TAT BELLAMY-WALKER
Coinciding with National
Coming Out Day, a new
joint report conducted by
Outsports, the University
of Winchester, and the Sports
Equality Foundation is challenging
long-held stereotypes about pervasive
homophobia on school sports
teams.
Findings from 1,000 LGBTQ
college and high school athletes
revealed that they received signifi -
cant acceptance for their sexual
orientation and gender identity after
coming out to their teammates.
More than 95 percent of LGBTQ
respondents said they received a
“neutral” or “perfect” response to
coming out on their team. In comparison,
approximately 4.6 percent
of athletes had a “bad” or worse experience,
according to the report.
This research suggests that camaraderie
among teammates creates
a welcoming environment for
newly out LGBTQ athletes.
Eric Anderson, a researcher in
the study and professor of Sport,
Health, and Social Sciences at the
University of Winchester, said the
report mirrors a history of LGBTQ
inclusion in sports.
“This refl ects years of research
that I have conducted on smaller
scales, all showing athletes are
more comfortable with gay teammates
than most anyone thought
possible,” Anderson said in the report.
“Athletes across sports and
across genders love their gay teammates,
and they support their gay
teammates, and this goes beyond
differences of sexual orientation.”
The report noted that college
LGBTQ athletes in high school and college reported high levels of LGBTQ acceptance after coming out to their teammates.
LGBTQ athletes tend to have a
better coming out experience than
high school sports players. Approximately
88.4 percent of college
respondents had at least a “good”
response from teammates, while
three percent said they had a “bad”
response. In contrast, 71.3 percent
of high school athletes said they
had a “good” experience coming
out to teammates and 7.4 percent
said their teammates’ response
was “bad.”
“I correlated my athletic experiences
in high school, which
was hyper masculine, to what I
thought would happen in college,”
LGBTQ volleyball player Landon
Bordner of Wilkes University said
in the report. “To my surprise, everything
was completely different,
and everyone was so welcoming. It
made me the student athlete and
pharmacist I am today.”
Only 29 of 1,000 LGBTQ sports
players that were surveyed came
out to their teammates as transgender.
As trans athletes continue
to face a wave of efforts to impose
transphobic restrictions in school
sports, it comes as no surprise
that 17.2 percent reported a bad or
negative experience after coming
out to their team. Despite these
fi ndings, approximately 68.9 percent
of trans athletes said they had
a “good or better experience” being
out to teammates.
Although the latest research
suggests growing acceptance for
LGBTQ athletes, three individuals
surveyed said they experienced
a “worse-possible scenario” after
disclosing their LGBTQ identity
to their teammates. Out lesbian
track and fi eld player Susie Poore
of Lehigh University in Pennsylvania
said her teammates taunted
her after coming out.
“I often found myself as the
punchline of the joke, intentional
REUTERS/SHANNON STAPLETON
or not, and some of my teammates
liked to use my identity to get a
laugh when it was convenient for
them,” Poore said in the report.
Nearly 9.8 percent of LGBTQ
athletes said their teammates responded
“worse” to them coming
out than their classmates. According
to the study, approximately 31.7
percent of LGBTQ respondents reported
that their teammates were
more accepting of their sexual orientation
or gender identity than
their peers in school.
More than half of the LGBTQ
athletes surveyed said it was common
to hear anti-LGBTQ rhetoric
from their teammates before they
came out. Overall, incidences of
homophobic language appeared to
decrease after an athlete disclosed
their LGBTQ identity.
Researchers concluded their
report by noting that education
could buffer anti-LGBTQ experiences
on sports teams. Visibility, of
course, helps too, and this year we
have seen coming out stories from
players like NFL player Carl Nassib,
as well as historic queer representation
at the Olympics and
Paralympics.
October 21 - November 3 , 2 24 021 | GayCityNews.com
/GayCityNews.com
