by Kathy Masterson
ONE of the founders of a sports club for the LGBT community in Limerick has described some of the results of an international survey into homophobia in sport as “sad and scary”.
The ‘Out on the Fields’ study, which questioned 9,500 people worldwide and 501 in Ireland, found that Ireland was the second worst offender in relation to the inclusion of LGBT people in sport, with 75 per cent of Irish respondents saying they had witnessed or experienced homophobia.
Cillian Flynn, who was also a member of the Limerick 2018 Gay Games bid committee, told the Limerick Post: “I know from the Gay Games bid and from my involvement in Team Limerick that homophobia in sport is an issue, but the percentage was surprising – 75 per cent of people surveyed had experienced homophobia in sport, which is quite high.
“A question came up when we were setting up Team Limerick – why is there a need to create more segregation by having a separate club for LGBT people? But the results of this survey have strengthened the support for that.”
According to the survey, 83 per cent of gay men and 89 per cent of gay women are partially in the closet with regard to their teammates, hiding their sexuality from some or all of their fellow team members.
Cillian commented:”That’s quite sad and scary. Team sports are all about involvement and getting on together, so if someone doesn’t feel comfortable about coming out to their teammates, that’s sad, and these figures are so high.”
He added that he “wouldn’t be surprised if the figures were higher” if a larger survey was carried out among LGBT people involved in sport in Ireland.
However, Cillian believes that high profile Irish sports stars such as Robbie Keane lending their support to the Yes Equality campaign in the upcoming marriage referendum is “a huge step forward”.
The ‘Out on the Fields’ study rated the United States as the worst offender in relation to the inclusion of LGBT people in sports, followed by Ireland, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia and Canada.
Some 58 per cent of all participants and 71 per cent of gay men also said that they believe homophobia is more common in Irish sports than the rest of society.
A further 75 per cent said they believed youth team sports are not welcoming or safe for LGBT people in Ireland.
