Queer people are everywhere, as we should be. This includes sports, even though for multiple decades this has not been discussed. Since so many cis straight people love sports more than anything else in the world, the world of sports has had an unfortunate amount of homo- and transphobia. But is this finally changing?
All kinds of people love sports. Sports can be used for many activities, and now people can even have fun with NFL week 5 odds from the safety of their own homes. Sports have always brought people together, but why is this especially important from the queer perspective?
The discussions of trans people in sports divide many people
It’s an unfortunate truth that the world including sports still has a lot of transphobia that showcases in many ways. Nowadays many campaigns are helping trans people, which is a great change from previous. Still, one thing that makes dealing with these biases hard, especially in sports, is that they are hidden better nowadays.
Still, these biases exist. This can be seen especially in the way people and media discuss trans people in sports. This conversation even divides opinions in the LGBTQ+ community, which tells more about the internalized issues in our community than anything else. The existence of trans people in sports is especially important, for similar reasons as for the rest of queer people.
Athletes coming out has its pros and cons
Professional athletes coming out is an interesting subject. On one hand, we have the very obvious argument that queer people shouldn’t need to come out. Unfortunately, this is not the world we live in, since the world is so heteronormative.
On the other, it’s good to have representation, especially in areas that have always been known as more heteronormative, like sports. Some sports are more known to have queer people, but this doesn’t mean that all of us would enjoy those specific sports. This makes representation in all kinds of sports incredibly important.
Current queer youth will have a lot of people to look up to
Talking of professional athletes coming out, depending on a sport, there are still unfortunately few of them. For example, Carl Nassib is the only active NFL player who has ever come out. Of course, there have been some NFL players that have come out, but this has been often after their professional careers. The world of sports still has a long way to go, but at least it’s going in the right direction. This is why LGBTQ+ people in sports are so incredibly important.
