By Mabel Wellman.
From the 16th November to the 4th December, Stonewall is having its annual Rainbow Laces Campaign to promote inclusion in sports. Various sporting organisations including the Premier League and England Lacrosse are taking part this year, as do thousands of regular people who put pairs of rainbow coloured laces into their shoes to support LGBTQIA+ inclusion.
Locally, Hampshire FA and Hampshire County FA are taking part this year. Southampton FC have taken part in the past, and the women’s team have made an announcement of taking part this year.
This year, the LGBTQIA+ charity Stonewall have announced that 27% of LGBTQIA+ people do not feel welcome to participate in sports. 26% do not feel welcome to sports events, and 29% of LGBTQIA+ people do not feel welcome watching live sports in a pub.
Times have certainly changed for the better (these statistics do mean that 2 in 3 do feel welcome), but from my own experience I know all too well how unwelcome it can be in the sports world as a trans woman. In the past couple of years, many UK and international sport organisations for cycling, athletics, and even chess have banned transgender players. So as a trans person specifically, you can feel very unwelcome. I have two trans friends who are considering joining a gym, and are worried to bits about what the changing facilities will be like, which is something I’ve never tried to entertain being able to do.
The FA (Football Association) has come under pressure recently to ban transgender women from participating in women’s categories, which they refuse to do on the basis that there is no scientific evidence that transgender women should be banned. This is a rare instance of support for trans people, which has garnered a lot of hostility. On Sunday there was a protest in Wembley by the group Twelve O Five against this decision, with many more protests possibly taking place. So the Rainbow Laces Campaign is really coming on at a good time for regular people to show their support for the organisations that do support us.
With the current hostility going around, it is more important than ever to support your LGBTQIA+ pub patrons who watch sports, your grassroots queer sport club members, and make sure any gym groups or facilities are queer friendly as well. Inclusion allows us all to have a equal playing field, to have a fair game to watch or play.
For more information about the Stonewall Rainbow Laces Campaign, click here.
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