Magrath is an associate professor of Equality and Diversity and a faculty member of Sport, Health and Social Sciences at Solent Univ. The three men who conducted the research are building their careers in this space: White is a lecturer in Sport & Coaching Sciences and an interdisciplinary researcher in Sport, Exercise, Health and Education at Oxford Brookes Univ.
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“We show that, post-coming-out, homosexually themed language among their teammates either declined, or was increasingly positioned as evidence of ‘gay-friendly banter’.” “Indeed, every athlete in the sample described an acceptant and inclusive response from their teammates and, therefore, improved psychological wellbeing,” the study says. The upshot? Acceptance of gay teammates in American men’s sports is widespread. In fact, after the athlete comes out the language can be used as a form of supportive banter with the newly out athlete, “a way of them simply being included on the team.” The study also shows that language considered to be homophobic - e.g., the casual use of gay slurs - does not reflect an actual hatred or dislike of gay people, and that that language is reduced or disappears entirely when a gay teammate comes out due to heightened sensitivity and awareness. “Further, perpetuating the narrative that sport is homophobic without an impartial body of evidence is, in itself, potentially further traumatic to closeted athletes already concerned about coming-out.” “The findings presented in this research further critique the claim that sport is a hostile environment for sexual minorities there is now a significant body of research on Western sport which challenges this line of reasoning,” the report says. It’s a pattern we’ve identified at Outsports for years Now the claim has the backing of an academic study. The handful of accounts of negative reactions came almost exclusively from places outside of sports, including family members and other classmates. The study shows, nearly without fail, a familiar pattern in the stories: Male athletes are afraid to come out to their teammates, but when they do they are nearly universally met with acceptance.
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They say in the report that they chose to focus on stories published in 2016 because there was a surge in the number of coming-out stories on Outsports told that year. All of the stories ran on Outsports in 2016. White, Rory Magrath and Luis Emilio Morales studied 60 coming-out stories of male athletes, mostly in the United States. Three academic researchers have published a study they conducted of Outsports stories that shows sports evolving into a welcoming place for out gay, bi and queer male athletes.Īdam J.