In followup to my previous post on homophobia in sport, Ben Cohen has gone on to report that out football player Gareth Thomas was dropped by sponsor Reebok after he came out.
As I mentioned in my previous post until gay men are able to feel safe in knowing that coming out is not going to jeopardise potential earnings it’s highly unlikely we are going to tackle homophobia in sport.
John Amaechi a openly gay former NBA star has said: “a referee [would know] what to do when someone calls someone a nigger but not a faggot?”.
Here in Australia we are at least getting the ball rolling with AFL star Stephen Milne being fined $3,000 for a homophobic slur used on the field.
We have a long way to go and I hope in the future sponsors like Reebok will be able to change their views on equal treatment of gay and lesbian sports people.
Have you been exposed to homophobia during sport?
UPDATE: Since the weekend Ben Cohen has published the following tweet:
My most sincere apologies to @reebokuk. The claims I made about Gareth Thomas' contract were untrue. I was mistaken and I apologise. Ben.
— Ben Cohen (@RugbyBenCohen) March 3, 2013
Dr George
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