This post is not going to express my support for or against the LGBT, for it is quite nuanced. However, I will offer my theory on why this lack of openly gay players exists.
First of all: AFL players aren’t just put into a team. They have to go through years of training before they start professionally playing, in smaller, more local teams. While many gay players might enjoy the sport, many would be deterred from the sport because the training they do before becoming professional has a culture that make jokes about LGBT people, which can be commonly perceived as threatening to their identity.
The truly gay men that do make it through fear loss of respect or sponsorships in a career that they throughly enjoy. They fear losing sporting progress. There always will be those who actively dislike the LGBT, as well as people who deeply support them. This brings about uncertainty.
To conclude, as the world shifts to a more diverse and inclusive society, we are likely to see an increase of openly gay players in sports.
There always will be those who actively dislike the LGBT, as well as people who deeply support them.
Then these people need to have their chains yanked. That behaviour is not ok and has no place anywhere in society. Frankly, if they can’t learn to be nice, they should not be permitted anywhere near an AFL club/ground. As a nation, we just got behind a World Cup squad that had at least 10 publicly gay players. We absolutely are ready for this.
