Sports Media LGBT+ in 2026: Discover news, networking, advocacy, consultancy
Welcome to our hub page, with info about who we are and what we do; Sports Media LGBT+ is a digital publisher, industry network group, and media and comms consultancy; we love to collaborate on inspirational stories and content – reach out today…
Jump to… Ways to connect | Calendar of events / key dates | Got a story to share? | Recent achievements
What is Sports Media LGBT+?
In a nutshell, we exist to support LGBT+ people and active allies across all areas of sport and sports media.
Our story began in 2017 when a group of journalists, comms experts and PR professionals gathered in London to discuss the idea of creating an industry network group.
Sports Media LGBT+ formally launched a few months later, with support from organisations such as the Sports Journalists’ Association (SJA) and BCOMS.
Nearly a decade later, we’ve become much more than just a network group. We create and publish content for our digital platforms, as well as for our partners and clients; we offer consultancy services related to media, PR and comms; we’re involved in campaigning and advocacy work; and we have experience in events management.
Furthermore, we produce resources; deliver workshops and webinars; and provide scenario planning and strategy advice. We’re here to help on all things related to LGBT+ inclusion in sports.
At Sports Media LGBT+, we’re passionate about meaningful and responsible representation for our community in journalism, something that’s put into practice by our network members.
We champion content that accurately reflects the lived experiences of lesbian, gay, bi and trans people, from athletes to administrators, coaches to commentators, match officials to media influencers, from the grassroots to the elite.
We believe in storytelling in sports that has the potential to empower LGBT+ people around the world.
We are a trusted and respected organisation which offers confidential advice.
See our About section for more information.
Who’s involved?
Jon Holmes is the founder and lead of Sports Media LGBT+.
Thank you for your interest in our organisation.
Alongside running Sports Media LGBT+, I’m a writer and editor with Outsports, the world’s leading website for sports news and commentary related to being LGBTQ+.
I’m also a part-time journalist and sub-editor for Sky Sports and TNT Sports; the Media and Comms Officer for the Football v Homophobia campaign; and I look after content and comms as part of my committee role with the Sports Journalists’ Association (SJA).
I also sit on the national committee of the Football Writers’ Association (FWA) and the steering committee of InterMedia UK, and I’m a director of Racing Pride, the LGBTQ+ inclusion in motorsport CIC.
I have over 20 years of experience in producing digital sports content, specialising in equity, diversity and inclusion. I was personally recognised with a bronze award at the SJA British Sports Journalism Awards ceremony held in March 2025.
I previously led on Sky Sports’ support for the Rainbow Laces campaign during my full-time employment with the company.
I was part of the team that delivered the Pride House Birmingham project at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, and I was shortlisted in the ‘Outstanding Contribution to LGBT+ Life’ category at the 2022 British LGBT Awards.
As part of my work on Football v Homophobia, I help to deliver the annual Month of Action every February, major events such as the FvH Awards and Football Pride, plus educational projects.
I’m supported at Sports Media LGBT+ by colleagues from across my industry and by EDI professionals in the wider sports space. You can read about some of our network members in Our Stories in Sport.
Follow me on Bluesky or X (Twitter) and check out my portfolio of work.
How do I connect?
A simple way to start! Sign up for our mailing list here.
For all enquiries, you can email our main inbox, or email myself (Jon) here. Naturally, confidentiality is guaranteed.
Beyond this website, you can find Sports Media LGBT+ on various social media platforms where we provide relevant news and info, such as recommended content, job opportunities, and event promotion. If you’d like to drop a DM instead of an email, you’re very welcome!
Follow us on Bluesky | Follow us on X / Twitter | Like us on Facebook | Follow us on Instagram | And we’re on Threads | and LinkedIn
For networking, you can establish closer ties with us as follows…
Join 600+ people in our Community Group on Facebook | Request to join our Group on LinkedIn
Do you have a role in sports media or content creation? Are you LGBT+ yourself or a strong, active ally?
We have over 90 core members in our network WhatsApp chat, from all over the world – get in touch if you’re interested in being part of this group (this is for industry colleagues only).
The WhatsApp chat is a welcoming space where sports media professionals who are LGBTQ+ can share, promote, discuss and get support on a variety of topics.
We also help to operate the LGBTQ+ Professionals in Football Collective, which is an industry network for those working in football in pro or semi-pro roles.
The Collective provides safe access to advice and connections with fellow players in the men’s and women’s games, coaches and managers, match officials, and people working for FAs and governing bodies, all of whom are LGBTQ+ or active allies.
It’s supported by The FA, PGMO, Football v Homophobia, Kick It Out and other organisations.
Find out more about ways to connect on our Contact page.
Who do you work with?
Sports Media LGBT+ prides itself on being a collaborative group that promotes the inclusion work of others.
We continue to be backed by the SJA – our industry’s biggest membership group – and we have an important partnership with the FWA. Our network is strongly represented on the steering committees of both organisations.
We are connected to our friends at BCOMS, Women in Football, The Ability Group in Sport (TAGS) and Brown Girl Sport as part of an intersectional diversity in sports media alliance project.
These groups are also members of the Sport Media Identity Network, an academic research initiative funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
We are hugely grateful for the mutually supportive relationships we enjoy with Pride Sports UK / Football v Homophobia; Kick It Out; the Football Supporters’ Association (FSA); LEAP Sports Scotland; Pride in Football; GFSN; Racing Pride; and Out for Sport, to name but a few.
In addition, we offer support to a host of other sports clubs, societies, and organisations by raising awareness of their activities through the media.
Find more connections on our Links page. If you’re interested in working with us, please get in touch.
Resources and learning
We’ve created and published various documents offering advice and guidance.
We produced an LGBT+-specific Media Guide for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games as part of our work on Pride House Birmingham.
This was an updated and bespoke version of ‘Rainbow Ready’, a resource pack created to assist anyone in a media or comms role looking for accessible, practical information about LGBT+ inclusion in sport.
These guides assist with the production of content about athletes, coaches, administrators and those in associated roles who are lesbian, gay, bi, and trans, outlining the types of messages an individual or group might want to convey and how to best deliver these to different audiences.
For Pride Month in June, we offer a dedicated resource and additional material.
Looking for guidance on workplace culture and LGBTQ+ inclusion in the sports media? Learnings from our most recent survey offer valuable insights that can help you create newsroom environments in which all employees can thrive.
Building on this, we also contributed to the BCOMS’ D Word Guides, which highlight best practice on embedding EDI.
Our learning provision on all the above and other topics extends to workshops, presentations and webinars, which can be tailored to fit your requirements.
We have successfully delivered these to organisations including the EFL, the Football Association of Wales, Sky Sports, the Premier League Charitable Fund, and the Sport and Recreation Alliance.
We have the capacity to meet your requirements – enquire to discuss.
Calendar of events / dates for your diary – coming up in 2026…
Interested in attending/participating in any of these and would like more info? Want your event listed here? Contact us!
- Tue 13 to Sun 18 January – ISU Figure Skating European Championships (Sheffield)
- Thu 15 to Sun 18 Jan – Sin City Classic (Las Vegas, USA)
- Tue 27 Jan (6pm) – Kick It Out event (London)
- Fri 30 Jan to Sun 1 Feb – Elite Ice Hockey League Pride Weekend
- February – Football v Homophobia Month of Action
- Feb – LGBT+ History Month
- Fri 6 Feb (evening) – FvH Awards (London Welsh Centre)
- Fri 6 to Thu 12 Feb – activation of Premier League LGBTQ+ inclusion campaign
- Fri 6 to Sun 22 Feb – Winter Olympics (Milano Cortina, Italy)
- Sat 14 to Sun 22 Feb – England Ice Hockey Pride Week
- Thu 19 Feb – International Day Against LGBTQ+-phobia in Sport (FvH ‘Wear It Black and Pink’)
- Wed 25 Feb (6.15pm) – Stonewall parliamentary reception (London)
- Sun 1 March – Zero Discrimination Day
- Fri 6 to Sun 15 Mar – Winter Paralympics (Milano Cortina, Italy)
- Tue 24 and Wed 25 Mar – Fair Game Conference (National Football Museum, Manchester)
- Wed 25 to Tue 31 Mar – Football v Transphobia Week of Action
- Sat 28 Mar (10pm to 5pm) – West London Queer Project Festival of Football (Osterley, west London)
- Tue 31 Mar – Transgender Day of Visibility
- Mon 20 to Sun 26 April – Lesbian Visibility Week (culminating in Lesbian Visibility Day)
- Mon 4 to Sun 10 May – Trans+ History Week
- Thu 11 June to Sun 29 July – FIFA Men’s World Cup (USA, Mexico, Canada)
- Sat 27 June to Sat 4 July – Gay Games XII (Valencia, Spain)
- Thu 23 July to Sun 2 August – Commonwealth Games (Glasgow)
Got news to share? We can help!
Our website welcomed tens of thousands of visitors in 2025. It’s registered with Google News, and when coupled with our ever-growing social media reach, which provides access to an engaged audience, we’re a go-to digital destination for a range of content related to being LGBTQ+ in sports.
We encourage you to reach out to us for guidance through the media maze – perhaps you’ve put together a press release, or you’ve written a personal blog post that deserves to be read more widely? We can help you get your content published, drive traffic, and achieve your goals.
We’re also proficient in podcasting, and we currently create, edit and publish episodes of the FvH Podcast for Football v Homophobia. We previously produced ‘The Pride House Podcast’ for Pride House International.
Whatever your pitch, please send it our way – and if you’re keen to reach a really big audience, our network members who work for major platforms and publishers are on hand to discuss further.
Having good-quality imagery to accompany your content makes a huge difference!
Meanwhile, if you’re already creating content, shout about it! Our Recommended page lists a variety of websites, podcasts and other outlets that cover the LGBTQ+ experience in sports, as well as a list of editors and journalists who regularly cover this topic and related themes.
To ask to be added, get in touch.
Our recent achievements
Here are some of our highlights from the last 12 months or so…
December 2025: Read our Review of the Year, which rounds up another busy year in the LGBT+ sports world!
November: In Trans Awareness Week, we showcased the great work of Goal Diggers FC on the FvH Podcast; devised and delivered a new workshop on tackling anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination in football to representatives of a men’s league; wrote about Mary Earps coming out and the challenges she has faced
October: Celebrated Black History Month with FvH and worked with gay grassroots footballer Callum Hodge to share his powerful story
September: Marked Bi Visibility Day and highlighted inclusion in athletics media
August: Delivered the annual Football Pride event, as part of our ongoing support for Football v Homophobia
July: Produced bespoke session exploring inclusive language and the purpose of Pride for World Rugby…
June: Delivered workshop on inclusive content creation for Google Pixel FC Academy / The Powerhouse Project; organised ‘Pride Gamechanger’ event in Canary Wharf to mark two years to go until EuroGames 2027…
May: Contributed to an online event marking one year to go until the FIFA 2026 World Cup, attended by organisers and volunteers from the Pride House programme; spoke on a panel at the Fair Game conference on behalf of FvH; worked with FIFPro on content for Pride Month…
April: Led session for sports journalism students at University of Northampton; contributed as a judge and on comms for Football Black List event, supported by the Premier League…
March: Co-ordinated and delivered roundtable event on the FIFA 2026 World Cup and LGBTQ human rights; co-organised annual Football v Homophobia Awards event in Glasgow, and produced supporting content; spoke at University of Northumbria session for sports journalism students…
February: Sports Media LGBT+ is shortlisted in the SJA British Sports Journalism Awards’ Specialist Sports Publisher category; helped to deliver impactful annual Month of Action for the Football v Homophobia campaign; guest speaker slots at LGBT+ History Month events for the Football Association and PGMOL, and West London Queer Project Festival of Football…
January: Co-organised and hosted launch event at Bolton Wanderers FC for Football v Homophobia Month of Action…
The Sports Media LGBT+ website is a digital publishing hub for news, stories and opinion from across our global community of LGBT+ people and allies in sport – and it’s open to all.
We’re interested in your content. Share with us and tap into a worldwide audience through our Google News affiliate website and our popular social channels with over 25,000 followers. Contact us to discuss how we can help you.
