Campaign to raise awareness around trans inclusion in football undertaking its annual Week of Action…
Football v Transphobia – the awareness initiative which forms part of the Football v Homophobia campaign – is holding its Week of Action in the seven days building up to International Trans Day of Visibility on March 31.
The FvT activation is returning for its second year, amid a backdrop of increasing transphobia across Europe.
Football v Homophobia, which is run by Sports Media LGBT+’s friends and partners at Pride Sports UK, aims to challenge discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression at all levels of football.
The Football v Transphobia Week of Action is amplifying the largely invisible voices of trans people involved in the game.
FvT campaign lead Natalie Washington says trans allies can help enormously in this regard.
“Football v Transphobia is particularly vital this year as we see widespread misinformation about the role of trans people in society at large, but particularly in sport.”
Football plays a huge role in British society, and trans people are absolutely part of that.
Natalie Washington
“From playing to selling tickets, coaching to refereeing, we’re here to celebrate the trans people enriching our sport every day, and to help people understand how to make us feel safe and welcome.”
Watch Natalie take on the #BinTransphobia Challenge below!
According to Football v Homophobia and Pride in Football’s most recent End of Season Survey, released in December 2018…
- 63% of respondents experienced incidents of physical and verbal abuse, homophobic/ transphobic chanting, and/or comments from other fans
- 65% of LGBT+ fans at home games and 72% of fans at away games had not reported homophobic or transphobic chanting
Further survey data gathered in recent years shows the challenges faced by trans and non-binary people in sport.
- 50% of young trans people in sport aged 16-25 do not feel they can be open about their gender identity in a sports club (Youth Chances Survey, 2013)
- 46.8% of respondents to a National Union of Students survey in 2012 experienced sport culture as ‘alienating or unwelcoming’
Football can still be an intimidating environment for trans people, due to the culture in stadiums and within teams. This is often fueled by negative attention from some parts of the media.
Sports Media LGBT+ is committed to combatting this negativity. We addressed the need for greater understanding on trans inclusion in our recently released ‘Rainbow Ready’ resources, which are endorsed by Pride Sports UK among others.
In spite of discrimination, many trans people are currently active in football as players, fans, and officials, or would like to be involved.
Through the Week of Action, Football v Transphobia will highlight the barriers and challenges trans people face in participating in and attending football, as well as the positive contribution trans people are making to the beautiful game.
Interested in sharing your story, via our website or elsewhere in the media? We’re here to help – here’s how to get in touch…
The Week of Action will also show people how they can be active allies for the trans community and support their inclusion in football.
Clubs, organisations and individuals are all encouraged to get involved to show their support to the trans community. Any activity on social media can be tagged #FvT2020.
More information on actions that can be taken can be found on the FvT webpage.
For further information on the campaign, contact info@footballvhomophobia.com
Further reading…
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