The Sports Media LGBT+ Review of 2024: We’ll always have Paris, plus other memories
From Team LGBTQ’s exciting exploits at the Olympics and Paralympics, big get-together events such as Football Pride and the FvH Awards, and further progress for our community in the sports media industry, here are selections and reflections taken from the last 12 months…
As we wrap up 2024, it’s time for our annual look-back in the Sports Media LGBT+ Review of the Year.
This is the fifth edition of the Review and featuring prominently are the Paris Olympics and Paralympics, which thanks to Team LGBTQ athletes produced a litany of stories lifting up our community.
For our compilation, we’ve focused on the positive moments – because heaven knows there’s been enough negativity, such as around the divisive elections at home and abroad, and the ever-spiralling slide of social media.
There’s also a preference in our choices towards U.K. coverage and news, with a smattering of selections from elsewhere that caught our attention.
Apologies if we missed something important that matters to you – why not tell us about it? We’d love to hear from you. DM or tag us on socials (we prefer Bluesky these days!)
So here we go with the 2024 recap! Going month-by-month, there’s a main selection introduced with a loosely-connected song lyric headline, before we pick out five other assorted news lines…
January: ‘It’s magic, you know, never believe it’s not so…’
Being offered the Sutton United Women job was a fantasy football moment for Lucy Clark, who made history as the first club boss in British football to be publicly out as trans.
However, she was realistic about the reaction to her appointment. Immediately, keyboard warriors were posting abuse and misinformation, and there were further instances of this on social media throughout the year. Yet she’s still in the job as 2024 draws to a close, and her team are competitive in the fifth tier.
Speaking to Sky Sports News’ Miriam Walker-Khan in May, Clark shrugged off the negativity and explained how a quote taken from a book by one of her most prominent detractors has a magical effect on her.
“You fail to recognise that it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow up to be,” says Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
In her SSN interview, Clark says: “To me, that line is fabulous… I resonate with everything that it says.” The Sutton manager’s confidence continues to inspire an entire community.
Also in January… journalist Mat Oxley calls out homophobia in MotoGP; we try to get clarity after some outlets describe Wycombe’s new signing Richard Kone as an out gay footballer; British ice hockey’s Elite League holds another successful Pride Week – “visibility is so incredibly important,” says Zach Sullivan; Amber Glenn raises a Progress Pride flag after winning the U.S. figure skating title in Columbus, Ohio; Jordan Henderson’s shambolic short stay in Saudi Arabia ends with a switch to Ajax…
February: ‘Comin’ out of my cage and I’ve been doin’ just fine…’
The title of the TNT Sports documentary ‘Rylan: Football, Homophobia and Me’ might lead you to think it’s a mostly tough watch, but the Buzz 16 production team showed the upbeat side of coming out in the men’s game too.
Shortlisted for a Broadcast Sport Award, the doc highlighted the good work of West Ham’s LGBTQ+ fans group Pride of Irons as well as players and educators Zander Murray and Jahmal Howlett-Mundle, while Matt Morton shared his story of being an out gay manager in non-league.
Murray’s outstanding work in Scotland was celebrated during a fantastic Football v Homophobia Awards gala evening (the event got a rave review from Kick It Out’s Alistair Magowan), and the former striker is now offering workshops to clubs and academies south of the border too, developing the content with Howlett-Mundle.
The latter’s chat with Rylan in the film, in which he described how coming out publicly as bisexual was one of the best things he’s ever done, was particularly heart-warming.
"Allow yourself to be vulnerable. Allow yourself to have those conversations. And then when you're ready, if you're ever ready, then tell the world." – @jahmalhm@Rylan: Homophobia, Football and Me 🏳️🌈 ⚽️
— TNT Sports (@tntsports) February 15, 2024
🎬 Available to watch now on @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/u7TY3TSITc
Also in February… the Houses of Parliament hosts the launch event for FvH’s 15th Month of Action; FC Barcelona boldly show their support for LGBTQ+ people on their Arabic language social accounts; non-binary player Caz Simone is named the worthy winner of the Football Black List’s LGBTQ Award; lots of EFL clubs produce content about meaningful conversations, as part of the league’s Rainbow Ball activation for LGBT+ History Month; Warrington teenager Amelia Short courageously shares her story of being trans in cricket on Sky Sports, written by Evie Ashton…
March: ‘Summer in the city where the air is still…’
The U.K. has so many inclusive sports clubs and teams doing wonderful work, but it’s never hosted a major international multi-sports event for the LGBTQ+ community. Many readers will recall the London bid for the 2018 Gay Games, which attracted great support but was ultimately pipped by Paris.
However, that situation is going to change in the coming years after Cardiff was voted in by EGLSF members as the host for EuroGames 2027.
The bid was delivered by an all-women and non-binary team assembled by Pride Sports Cymru and following its selection, thousands of athletes and spectators will travel to the Welsh capital in two-and-a-half years’ time to enjoy a unifying festival of sports and culture.
“Hosting a EuroGames is an opportunity to showcase Cardiff as a world-class sporting city, and to highlight Wales’ commitment to become the most LGBTQ+-friendly nation in Europe,” said bid director Lou Englefield.
It’s going to be a huge undertaking and the hunt is already on for sponsors and supporters who’ll help event organisers make the most of Cardiff’s potential. Can you assist? Get in touch!
Also in March… it’s awards season – Leon Imber wins the NCTJ student sports journalism prize, Laura Howard is the SJA Academy Award winner, and The Athletic’s Adam Crafton claims the big one – SJA Sportswriter of the Year; Emma Hayes makes controversial comments about “inappropriate” intrasquad player relationships – she later says she “let myself down”; pro beach volleyball teammates Tim Brewster and Kyle Friend are boyfriends; Sky Sports’ Becky Thompson talks to us about her experiences of being LGBTQ+ in sports media, for International Women’s Day…
April: ‘Getting to know you, getting to know all about you…’
It was back in August 2018 that Sports Media LGBT+ ran a Q&A with Jack Murley who had started a digital series on BBC Radio Jersey called ‘The Other Side’, sharing stories of LGBTQ+ people in sports.
A few months later, that series became ‘The BBC LGBT Sport Podcast’ and ran for an extraordinary 347 episodes, over five-and-a-half years, with guests ranging from Stephen Fry to the Richardson-Walshs, from Ellia Green to Jake Daniels, covering the grassroots to the elite. For our community, the chats have been essential listening.
‘The Jack Murley Sports Show’ launched in April – an evolution of the podcast but one that retains a familiar format. With nearly 40 episodes this year, some of our favourites have been with trailblazing trans footballer Jaiyah Saelua, the hugely entertaining Irish hockey player Peter Caruth, and a special episode that Jack produced on his LGBTQ+-inclusive football club in Cornwall, Stargazy FC (there was also a Football Focus package in February).
It was tremendous to see him named on the Independent’s Pride List, marking how he continues to help change the game for LGBTQ+ people in sports. We look forward to more JMSS listening in 2025.
Also in April… Alex Kay-Jelski is appointed Director of Sport by the BBC – it’s considered to be the top job in British sports media; there’s more than a touch of queerness to the hit tennis movie “Challengers”, released in the UK this month; a landmark study of trans athletes is published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine – it cautions against blanket bans; Metro speaks to Farrah Herbert, an inspirational triathlete and trans woman who’s raising money for charity; before a huge NCAA final, South Carolina Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley says trans women belong in women’s sports – it’s one of my favourite LGBTQ sports moments of the year…
May: ‘Quit playing games with my heart…’
We’d had a football referee as one of the contestants on BBC reality dating show ‘I Kissed A Boy’ last year – but for ‘I Kissed A Girl’ which launched in May, we got two players in the women’s game!
Georgia Robert (who now has “TV Lezza” proudly displayed in her Instagram bio) is a defender for Rugby Borough, who ended the year in the FA WNL Premier Division’s top four. Her “Put Women’s Sports on TV” T-shirt and the moment she educated her housemates on why the “L” comes first in “LGBTQ” helped to grow her popularity.
Arriving a little later to the show was Lailah Muscat, then playing for Cardiff City LFC (the club has since been renamed Gwalia United). In the show and in an illuminating follow-up BBC article, she discussed the challenges around coming out as bisexual in women’s football.
Charmingly, Lailah has since found love with fellow contestant Meg away from the Masseria and they marked a year together as a couple with an Instagram collab just before Christmas. Too cute!
@bbcthree just want to give younger Georgia a hug 🥹 a very important conversation about the word Lesbian on #IKissedAGirl ❤️ #iPlayer #BBCThree #Lesbian #LGBTQ #WLW #Sapphic ♬ original sound – BBC Three
Also in May… Village Manchester FC win the GFSN Cup final at Prenton Park; the first Trans+ History Week is held, and promoted on Olympic Way ahead of the Women’s FA Cup final at Wembley; Lauren Price becomes Wales’ first world champion in women’s boxing; despite huge hype that began in Germany and went global, no gay footballers come out publicly on IDAHOBIT; Paris rugby club Les Gaillards win the IGR Bingham Cup in Rome for the first time in their history…
June: ‘The love shack is a little old place where, we can get together…’
Georgia and Lailah were among the special guests at Football Pride, which was hosted by the Chelsea FC Foundation on the Friday before Pride in London and attracted over 150 guests.
The cultural get-together was a major project for us all at Football v Homophobia but thanks to sponsors and supporters, and the enthusiasm of our audiences, we think we pulled it off!
There were so many highlights, but to name a few – the amazing performance of ‘PITCH’ by November Theatre; getting to show the European premiere of short film ‘Ripe!’ (a real treat); and Caz Simone’s superb spoken-word finale.
Having a day that’s truly dedicated to LGBTQ+ football folk, celebrating all the colour and energy we bring to the game, in a networking space that’s untroubled by the toxic overload that social media has become, means so much to us. And yes, Football Pride will return…
Also in June… Pride House Berlin welcomes LGBTQ+ fans and allies to Euro 2024 in the German capital; the U.S. men’s and women’s teams both wear jerseys with Progress Pride rainbow shirt numbers for Pride Month; the Olympics celebrates Pride with a social media post about Campbell Harrison, who takes on the haters; the fascinating story of U.S. ice hockey legend Hobey Baker and a possible gay relationship he had over a century ago is revealed in a new ESPN 30 for 30 podcast; FA director and the chair of Stonewall FC, Alex Baker, shines a light on stats about homophobic language in grassroots football…
July: ‘If it’s worth having, it’s worth fighting for…’
Our pick for this month is, of course, the Paris Olympics – few sporting events are so queer-friendly, and with Team LGBTQ bigger and more successful than ever before (it needed just one more Olympian to get the Outsports up list to 200!), this was a Games laden with golden moments.
A very damp Opening Ceremony had drag queens dancing; there was Celine Dion’s exquisite return at the Eiffel Tower; Lady Gaga was pretty in pink; and Tom Daley hilariously posting to Instagram about being a “fagbearer” (and we still have the unedited Threads post to prove it).
Early on in the Games, Daley claimed silver alongside Noah Williams in synchro diving, with his husband Lance and their two sons watching on. Carl Hester was the only other GB athlete in Team LGBTQ to medal, bringing home a bronze in team dressage.
There were so many inspirational moments and queer and quirky stories from Paris and we enjoyed documenting them all on Outsports. Two that deserve to stand the test of time were in boxing – Filipino fighter Hergie Bacyadan was the first publicly out trans man to compete at an Olympic Games, while Cindy Ngamba made history as the Refugee Olympic Team’s first medalist.
Also in July… an Olympic fencer and a Spanish sports club president win EGLSF Advocacy Awards at EuroGames in Vienna; a Gallup survey suggests nearly 1 in 5 LGBTQ+ adults in America have never come out to anyone; Grace Robertson writes at the end of her Euro 2024 final blog about her “life-changing” year on hormones; Fans for Diversity, which has helped to fund so many LGBTQ+ fan groups and projects, celebrates its 10th birthday; former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher comes out as gay by telling the world he has a boyfriend…
August: ‘I wanna grow the apple, keep all the seeds…’
While outrage and transphobic venom about the participation of Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting in women’s boxing spilled over from social into the mainstream media, there was plenty of queer joy to be found elsewhere in Paris in August.
Love was in the air – Aussie athlete Campbell Harrison kissing his boyfriend Justin at the climbing was a Heartstopper moment, while rugby star Alev Kelter proposed to her girlfriend after helping the USA win bronze. And a lot of us got hot under the collar watching the GB divers dancing to Charli XCX…
Meanwhile, if Team LGBTQ was a country, it would have finished sixth on the traditional gold-silver-bronze Olympic medal table, and seventh on total medals won. Over a third of out athletes made it onto a podium.
Throughout July and August, Pride House on the Seine was the perfect place to unwind away from the action. And a glorious Paris Games wasn’t over yet…
@tomdaley BRAT SUMMER OLYMPICS 💚@Noah @ANTHONY HARDING @Kyle Kothari @JackDLaugher @Jordan Houlden ♬ Apple – Charli xcx
Also in August… baseball mourns the sad passing of former MLB player and LGBTQ+ advocate Billy Bean, at the age of just 60; England cricketer Danni Wyatt and sports agent Georgie Hodge celebrate their beautiful wedding in the south of France; on the west coast of Wales, 2015 Rugby World Cup final referee Nigel Owens marries his husband Barrie; Tom Daley signs off from competitive diving with a teary interview to the BBC at St Pancras; Megan Rapinoe‘s Seattle Reign No. 15 jersey is officially retired…
September: ‘Risin’ up to the challenge of our rival…’
Switching focus to the Paralympics, Lauren Rowles set a world-best time and then went on to win gold with her sculls partner Gregg Stevenson in the rowing regatta. Rowles’ outstanding advocacy continues alongside her athletic achievements. She’s now an OBE too!
And there was a record number of out LGBTQ+ Paralympians, with at least 44 known to Outsports by the completion of the Games – one of them, long jump athlete Dimitri Pavade of France, even came out publicly on Instagram after competing, to great acclaim.
As well as Rowles’ triumph, there were two more medals for Team L(GB)TQ on the lake at Vaires-sur-Marne as Emma Wiggs claimed a gold and a silver in para canoe.
Looking back on the Paris Games as a whole, there’s no getting away from the fact that much of the coverage of Olympic women’s boxing was deeply transphobic. Many of the same journalists and outlets went on to disproportionately target Valentina Petrillo, even though the Italian sprinter failed to make a final in the Paralympics.
However, on balance, it felt like a very successful summer for LGBTQ+ people in sports, with more representation than ever before and some strong storytelling.
@channel4sport When we grow up, we want to be like @laurenrowles 👸 @paralympicsgb @varietygb #DisabilitySportsAwards #Representation #Disabled #Queer #Paralympics #Paralympian ♬ original sound – Channel 4 Sport
Also in September… out gay pro soccer player Andy Brennan talks to the FvH Podcast about wanting to help others banish shame; the chief of Saudi Arabia’s 2034 FIFA World Cup bid tells LGBTQ+ fans they will be “welcome” at the tournament, in a country that criminalises them – we’ve heard it all before; Sky Sports reporter Mark McAdam opens up about being an out gay man in the football media industry, on the “All Out with Jon Dean” podcast; Home Office data says there were anti-gay incidents at more than 100 Premier League, EFL and FA Cup games last season; there’s a sweet LGBTQ sports moment at the Emmys as Greg Berlanti thanks his husband and “soulmate”, former U.S. international Robbie Rogers…
October: ‘I’ll be there, with a love that will see you through…’
Over the course of the last decade, LGBTQ supporters groups have changed British football for the better, providing visibility, bringing fans back to the game, and building community. Two moments in October demonstrated their ongoing value.
Sheffield Wednesday’s Rainbow Owls only started up in June 2023 and has already made a real impact at the Championship club (check out the men’s team players supporting Football v Transphobia in March). The group’s founder Chris Ledger is full of energy, and put on an event at Hillsborough that included a panel chat which was later turned into a podcast.
More established are Proud and Palace, the official group for LGBTQ+ supporters of Crystal Palace which celebrated its 10th birthday with a reception at Selhurst Park. First-team managers Oliver Glasner and Laura Kaminski plus men’s goalkeeper Matt Turner were among those in attendance, showing the status that the group has attained.
Earlier in the year, Tottenham marked a decade of Proud Lilywhites, which was one of the four founder groups of the umbrella organisation Pride in Football in November 2014.
And before 2024 was over, we’d be reminded once again of the importance of fan groups when Rainbow Laces returned to the Premier League.
Also in October… Collin Martin talks about the importance of Pride Houses and much more on the FvH Podcast; the Outsports Power 100 list of the most influential LGBTQ+ people in North American sports is released, with Brittney Griner at the top; for the New York Times, Rory Smith writes about drag queens and Pride at Keighley Cougars rugby league club; Michael Gunning’s “Beneath the Surface” short documentary about Jake Daniels airs on Sky Sports; in Australia, the AFLW’s Pride Round is a relatively rare example of outright queer joy being celebrated in professional sports…
November: ‘Make your own kind of music…’
LGBTQ+ sports media is a niche interest, and at times, it can be an exhausting one to cover.
For reasons such as bad experiences at school or discrimination more generally, a lot of LGBTQ+ people still find sports to be a turn-off. Meanwhile, the “stick to sports” brigade are getting louder and the backlash against EDI initiatives continues to grow.
For journalists and content creators, it’s harder now to get positive coverage published by major outlets who are focusing more and more on controversy, or worse, clickbait.
Outsports’ 25th anniversary is therefore something to be very thankful for – and yes, I’m biased (but I did try to explain myself). The website is under similar commercial pressures that affect everybody else in sports media but with a new home in the Q.Digital portfolio, a loyal readership and enthusiasm around Team LGBTQ at Paris 2024 helping to attract new audiences.
A quarter of a century has also helped Outsports to build a thick skin. But whether it’s criticism or commendation, the business of news and commentary on all aspects of being LGBTQ+ in sports continues, alongside the “Courage Is Contagious” slogan.
Also in November… Rainbow Laces is celebrated in the Women’s Super League and Championship, while the Premier League produces a powerful new interview with Southampton’s Aaron Ramsdale, talking about his gay brother Oliver; Brazilian journalist Julia Belas speaks on a panel to represent Sports Media LGBT+ at the D Word 5 conference, held at Stamford Bridge; Caz Simone and Valentine Pursey talk about anti-LGBTQ abuse and misgendering in women’s football on the FvH Podcast; the “Gay World Cup” is held in Argentina, with Stonewall FC champions – and FIFA supporting the IGLFA tournament…
December: ‘It’s time to try defying gravity, and you can’t pull me down…’
We ended the year by rolling with the football punches – the abuse around the Kerr-Mewis baby news, transphobia upon Barbra Banda’s BBC award (called out superbly by the Counter Pressed podcast team), the fallout from rainbow armbands and anthem jackets, and the selection of Saudi Arabia as hosts of the men’s FIFA World Cup in 2034.
But in a strange way, all of these challenges serve as an inspirational reminder of how far we’ve come. It’s not so long ago that Rainbow Laces still had novelty value; now it’s woven into the fabric of Premier League clubs and their community foundations, many of whom have out LGBTQ staff members.
Governing bodies such as the LTA in tennis and the R&A in golf announced in December that they have further restricted the participation of trans athletes. Others are standing firm on their existing policies. All the while, LGBTQ+ people and their allies are busy carving out their own inclusive leagues and creating spaces that will survive so long as there are people coming to play.
At Football Pride, our grassroots panel chat featured Luna Armstrong from TReNBI FC and Arthur Webber from Leftfooters FC, two clubs where trans and gender-questioning players are made to feel truly welcome.
Meanwhile, the FA’s own Grassroots Disciplinary Review, released this month, showed yet another rise in reports of anti-LGBTQ discrimination.
We should never stop striving for equality, and we must always be prepared to call out hate. Alongside that, we also need to be more sceptical of those in sports who talk a good game about inclusion but tend to fall silent when it matters.
What matters most is us simply showing up as our authentic selves and joining in. If we’re prevented from doing that due to restrictive policies or unwelcoming cultures, we can either choose to fight on (bravo) or find somewhere else that’s healthier for us. The second option is perfectly understandable.
And if that means starting up something new in sports, then so be it – there’ll be somebody out there who’s done the same and who can advise you.
The one thing we should never, ever do is make excuses for prejudice. Whether you’re a fan, an athlete or a coach, promise yourself that for 2025, you’ll go and give your personal best in a place where you’re appreciated.
The FA’s “Football & Me” chat for Rainbow Laces was just the tonic in December. Give it a watch!
Also in December… Brazil’s Joao Lucas Reis da Silva comes out as gay in men’s pro tennis, and is soon named Outsports Male Hero of the Year; Noa-Lynn van Leuven makes her debut at the PDC World Darts Championship and to great relief, is not subjected to any anti-trans jeering by fans; we picked out the positive moments from a bumpy Rainbow Laces activation; Jakub Jankto celebrates Christmas by kissing his boyfriend under the tree; here are Outsports’ 24 most-read LGBTQ sports stories of the year…
What were your memorable LGBTQ+ in sports and sports media moments from 2024? Any content you’d like to recommend? Let us know! The comments are open below, or tag us on social media – you can also check out our 2025 calendar, which shows a wide range of forthcoming events.
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