The Gaelic Players Association and Sporting Pride hosted a special Pride Breakfast at Croke Park on Saturday morning ahead of a strong Gaelic Games presence at the Dublin Pride march in the city centre.
The breakfast was attended by an Taoiseach Leo Varadkar who took part in a panel discussion on how Gaelic Games can continue to prove themselves as an open and welcoming community for all.
The GPA had distributed rainbow laces to all inter county panels during the month of June and this was only part of a very visible sporting presence throughout the month of activities.
Swim Ireland, Cycling Ireland, Basketball Ireland, the FAI, IRFU, Canoeing Ireland, Local Sports Partnerships and clubs and sporting bodies across the country were flying the rainbow flag ion inclusion over the last week.
This backed up Sporting Pride appearing before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media calling for a joined up approach between Sport Ireland and Government on continuing to back initiatives such as the 2023 version of the #LetsGetVisible Campaign.
It remains the case that LGBTQ+ representation in sport is less than it should be, especially on the male side, with “toxic masculinity being part of sporting culture,” seen as a main reason for this by Aidan Walsh of Sporting Pride.
It is a long game that needs to be played to ensure that allyship is encouraged at every possible opportunity and that those who might be playing and afraid of revealing that they are gay or different in anyway from the perceived ‘norm’ can feel as though thay can be themselves in whatever way that is important to them.
That is not to put pressure on gay athletes to become ambassadors. It is no more a part of their sporting identity as is it to be hetero-sexual.
Sport is universal and it should be as much a part of of everyone’s freedom as it is to walk down the street or go to school.
Saturday was a joyous occasion as it has become with many sporting bodies flying the flag. The harder yards are to be gained in keeping that momentum up through the whole year and effectively redefining what normal means in sport as it is increasingly, thankfully, the case in society at large in modern Ireland.
