‘Pride in Sport’ will return for the third Channel Islands Pride festivities in Guernsey. Aiming to raise awareness and support for LGBTQ+ people, local sports teams, personalities, and anyone involved with any sporting activities will be encouraged to show their support for LGBTQ+ equality and diversity in sport by wearing rainbow laces and sweatbands.
Sponsored by EY, the campaign aims to raise awareness and understanding of the difficulties faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning people in sporting environments. Regular reports of incidents and discrimination caused by homophobia, biphobia and transphobia still surface within the sports arena, and the aim of Pride in Sport is to tackle these issues and create an environment that celebrates equality and diversity.
Ove Svejstrup, Associate Partner at EY in Guernsey, said; “At EY, we are proud to be continuing our support of CI Pride through our sponsorship of Pride in Sport for a third year. It’s been fantastic to see the support local clubs and sporting events have shown over the past two years towards the campaign in raising awareness of the challenges the LGBTQ+ community can experience in sport and encouraging to see the continued drive towards equality and diversity in local sport.“
Ellie Jones, CEO of Liberate said ‘The last time we held Pride in Sport we loved seeing the images of everyone proudly taking part. It’s especially important that young LGBTQ+ people see that they will be supported if they choose to take their sport more seriously as they get older. Unfortunately, LGBTQ+ people are more likely to drop out of any sporting activities in comparison to their non-LGBTQ+ peers. People are still fearful of being out and proud in sporting environments, you only have to look at the bleak fact that we do not have a single out Premiership footballer to realise this is still an issue. And this is not because there aren’t any, it’s because they are fearful of the abuse they will get if they do come out. This needs to change, its 2020. A small step towards this is others showing visible support of their LGBTQ+ peers.’
CI Pride 2020 will be held on the 12 September and looks forward to welcoming LGBTQ+ people and allies to take part throughout the CI Pride weekend.
If you’d like to get involved, you can collect your laces or sweatbands between the 10th and 13th of September at Beau Sejour or the KGV. Alternatively, you can email hello@liberate.gg to organise for them to be posted if you are in Jersey. Then, all you need to do is show your support by wearing them during a sporting activity or event and share the photos on social media using the hashtags #PrideInSport and #CIPride2020.
If your sports team or event would like to join the Pride in Sport campaign, please get in touch with Liberate via hello@liberate.gg
