carcharias
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I have a mate who is heterosexually challenged, and he calls himself a gay c--t.
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Wow.
AS A person who was born in rural Queensland, and who has lived in Queensland her whole life, I am a fan of NRL. It is in my blood. It is who I am.
Another aspect of who I am is that I am a lesbian. These two sections of me have gone together as nicely as New South Wales and Queensland at State of Origin time (thats not very nicely at all, for you AFL supporters).
I love going to games, I love supporting my team, but what I dont love is listening to homophobic slur after homophobic slur being thrown around casually by players and supporters.
Halfway into the game, the tense feeling throughout your body becomes too much. The brick in your stomach that appears in anticipation of overhearing the next homophobic insult weighs you down, and you stop being able to enjoy the game.
So I was very pleased when the NRL recently committed itself to eliminating homophobia, and homophobic language from the game.
I was even more pleased when the NRL swiftly turned their words into action when young Wests Tigers player Mitchell Moses was caught calling an opposition player a F***ing gay c*** during a game.
The NRL swiftly suspended Moses for two games and ordered him to undergo an anti-vilification and education program.
This was a very positive step. Homophobia in sport is an incredibly widespread issue that is only beginning to be addressed, and this was a sign that the NRL was taking it seriously.
Language is power.
Whe I was 17, I was on the cusp of coming out to someone I was close to and cared about when I heard that person use the word androtrop.
It would be another three years before I worked up the courage to come out to anyone. Language is power.
Young queer people already have much higher risks of suicide than their heterosexual counterparts.
Language is power.
Homophobia is rampant in sport, especially in hyper-masculine sports like NRL.
How are young gay people, those who play the game, support the game, and love the game, ever meant to feel like they belong in the sporting community, and how will they ever feel safe and comfortable unless the NRL takes these kind of steps to make it so?
It is astonishing to me that anyone could take issue with an organisation trying to stop homophobia, and I hope the NRL ignores those people and continues to do the right thing.
All that the players have to do is change their behaviour slightly to become more decent human beings, and not use homophobic language (just as they have done with racist language). Simple, right?
It has been suggested that Moses was hard-done-by, that because young people today use gay to mean lame, dumb or stupid, he should not be punished under the NRLs anti-homophobia guidelines
Mitchell Moses during the U20's State of Origin match. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images) Source: Getty Images
There are a lot of problems with this idea, but let me just narrow it down to a couple. First of all, even if this is true, how do we know that Moses wasnt using it in the homophobic way? Its been suggested that because Bateman isnt gay, it is proof that Moses didnt mean it in a homophobic way.
This is disingenuous, at best. Surely everyone knows that this is not how language works, or how language is used. Calling another person gay as an insult, no matter the sexuality of its target, is homophobic.
Besides, is it more likely that in the heat of a macho, testosterone-filled football game that Moses was calling Bateman a F***king lame/dumb c***? Or is it more likely that he was using it in a way to insult Batemans masculinity- to imply that Bateman is homosexual, feminine, weak, or the other (all incorrect) stereotypes homophobes have in their (tiny) minds?
I am no Sherlock Holmes, but I think I know the answer.
In any case, what Moses meant exactly by using that term is actually irrelevant.
The idea that because some people use gay as a synonym for lame or stupid or various other negative attributes is not okay, and it is certainly still homophobic.
It makes it clear to everyone who hears it that being gay is an insult. That being gay is bad in some way, and you should avoid it.
That argument doesnt help to still my heart when I am sitting in the stands and hear someone behind me shout it out in anger. And it certainly doesnt help the 17-year-old closeted rugby league player somewhere in Australia who is too terrified to come out.
Just because some young people now use gay to mean something different, for as long as some same-sex attracted people still identify with the word gay (and most do), and use that word to describe themselves (and they do), it should be a completely unacceptable way to insult someone.
Yeah, only other gay people really use the word queer...that's quite odd.
