A SPORTING CHANCE | THE ECONOMIST
Summary
A sporting chance
Published on The Economist
author: Mitchell Hung
When will it be normal for professional sports stars who are LGBT to be outbeing open about their diverse sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or sex characteristics.?
To call Brad Marchand, left-winger for the Boston Bruins ice-hockey team, aggressive would be an understatement. Mr Marchand often relentlessly and violently attacks others on the rink, recently avoiding suspension for an incident in which he repeatedly kicked at another player’s legs from behind. Off the ice, his aggression takes a decidedly different form: though straight, he has fashioned himself as a committed defender of LGBT individuals. In January, he attacked a Twitter user for using offensive and homophobic language, shaming the user into deleting his post and, later, his account.
Mr Marchand is equally vigorous in making the case for LGBT pro-athletes to come outbeing open about their diverse sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or sex characteristics.. In a recent interview with ESPN, he argued that even ice hockey teams, which tend to project traditional images of heterosexual masculinity, “would just accept [a gayadjective to describe people whose enduring physical, romantic, and/ or emotional
attractions are to people of the same gender. Men, women and non-binary people may use this
term to describe themselves. player], no question.” Yet if that is the case, why is there yet to be a single example of a current player in any professional ice hockey team to be publicly outbeing open about their diverse sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or sex characteristics.?
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ILGA supports Pride and Prejudice, a global initiative organised by The Economist Events that will catalyse fresh debate on the economic and human costs of discriminationunequal or unfair treatment which can be based on a range of grounds - such as age, ethnic background, disability, and diverse sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions or sex characteristics, amongst others. against the LGBTIacronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex people. Although this is not the acronym available to describe people of diverse sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions, and sex characteristics, it is the most commonly used in United Nations spaces and advocacy. community. The 24-hour event taking place on March 23rd will begin in Hong Kong, continue in London and end in New York. Find outbeing open about their diverse sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or sex characteristics. more about Pride and Prejudice here.