89% of LGBT tennis players said they received a positive response when they came out to their teammates with the other 11% saying they received a ‘neutral’ response, according to a leading study into North American sports.
Out In Sports extensively looked into the levels of acceptance athletes in the North American sports system receive when they came out to their peers. The comprehensive study was conducted by leading LGBT sports website Outsports, the University of Winchester and the Sports Equality Foundation. Outsports created the survey along with Dr Eric Anderson (University of Winchester). The survey was then distributed in partnership with the Sports Equality Foundation.
The study analysed responses of 370 athletes who were out to high school teammates, and 630 athletes out to college teammates from America and Canada. More than 95% said their teammates’ responses to them coming out were overall “neutral” to “perfect.” Just 4.6% described their experience as “bad” or “worse” compared to 24.8% who said it was “perfect or near perfect.”
“This reflects years of research that I have conducted on smaller scales, all showing athletes are more comfortable with gay teammates than most anyone thought possible,” Dr Anderson told Outsports.
“Athletes across sports and across genders love their gay teammates, and they support their gay teammates, and this goes beyond differences of sexual orientation.
“This acceptance isn’t new at all.”
Following the publication of Out in Sports, UbiTennis contacted Outsport for more information specifically related to tennis. A total of 27 LGBT players participated in the study and the most encouraging aspect was that none of them suffered a bad experience. 30% of those surveyed described their experience as ‘perfect’ or ‘near perfect.’ A higher rate than the study average of 24.8%.
Furthermore, no player has felt that the level of acceptance from their teammates has decreased since they came out. In fact, 70% of respondents said it has gotten better. The other 30% said the level of acceptance has remained the same.
Finally, 67% of those playing tennis say they have received ‘all the support’ they needed from teammates since coming out. Nobody said they didn’t get any of the support that they needed.
Tennis has a strong reputation when it comes to LGBT sports thanks to pioneers such as Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova. Two of the first athletes to publicly come out as gay. Since then there have been various other gay players on the women’s Tour, including Alison Van Uytvanck who is in a relationship with Greet Minnen.
On the other hand, it is a different story on the men’s Tour with there being few out figures in the sport. Former top 100 player Brian Vahaly spoke with UbiTennis earlier this year about the potential barriers closeted players may face. Vahaly came out as gay after retiring from the sport.
The ATP is currently in the process of conducting their own study into how to make the men’s Tour more welcoming for LGBT players. The governing body contacted Lou Englefield, who is the director of Pride Sports, a UK organisation that focuses on LGBTQ+phobia in sport and aims to improve access to sport for all LGBTQ+ people. Through their connection, they linked up with Eric Denison, a behavioural science researcher at Monash University’s School of Social Sciences.
“I have been personally impressed with the initiative of the ATP and their desire to find ways to mitigate the broad impact of homophobic behaviour (in particular), not only on gay people, but on all players.” Denison told UbiTennis.
“We know of no other sporting governing body in the world that has been proactive on LGBTQ+ issues, and has taken a strong focus on engaging with both the LGBTQ+ community and scientists to find solutions.”
Once the results have been collected, it is understood the Monash University will pass their findings to Pride Sports who will then offer a series of recommendations the ATP can implement. The timeline of this study has not been publically outlined.
Full results from Out In Sports study (tennis players only)
1.How would you describe the overall response from your teammates since coming out as LGBT?
- 0 Worst possible scenario 0%
- 0 Very bad 0%
- 0 Bad 0%
- 3 Neutral 11%
- 9 Good 33%
- 7 Very good 26%
- 8 Perfect or near perfect 30%
2. Did your teammates’ level of acceptance change from the time they found out to the end of your time with the team (or today, if you’re still on the team)?
- 19 It got better 70%
- 8 It stayed the same 30%
- 0 It got worse 0%
3. AFTER coming out, how did you feel about the support you received from teammates for being LGBTQ?
- 67% I got all the support I needed
- 22% I got most of the support I needed
- 11% I got some of the support I needed
- 0% I got none of the support I needed
