North American LGBTQ advocacy groups, like Athlete Ally and You Can Play (YCP), exist to make the sports landscape more inclusive – and yet, this advocacy model brings its own problems. Far too often, queer advocacy in sports is actually an argument for queer assimilation, and in pro sports like hockey, the specter of queer and trans inclusion is often a boilerplate statement, draped in rainbows, that is intended to obscure a true lack of action.
“If you can play, you can play” is an appropriate slogan for You Can Play, because it illustrates the organization’s limited mandate. The slogan frames queerphobia in sports as a question of merit while limiting the discussion of inclusion to a given athlete’s talent. However, homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia in sports has never actually been an issue of ability.
YCP’s slogan promotes advocacy without challenging a discriminatory culture. Such advocacy doesn’t promote inclusion, but rather assimilation. Queer assimilation will not result in the free participation of queer athletes because assimilation leaves in place the racist, hypermasculine, homophobic, and transphobic culture of sports like hockey. This is by design.
This is such a fantastic read that really sums up the problems with YCP (and other organizations like it, and how they can and must do better.
Tag: you can play
I personally knew I was gay before the age of 12. I thought I was weird. I thought it was just me. If I had had a teammate do what Emily did, [organizing a You Can Play fundraiser] it would have changed my whole life for the better between the ages of 12 and 18.
To know you are not alone, that you have support, and that who you are is exactly who you should be is half of the battle. It’s not always easy to be out and be who you truly are, but it makes it a whole lot easier when one of your peers says to everyone that they will not stand for homophobia.
Erica Kromm from You Can Play Event Embodies Spirit of Teamwork for Calgary Inferno (via yolowoho)
Steel Phoenix Studios 