Fighting homophobic language in sports: an ongoing challenge

Renato Guerrieri
Guyer & Regules, Montevideo
renato.guerrieri@guyer.com.uy

Introduction

Homophobic language (defined broadly, as equivalent to LGBTQI+-phobic) in the field or court remains a rampant reality in the sports scene worldwide. This includes the consistent usage of severe, abusive, threatening and/or insulting slurs, epithets and/or expressions by both sportspeople (either professional or amateur), technical staff, coaches, supporters and attendees directed derogatively mostly towards referees, opponents and even towards their own team and/or teammates. This conduct not only takes place during competitive events and is aimed at rivals, but is also witnessed at training practices, in the locker-room, travelling as a team and at social events, as jokes and banter, even from an early age.

These unacceptable behaviours have a significant impact on the LGBTQI+ community, particularly considering the broad dimension of sports as a universal language, the global visibility of certain professional competitions and their media coverage. As publicly stated by FIFA: ‘Everyone should feel safe and welcome in our game’.

Many Western and Equaldex-highly-ranked jurisdictions have passed broad legislation and/or regulations addressing and prohibiting such conducts, or at least slurs are captured in more generic legislation prohibiting aggressive, threatening, abusive and/or discriminatory words and/or conducts and hate crimes in general. Additionally, this type of language is frequently prohibited under protocols and playing rules of various sports federations, associations and clubs, as an example of unsportsmanlike conducts that contradict ‘fair play’ values.

Therefore, we can preliminarily conclude that in many jurisdictions, there are neither legal barriers nor voids that would prevent enforcement against homophonic language in general and in sport in particular.

In fact, we have noted multiple relevant precedents in certain jurisdictions in that regard, whereby:

• Sportspeople have been suspended for the on-field use of homophobic language targeting rivals,^[1] and even for off-the-field tweeting.^[2]
• Attendees and supporters have been ejected from venues and/or banned from attending events^[3] and arrested for the use of homophobic language,^[4] and courts have concluded that such conducts can be potentially reputed as criminal offences punishable by prison.
• Matches have been suspended and played behind closed doors, and fines applied for national federations for homophobic chanting against players.^[5]
• Sports clubs and national federations have been imposed significant fines, of up to £150,000.^[6]

Furthermore, various high-profile political and sports public figures have reacted favourably and constructively: congratulating referees for interrupting matches,^[7] criticising people who incurred slurs,^[8] admitting that the industry was homophobic^[9] and committing to beginning to calling out homophobia in sport.^[10]

However, slurs continue to be used daily and naturally in both professional and amateur sports environments all around the world, while legislation and/or regulation appear to be merely symbolic. This sort of scenario has led the United Nations to recently issue a policy position in relation to the protection of human rights in sport without discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics.^[11]

A very powerful (and recent) example of this question can be found with the professional players of the Argentina National Football Team singing homophobic, transphobic (and racist) chants against Kylian Mbappé even (mistakenly) on social media (with millions of followers and views). This situation led FIFA and Chelsea FC to open investigations and for rising star Enzo Fernández to issue a public apology, yet so far there have been no additional significant repercussions. Moreover, multiple commentators and followers defended, humourised, celebrated and even replicated these conducts. A similar situation has occurred with severe transphobic backslash in relation to Imane Khelif during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Call for specific and comprehensive legislation

In this context, it is of paramount importance that all jurisdictions first and foremost pass more precise and explicit legislation addressing, prohibiting and sanctioning hate, violence and intolerance in the sports field in general, and homophobic conducts and language specifically.

As an interesting and comprehensive example to follow, we take into account a draft bill about hate and intolerance in sport, currently being discussed by the Uruguayan Parliament,^[12] which essentially:

• Enlists intimidating, humiliating and/or offensive apologies of crime, statements, gestures, insults, harassment, threats, slurs, chants, sounds, slogans, flags, symbols and other signals, as potential acts of hate and/or intolerance.
• Incorporates the facilitation of technical, economical, material, informatic and/or technological means and digital outlets to support and/or provoke these acts as prohibited conducts as well.
• Defines the target scope of sports activities broadly, as to include competitions, spectacles, venues, areas near to venues and public transportation used to reach such venues.
• Defines the subjective scope of sport activities and people potentially subject to legislation broadly as well, as to include sport entities (federations, associations and clubs), sport event’s organisers, organisation managers, directors and leaders, sportspeople, technical staff, coaches, referees and any attendee to sport events.
• Envisages obligations of sport event’s organisers to prevent acts of hate and/or intolerance, as to include security measures, immediate termination of prohibited acts, collaboration with public authorities (in terms of prevention, control and facilitation of publicly-available information regarding the identification and location of offenders), the prohibition of supporting offending attendees, guarantees that events shall not be used to promote or convey negative messages and the withdrawal of membership cards and disqualification from obtaining them for offenders.
• Envisages obligations of any attendee to sport events, as to include prohibition of use of slogans, flags, symbols and other signals, incurring in any hate and/or intolerant act, accepting to submit to any control, recording, and/or frisking and accepting any refusal to entry and/or to pacifically evict the venue if required.
• Envisages obligations of state agencies to promote coexistence and integration through sports.
• Envisages potential penalties to be applied to any subject, including for public and/or media statements.
• Envisages faculties of the events’ judges and/or referees to evict facilities, and to provisionary or permanently suspend events.

Call for action

Beyond the passing of legislation, there are additional measures that should be implemented within the sports scene:

• Forces for change: Leadership and management at associations, federations, sports clubs and sports organisers, as visible and influential agents as a force for change, must recognise that there are serious issues in relation to homophobia. As part and parcel of their obligation to set and maintain high standards in sportsmanship, a more active and vocal role should be adopted in educating and targeting homophobia in order to eradicate biases from the industry. This should include drafting protocols, organising training sessions and social media campaigns and denouncing specific incidents, as to create a more sensitive environment. As a valuable example to follow, the NFL has produced and showed videos to teams during training camps stating that they shall have ‘zero tolerance’ for unsportsmanlike conduct, including on-field use of abusive language relating to sexual orientation.^[13]
• Speak up and come out: Influential professional and elite sports personalities should publicly highlight homophobic language as an unacceptable practice. And ideally, more should come out, as the LGBTIQ+ population within the sports sector remains largely invisible (also leading to many LGBTQI+ sportspeople being the target of bullying and homophobic behaviour, as studies reveal).^[14]
• Proper enforcement: Victims and witnesses should be encouraged to report incidents to the field or ground staff and/or to the police, which incidents should be properly investigated (not to be minimised and dismissed). Offenders should be prosecuted and appropriately sanctioned.
• Challenge detractors: It is generally argued that homophobic language should be minimised, as it would be disconnected from intentional negative and discriminatory attitudes and that its driver instead would be to conform the unique (and allegedly harmless) cultural, social and behavioural camaraderie norms in the sports world as a ‘tribe’. However, and even when there is no intent against those individually targeted by this language, these actions still convey a message of rejection, hostility and/or intimidation against the LGBTQI+ demographic as a whole.

As anticipated, fighting homophobic language in sports is an ongoing challenge worldwide, which needs to be addressed through specific and comprehensive legislation, yet it additionally requires effective enforcement and active commitment from multiple influential parties acting within such industry.