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Al convegno ‘Sport vs omofobia, una partita da vincere’, organizzato al Parlamento Ue, il giocatore della Sampdoria Albin Ekdal, ha lanciato...

The EU Parliament recently hosted a summit called ‘Sport vs Homophobia’. The conference was held with specific regard to homophobia in football and finding ways to combat it.

The conference was the initiative of Tiziana Beghin, who is the head of the Five Star Movement’s* delegation at the EU.

(*Poliical party in Italy.)

Among the highlights from the conference:

According to a study by the Institute of Sociology and Gender Studies of the German Sport University in Cologne, 41% of people who play sports in Italy do not feel comfortable enough to reveal their sexual orientation.

90% of the participants said homophobia was a problem in sports, to the point where 20% of them gave up playing sports because they either faced discrimination for their orientation or gender or because they were afraid of it.

Furthermore, 54% of trans people decided to give up sports for fear of potential repercussions for their gender identity, sexual orientation, or both.

(The sample size, in case you’re wondering, was a pool of 5,500 lgbtq+ people across varying orientations and genders, and their ages ranged from 16 to 78. I’m adding this as an addendum because I know how important this can be. With love, a former poli-sci student who cried her way through statistics.)

(As a further addendum, the last two bullet points apply to everyone who participated in the survey and not just the people in Italy.)

As Tiziana Beghin herself said, “This data shows that the problems [of discrimination] affect everyone, both amateur and professional athletes [...] As is stated in the Olympic Charter, any form of discrimination towards a country or a person based on race, religion, political orientation, sexual preferences, or other considerations, is incompatible with sport.”

A few Serie A players also lent their voices to the conference in support of the initiative, most notably Inter Milan’s goalkeeper Chiara Marchitelli and Sampdoria midfielder Albin Ekdal.

The latter actually addressed the conference via video, where he stated that, “In an ideal world, nobody would feel ill at ease coming out as a homosexual, whether it’s in every day life, or football.”

“Unfortunately, the reality is somewhat different. In our sport, only eight people have come out as homosexuals. An extremely small number. Many would like to, but they don’t feel free to do so, fearful of negative reactions.”

Ekdal went on to acknowledge that the environment within football can be very homophobic as the atmosphere within the sport creates the right conditions to cultivate the prejudice. He also went on to say that he feels the best way to combat homophobia, is by educating the public.

Serie A has been getting so much bad press lately (well-deserved, tbh) and so has Italy, but this is one of the few good things to have come out of both the league and the country.

Homophobia is deeply entrenched within football but actions like this are a good start, and sometimes, a small ripple can lead to some pretty big waves.

#Albin Ekdal #Chiara Marchitelli #Sampdoria #Inter Milan #Lgtbq+#Inter Femminile #Discrimination #Homophobia #Long post #Well done to the two of them honestly #Finally Italy #You've managed to do something right #It's an uphill battle #But here's to hoping we can erode homophobia and gender discrimination bit by bit #To the point where people can feel free to be themselves

Yeah Albin Ekdal was the one that talked about that. He said women’s football really accepts people just the way they are and that that’s something men’s football should as well He also said “women are smarter and more civilized” haha

i just read the interview that he gave and honestly he’s spot on, the fact that the backlash is still going on now even though the video came out in July is just insane. The atmosphere surrounding the men’s game couldn’t get more toxic if it tried

#the asks #albin ekdal #swent