LGBT Inclusion for DCFC

[Philmycock]

There's more homophobia protesting outside a school in Birmingham than there is in football.

[ramsLGBT]

21 minutes ago, philmycock said:

There's more homophobia protesting outside a school in Birmingham than there is in football.

I think a major consideration here is the level of visibility. The protests in Birmingham are getting mainstream media coverage. If they didn't, you probably wouldn't know they were happening.

Consider LGBT fans that don't attend games because they're worried about abuse. Nobody would know that this is the reason they do not attend if they have never expressed that.

Consideration also has to be taken that it is hard to understand the extend of something when it doesn't affect you. For somebody that doesn't see why a football match can be ostracising for the LGBT community, it can seem like there isn't an issue. To those who are affected by it, it could be a major issue to them.

The aim of the survey is to hear from a wide set of supporters, both within and outside of the LGBT community to understand their views and experiences. 

[G STAR RAM]

1 hour ago, ramsLGBT said:

I think a major consideration here is the level of visibility. The protests in Birmingham are getting mainstream media coverage. If they didn't, you probably wouldn't know they were happening.

Consider LGBT fans that don't attend games because they're worried about abuse. Nobody would know that this is the reason they do not attend if they have never expressed that.

Well surely if they attended they would see that there is no reason to be worried?

[Sith Happens]

What's concerning about the recent attack in London is how young those are that attacked the couple.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-48566800

The article shows homophobic attacks on the increase.

I thought we were supposed to be getting more civilised.

 

 

[ossieram]

2 minutes ago, Paul71 said:

What's concerning about the recent attack in London is how young those are that attacked the couple.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-48566800

The article shows homophobic attacks on the increase.

I thought we were supposed to be getting more civilised.

 

 

Young fools doing stupid stuff to impress their mates or fellow gang members and most will probably get a slap on the wrist because of their age.

There are morons willing to attack anybody they see as different across the world, but people are openly taught that Homosexuality is wrong and that their invisible sky fairies will punish them after death. It's more than one religion that does this and until something changes, some things will never get better. 

[Nuwtfly]

Completed the survey.

Not sure I've ever heard a fan be transphobic before, but definitely heard my fair share of homophobic abuse.

A bloke that used to sit in front of me had a different homophobic insult every week for Gary Teale.

[Gee SCREAMER !!]

4 hours ago, RoyMac5 said:

 

No gay footballers? 

 

 

You're not gay - ask someone who is that question, you might get a different answer. And I guess that might be what this research might be about.

my cousin is as pointed out ,  so's his partner clearly.  So are two of my friend's .  They all seem very happy and content with life . You seem pretty set on your opinion so  I'll leave you with it.  This may have been an issue 30 year's ago .  No more so than anything else now

[ramsLGBT]

36 minutes ago, G STAR RAM said:

Well surely if they attended they would see that there is no reason to be worried?

Quite possibly. Again, the survey will hopefully help to deduce if LGBT supporters have any concerns, and how we can address these, or how we can show LGBT supporters that DCFC is a friendly inclusive club.

LGBT supporters who have fears may just need some friendly faces to help show them that it's a great place to be.

[maxjam]

23 minutes ago, Paul71 said:

What's concerning about the recent attack in London is how young those are that attacked the couple.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-48566800

The article shows homophobic attacks on the increase.

I thought we were supposed to be getting more civilised.

 

Increase in reported hate crimes during the past 2 years in part due to;

specialist unit created in 2017 to record hate crime

https://www.london.gov.uk/press-releases/mayoral/mayor-launches-unit-to-tackle-online-hate-crime

and more people are now likely to report hate crime

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/07/world/europe/lesbian-couple-london-bus-attack.html

[maxjam]

15 minutes ago, ramsLGBT said:

Quite possibly. Again, the survey will hopefully help to deduce if LGBT supporters have any concerns, and how we can address these, or how we can show LGBT supporters that DCFC is a friendly inclusive club.

LGBT supporters who have fears may just need some friendly faces to help show them that it's a great place to be.

I'm all for making the world a more inclusive place but just out of interest unless you wear a massive glowing neon sign above your head that reads, 'look at me I'm gay' how do people know? And therefore why would they fear coming to a match?

The seats next to me have been empty for a couple of seasons now but regularly get filled by people coming to individual matches.  I'll say hello to them and if they are chatty we'll chat during the match, if they want to be left alone I'll leave them be.  Anyone of them could have been gay, straight, whatever, funnily enough it never came up in conversation!

[G STAR RAM]

37 minutes ago, Paul71 said:

What's concerning about the recent attack in London is how young those are that attacked the couple.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-48566800

The article shows homophobic attacks on the increase.

I thought we were supposed to be getting more civilised.

 

 

Not in anyway trying to trivialise this, any sort of abuse is wrong. 

But we are talking about 7 or 8 incidents a day in a city of 7 million people. 

I probably get 'abused' 2 or 3 times a day on this forum for some of my beliefs! 

[Archied]

8 minutes ago, G STAR RAM said:

Not in anyway trying to trivialise this, any sort of abuse is wrong. 

But we are talking about 7 or 8 incidents a day in a city of 7 million people. 

I probably get 'abused' 2 or 3 times a day on this forum for some of my beliefs! 

Yea but in your case it’s not enough?

[ramsLGBT]

1 hour ago, maxjam said:

I'm all for making the world a more inclusive place but just out of interest unless you wear a massive glowing neon sign above your head that reads, 'look at me I'm gay' how do people know? And therefore why would they fear coming to a match?

The seats next to me have been empty for a couple of seasons now but regularly get filled by people coming to individual matches.  I'll say hello to them and if they are chatty we'll chat during the match, if they want to be left alone I'll leave them be.  Anyone of them could have been gay, straight, whatever, funnily enough it never came up in conversation!

For some members of the LGBT community, it is more obvious that they are LGBT. This generally forms from stereotypes; including things like the way they act, the way they speak, the way they dress. These traits are often things that are picked up on and used as a form of abuse.

For others, the language used by other supporters can be something that is very off-putting. There are definitely examples of homophobic chants, and the general masculine feel of a football crowd can be off-putting to members of the LGBT community.

It may be that for some people, they decide it's just not their scene; and that is fine. I think it's important that everybody can be themselves without the fear of being abused or feeling like they don't belong.

 

From a personal point of view, I think the main problem faced is language. The use of slurs and taunts that are discriminatory when they have no reason to be used. Calling the referee a banker doesn't marginalise people. Telling somebody to 'get up you puff' does and just isn't necessary.

[G STAR RAM]

3 minutes ago, ramsLGBT said:

For some members of the LGBT community, it is more obvious that they are LGBT. This generally forms from stereotypes; including things like the way they act, the way they speak, the way they dress. These traits are often things that are picked up on and used as a form of abuse.

For others, the language used by other supporters can be something that is very off-putting. There are definitely examples of homophobic chants, and the general masculine feel of a football crowd can be off-putting to members of the LGBT community.

At Pride Park? Do you have examples of this and have they been reported to the club?

It may be that for some people, they decide it's just not their scene; and that is fine. I think it's important that everybody can be themselves without the fear of being abused or feeling like they don't belong.

From a personal point of view, I think the main problem faced is language. The use of slurs and taunts that are discriminatory when they have no reason to be used. Calling the referee a w*nker doesn't marginalise people. Telling somebody to 'get up you puff' does and just isn't necessary.

I'm afraid you're at least a generation away from this changing. See what @Alpha has said earlier in the thread. Language that some see as homophobic is used in a completely non homophobic way and is just a generation thing. Just as a generation ago some people thought nothing of using 'racist' language, some people now use 'homophobic' language without a second thought. Hopefully as time goes on, referring to someone as gay, puff etc will just disappear from everyday language.

 

[RoyMac5]

57 minutes ago, Gee SCREAMER !! said:

my cousin is as pointed out ,  so's his partner clearly.  So are two of my friend's .  They all seem very happy and content with life . You seem pretty set on your opinion so  I'll leave you with it.  This may have been an issue 30 year's ago .  No more so than anything else now

Have you seen the recent news? Football crowds are a microcosm of the whole. 

[ramsLGBT]

9 minutes ago, G STAR RAM said:

At Pride Park? Do you have examples of this and have they been reported to the club?

Yes. If i'm honest, i'm not sure. It's tough for the club to work on retrospectively punishing this when a large number of people join in. Chants such as 'does your boyfriend know you're here' etc.

11 minutes ago, G STAR RAM said:

I'm afraid you're at least a generation away from this changing. See what @Alpha has said earlier in the thread. Language that some see as homophobic is used in a completely non homophobic way and is just a generation thing. Just as a generation ago some people thought nothing of using 'racist' language, some people now use 'homophobic' language without a second thought. Hopefully as time goes on, referring to someone as gay, puff etc will just disappear from everyday language.

I can definitely see the progress and agree that we're heading in the right direction and that change doesn't come overnight. However, the aspect you've missed there is that the reason that things change through generations is through work done to get there. We can continue to educate and lead the way with this, I don't believe we can write off a generation as a lost cause and say it'll all be fine in 20 years time.

[Will Hughes Hair]

28 minutes ago, ramsLGBT said:

Calling the referee a w*nker doesn't marginalise people.

You've not met @DarkFruitsRam7 have you?

[Pearl Ram]

I believe while the thick continue to attend football there will always be a problem. 

[Archied]

12 minutes ago, ramsLGBT said:

Yes. If i'm honest, i'm not sure. It's tough for the club to work on retrospectively punishing this when a large number of people join in. Chants such as 'does your boyfriend know you're here' etc.

I can definitely see the progress and agree that we're heading in the right direction and that change doesn't come overnight. However, the aspect you've missed there is that the reason that things change through generations is through work done to get there. We can continue to educate and lead the way with this, I don't believe we can write off a generation as a lost cause and say it'll all be fine in 20 years time.

Must never underestimate that the biggest player in progress now is people’s experience s , as I said earlier I willing to bet vast numbers of people in this day and age have lgbt family ,friends who they love and care about and there is no better teacher than personal experience,

im nearly 60 now and at age 14 my family commenced being multi racial ( quite funny with the very bigoted father we had) and has grown to be very diverse and full of love ,

the above is part of the reason it’s lazy and wrong to assume people don’t care about this stuff

[G STAR RAM]

16 minutes ago, ramsLGBT said:

Yes. If i'm honest, i'm not sure. It's tough for the club to work on retrospectively punishing this when a large number of people join in. Chants such as 'does your boyfriend know you're here' etc.

Fair enough.

Not sure what the etc is as I cant say I'm aware of anything else. 

Be honest though, when was the last time you heard anything like that at Pride Park?