A look at some of the strides queer fan groups have made in recent years. And some of the ongoing challenges.
LGBTQ
Review: The Soccer Player In The Closet
The difference between advocating for openly gay soccer players and a progressive gay panic
Lessons from Outsports’ weekend of social media thirst The Champions League final has come and gone, which means men’s soccer is now on its summer break and there are no stories to speak of. Consequently, everything must be a story. You didn’t really think the content mills would take a few months off, did you? Normally that …
This is not what progress in soccer’s fight against homophobia looks like
It’s not enough to have 82% of fans say they have no issue with gay players on their team. Not close to enough. England’s Football Association is once again engaging in discussions of when the first gay Premier League player will come out. This, generously, is a well-intentioned ritual that has the effect of building up …
Andre Gray and the handling of hate speech and social media in football
When an athlete misbehaves, on whom does the burden of forgiveness fall? This is a story about chronology. The facts, few though they may be, stay relatively stable in each telling, but the story varies based on where one starts and where one goes from there. No matter how one tells this story, mind you, …
Orlando City and a Rainbow’s Gravity
A soccer match becomes a collective expression of grief, horror, pain, and unity Photo via Orlando City Soccer Club Thunder cracks across the sky, rattling the orange groves and moss-clad oaks out of their summer somnolence. The rain lashes in chaotic intervals against gardens anchored by magnolia trees and concrete thoroughfares lined with crepe myrtles. It slows …
Dinner Party From Hell
On Robbie Rogers, The LA Galaxy, and Chick-fil-A I found myself thinking of Robbie Rogers on Monday afternoon, as I find myself doing once or twice a month when mildly distracted and far from the Internet. Thinking about Rogers, the MLS Cup winner and first man to play a game in a North American top …