Nelson Mandela: "Sport has more capacity than governments to break down social barriers"
2010 from the 19 February Is celebrated the Day against LGTBIphobia in Sports. The date was chosen in tribute to Justin Fashanu, a footballer from Norwich City who turned out to be one of the first to talk about homosexuality in 1990 and ended up taking his own life in 1998, after eight years marked by harassment and homophobic violence and being accused – and acquitted – of raping a 17-year-old boy.
According to the institutional declaration of the Higher Sports Council, the hate crimes report of the Ministry of Interior points to the LGBTophobia as a cause of near 20% of incidents of hate crimes reported in Spain. And sports facilities and playing fields are the fourth space in which the most incidents of hate crimes are reported.
The report on the state of the LGTBIphobia in Catalonia, prepared by l'Observatory against LGTBIphobia, points out that lgtbiphobic incidents in the sports field are quantified around 3%. But this 3% shows an increasing trend compared to previous years.
These are figures that have been remembered Panthers Grogues in a Manifesto occasion of International Day against LGTBIphobia in Sport. A text in which they recover the words of Nelson Mandela"Sport has the power to transform the world. "It has the power to inspire, to unite people like few other things... It has more capacity than governments to break down social barriers.".
ADI campaign
La Iberian Sports Group (ADI) LGTBI+ has launched the campaign 'The sport loves you', which states that any person, no matter who they are and whoever they love, is made to practice sports. In just one minute, images of the different clubs that make up the Group practicing sports are brought together, with a voice-over pretending to be that of the Group itself. 39 / 2022.
The regulations encourage the use of this right, something that is also pointed out from the COI, and it is insisted that «It is the obligation of institutions to promote sport for its advantages in physical, mental and social health.«. No person should be discriminated against because of their sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, as some Federations are doing.