Speakers
Description
Spanish sports literature is devoid of studies investigating the voices of gay athletes. Using semi-structured interviews, the purpose of this research was to examine the contextually relevant experiences of three gay elite athlete in the Spanish sport context. Our investigation covers multiple personal and institutional layers of the sporting complex, which are analysed using Cunningham's (2012) multilevel model for understanding the experiences of LGBT+ people.
Our findings show the sport context to be a heteronormative, masculinised and cisgender social field. Male homosexuality was almost invisible except when antigay language was used. Considering this environment, our interviewees at the beginning chose to remain in the closet, which contributed to low levels of wellbeing. However, at some point they chose to come out and they experienced relief and felt included from some of their teammates, trainers, managers and supporters. Afterwards decided to be proactive and become role models so as to make visible and normalise homosexuality in the sports settings. Our research also provides new insights into the nature and prevalence of microaggressions regarding sexual orientation that will help organisations and managers to develop specific strategies and programmes to foster inclusivity.
