While recent years have seen the emergence of a significant body of research on LGBT inclusion in sport, little is known about LGBT fans. This book provides the first in-depth examination of LGBT football fans’ experiences and sense of place in the contemporary English game. Drawing on almost 100 semi-structured interviews with LGBT fans, it explores several important findings, including how these fans represent ‘authentic’ notions of fandom, the emergence of LGBT Fan Groups, improved stadium environment for LGBT fans, LGBT-themed chanting and the role of governing bodies and professional football clubs. The research presented in this book extends current theorising of under-represented groups of sports fans. This is fascinating and important reading for those with an interest in the sociology of sport, sports fandom, gender and sexuality.
In July 2012, aged thirty, Juliet Jacques underwent sex reassignment surgery-a process she chronicled with unflinching honesty in a serialised national newspaper column. Trans tells of her life to the present moment: a story of growing up, of defining yourself, and of the rapidly changing world of gender politics. Fresh from university, eager to escape a dead-end job and launch a career as a writer, she navigates the treacherous waters of a world where, even in the liberal and feminist media, transgender identities go unacknowledged, misunderstood or worse. Revealing, honest,humorous, and self-deprecating, Trans includes an epilogue with Sheila Heti, author of How Should a Person Be?
Cyd Zeigler tells the story of how sports have been radically transformed for LGBT athletes in the past four years, for Dave Zirin's Edge of Sports imprint.
A riveting account of life as a closeted professional athlete from gay NFL player O’Callaghan, against the backdrop of depression, opioid addiction, and the threat of suicide. “[O’Callaghan’s] story is one of beautiful vulnerability, and it further shows the importance of knowing you aren’t alone.” —Oprah Daily, recommended by Gayle King Ryan O’Callaghan’s plan was always to play football and then, when his career was over, kill himself. Growing up in a politically conservative corner of California, the not-so-subtle messages he heard as a young man from his family and from TV and film routinely equated being gay with disease and death. Letting people in on the darkest secret he kept buried inside was not an option: better death with a secret than life as a gay man. As a kid , Ryan never envisioned just how far his football career would take him. He was recruited by the University of California, Berkeley, where he spent five seasons, playing alongside his friend Aaron Rodgers. Then it was on to the NFL for stints with the almost-undefeated New England Patriots and the often-defeated Kansas City Chiefs. Bubbling under the surface of Ryan’s entire NFL career was a collision course between his secret sexuality and his hidden drug use. When the league caught him smoking pot, he turned to NFL-sanctioned prescription painkillers that quickly sent his life into a tailspin. As injuries mounted and his daily intake of opioids reached a near-lethal level, he wrote his suicide note to his parents and plotted his death. Yet someone had been watching. A member of the Chiefs organization stepped in, recognizing the signs of drug addiction. Ryan reluctantly sought psychological help, and it was there that he revealed his lifelong secret for the very first time. Nearing the twilight of his career, Ryan faced the ultimate decision: end it all, or find out if his family and football friends could ever accept a gay man in their lives.
In recent years, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) athletes have received more media attention than ever before. Declining levels of homophobia across the Western world has facilitated a greater acceptance of LGBT athletes among heterosexual teammates, fans, and the sports media. Consequently, academic interest in sport, gender and sexuality has also increased substantially. This edited collection combines studies of gender and sexuality with that of the sports media to provide the first-ever comprehensive academic overview of LGBT athletes in the sports media. It draws upon work from a wide range of international scholars to provide an interdisciplinary analysis of improved media coverage of LGBT athletes, as well as the numerous issues and barriers which continue to exist. LGBT Athletes in the Sports Media will be of interest to students and scholars across a range of disciplines, including sociology, media studies, and gender studies.
TITLE: LGBT – PSYCHOLOGY, MARRIAGE, SPORTS AND MORE AUTHOR: M. MeenachiSundaram TABLE OF CONTENTS LGBT – MARRIAGE, SPORTS AND MORE. 3 PREFACE. 3 CHAPTER 1: LGBT- Marriage and Family. 11 CHAPTER 2: LGBT – SPORTS. 52 CHAPTER 3: The Psychological behaviour of Lesbian in outside world. 123 CHAPTER 4: The Psychological behaviour of Gay in outside world. 128 CHAPTER 5: The Psychological behaviour of Bi-Sexual in outside world. 133 CHAPTER 6: The Psychological behaviour of TransGender in outside world. 139 Glossary. 145 CHAPTER 7: LGBT Laws in the United States. 150 CHAPTER 8: LGBT Laws in the India. 153 CHAPTER 9: LGBT Laws in the United Arab Emirates. 156 CHAPTER 10: LGBT Laws in the Saudi Arabia. 159 ABOUT THE AUTHOR.. 162 LGBT – MARRIAGE, SPORTS AND MORE PREFACE LGBT Rights and Marriage Equality The fight for marriage equality has been one of the most significant civil rights struggles for LGBT people in the past few decades. For many years, same-sex couples were denied the right to marry, which excluded them from a range of legal protections and benefits. The movement for marriage equality aimed to provide LGBT couples the same legal recognition and rights as heterosexual couples, reinforcing the idea that love and commitment should not be limited by sexual orientation. Historical Context of LGBT Marriage Historically, marriage was viewed through a strictly heterosexual lens, with same-sex relationships largely invisible or criminalized in many societies. The struggle for LGBT marriage rights gained momentum in the 20th century, particularly in the 1990s and early 2000s, when countries like the Netherlands, Canada, and Spain became some of the first to legalize same-sex marriage. The journey to marriage equality has been long and arduous, with significant legal, cultural, and religious opposition along the way. Legal Recognition of Same-Sex Marriages Many countries around the world now legally recognize same-sex marriages, providing LGBT couples with the same legal status as heterosexual couples. In 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark ruling in *Obergefell v. Hodges* legalized same-sex marriage across the United States, marking a historic victory for LGBT rights. This ruling was built upon decades of advocacy and legal challenges. Marriage equality has been crucial in providing LGBT couples with rights related to inheritance, taxation, child adoption, and healthcare access. Religious Perspectives on LGBT Marriage The issue of same-sex marriage has often intersected with religious beliefs. Many religious institutions have opposed LGBT marriage on theological grounds, citing traditional views of marriage as between one man and one woman. However, some denominations and religious leaders have embraced a more inclusive stance, arguing that marriage should be about love and commitment, regardless of gender. This debate continues to shape the broader discourse around LGBT marriage rights.
The study of football fandom is a fast-growing area of research in the sociology of sport. The first work of its kind, this book explores football fan activism and its impact on contemporary football culture in England, Italy and the Czech Republic. Presenting a comparative study of fan activism in national and transnational contexts, it explores the characteristics of each country’s football fan culture as well as the varying and at times volatile dynamics between fans, authorities and the mass media. Its chapters address key themes and issues including: fans’ reactions to policing and security measures in football stadiums; the socio-cultural significance of symbols and rituals for fans at football games; and fans’ critical engagement with football club ownership and management. Offering original insights into the power of fan activism to influence social change, this book has wider implications for understanding social movements in other cultural and political spheres beyond Europe. Football Fans, Activism and Social Change is fascinating reading for all students, scholars and football fans with an interest in sport studies, fan culture, politics and society.
This book explores the meanings, significances, and impacts of the complex identities that soccer fans, especially those of men's soccer, represent worldwide. The chapters in this volume construct and reconstruct fandom in terms of diverse fan affiliations from local to global level, and from national to transnational spaces. Soccer or (association) football is a game where fans come alive with one goal. It is soccer’s fanbase that has made it the most popular mass spectator sport in the world. Since the sport’s growth and its codification in the late nineteenth century, soccer and its followers became markers of varied identities. This volume is an attempt to understand the soccer fan’s tryst with such identities, mostly at the level of professional men’s football in different parts of the world. Fans create, represent, break, recreate, transcend, complicate and confuse diverse identities in their attachments with and loyalties to particular clubs, nations, continents, spaces, communities, races, ethnicities, and players. These identities are given shape through the display and observance of diverse forms of fandom and fan subcultures. Against this wider backdrop, the book brings out the commonalities, conflicts and tensions within these fan identities. Why Fans Matter? Fans and Identities in the Soccer World will be a fascinating read for anybody with an interest in sport and its intersection with disciplines such as sociology, political science, history, media studies, or cultural studies. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Soccer & Society.
Radar delivers streetwise, hot-topic reads for kids aged 9+. With bold, fresh design and topics that have bags of kid-appeal, Radar will encourage children to read “ and keep reading!
In the closet... Career-focused Jason Tant has given up on love to play football at the highest level: his team is in the Premiership, and Jason also plays for the English national team (even though his mother is Spanish). He doesn’t want to be the poster boy for LGBT people in sport—and his advisors have told him that coming out will ruin his career. It’s not an issue until Scott captures Jason’s heart and turns his world around. Out and proud... With a carefree, live-for-today attitude, Scott Cole was never in the closet. Funny, clever, and a terrific dancer, the science student has many talents but the man he loves requires something else—discretion. They seem an unlikely couple but neither can resist the chemistry that draws them together. Under scrutiny... Prying paparazzi are everywhere, determined to out gay footballers. Scott questions whether he and Jason need to keep their love a secret when professional British sportsmen in other fields are coming out. Will Jason have to choose between love and his career? Or will the tabloids destroy them both? An MM romance novel with a happy ever after. The story spans 2012-2015. Set in England where fans would die for their football team and football is not called soccer. It is 51,000 words. The book was inspired by the news story in October 2015 that British gay footballers are preparing to come out in public. As of January 2017, no professional players at the top level in European football have come out. The rumours persist and there have been discussions at the highest levels, including inside Parliament. The story is set in England but uses American spelling for the benefit of international readers.
