Sky News host Caleb Bond has mocked the Four Corners report that looked into why the AFL is the only major sporting code that has never had a high profile male player publicly come out as being gay.
Bond said report that raised concerns that the sport had a culture that made gay men feel unwelcome was “ridiculous”.
“Perhaps people in the AFL don’t particularly feel the need to talk about their sexuality, they’re just getting on with the job.” Bond said on his nightly program The Great Debate.
The News Corp columnist said the AFL already had a Pride round which showed that they were supportive of LGBTIQA+ people.
“The AFL has Pride round every year, and I believe this year it actually took up two rounds, so you can’t argue that the AFL is not outwardly making it very clear that it has no issue with gay people or any other LGBTIQ-whatever.” Bond said.
Bond also highlighted the acceptance of former coach Dani Laidley’s gender transition as an example of the AFL being a welcoming place for the queer communities. During his diatribe Bond used Laidley’s ‘dead name’ to highlight their previous gender, saying they had been “embraced” by the “AFL and its brethren”.
Colleague James McPherson noted that no gay players had ever come forward to make complaints about being bullied, while the show’s third member Liz Storer suggested the game should adopt a ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Policy’.
“Whatever happened to ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’?” Storer asked, citing the controversial US military policy that ran from 1993 until 2011.
“If someone is gay how is that the rest of the world’s business. Maybe they, just like the rest of us, just want to be left alone, don’t want to make a song and dance about our sexual preferences – period.”
“It’s actually very refreshing.” Storer said of the lack of out and proud gay players in the game.
The trio’s dialogue against AFL players going public about their sexuality follows on from their recent complaint about there being too many Pride celebrations.
OIP Staff
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