British tennis player Liam Broady is the latest pro athlete to stand in solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community. On Tuesday, January 20th Broady sported rainbow laces at the Australian Open. Playing in Melbourne, Broady lost his first-round match to Nick Kyrgios.
Created by Stonewall the “iconic rainbow laces have become a symbol of inclusion across sport and fitness.” Using the tagline Lace-Up, Speak Up Rainbow Laces Day was celebrated last year on December 8th,
“Our Rainbow Laces have brought visibility for LGBTQ+ people in sport and awareness around our experiences. Today, more than a million people have laced up, and two-thirds of sports fans who’ve seen the campaign believe they have a responsibility to stand in solidarity for LGBTQ+ fans of the teams and sports they follow. However, the numbers show there is still much to do.”
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At the post-game press conference, Broady spoke at length about why he sported the laces telling reporters,
“I just kind of wanted to send the support. I know obviously within men’s tennis – is it a taboo? I don’t think it’s really a taboo, but I’ve seen questions before about why there aren’t any openly gay men on the tour, and I just wanted to kind of voice my support in that general area.”
The BIDI BADU ambassador then relayed he felt the need to thank the queer community,
“And the LGBTQ community, I mean, a lot of those guys have given me a lot of support throughout my career and have been there since day one, so I kind of wanted to give a thank you in my own sort of way.”
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Broady also took this opportunity to mention Josh Cavallo, the Australian footballer who came out last year,”
“I saw that the first openly gay footballer just came out in Australia. And it’s difficult, right? I mean it’s a big thing to do and at the end of the day in the 21st century, it’s pretty rubbish that people don’t feel like they can be openly gay. It’s quite sad, really.”
Sources: Sky Sports
