Sport Integrity Australia has become the newest member of the Australian Pride in Sport program, committing to further develop and enhance the inclusion of LGBTQ people.
ACON Health's Pride in Sport program is the only sporting inclusion program specifically designed to assist sporting organisations with the inclusion of employees, athletes, coaches, volunteers, officials and spectators with diverse genders and sexualities.
Being a Pride in Sport member means changing practices and working towards a more inclusive, safe, and healthy sporting environment for people with diverse sexualities and genders.
Sport Integrity Australia CEO David Sharpe is encouraged by Pride in Sport efforts in helping promote positive messages and examples around LGBTQ inclusion for sport programs across Australia.
"We are pleased to have partnered with Pride in Sport," Sharpe said. "Sport Integrity Australia recognises the power of sport to unify Australians and is committed to building a clean, safe, fair and inclusive environment for all.
"Sport should be a place where everyone feels welcome."
Data from the 2020 PSI National Survey showed that just 44% of LGBTQ people felt mentally well within their sport, with 44% of people who are not an active LGBTQ Ally saying they were too busy to be engaged in individual activities.
Data from the Out on the Fields study showed that 80% of people have either witnessed or experienced homophobia in sport, with 75% believing that an openly gay person would not be safe as a spectator at a sporting event.
Beau Newell, National Program Manager of Pride in Sport Australia, said actual and perceived social exclusion is a leading cause of preventable death in Australia, and creating a much healthier and safer sporting culture for LGBTQ people has never been more important.
"By joining Pride in Sport and working with ACON, Sport Integrity Australia is showing the community that they care about the health and wellbeing of athletes and sporting participants in Australia," Newell said.
"Congratulations to Sport Integrity Australia for leading the way in changing Australia's sporting culture, to be more inclusive."
Pride in Sport is Australia's first and only sexuality and gender diverse sporting inclusion program for the Australian sporting sector.
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