Local leagues, teams strive for acceptance of gays in sports
Friday, 18 February 2011
By Mbonisi Zikhali
When Graham Ford joined the Rideau Speedeaus swimming club this year, it was a liberating experience for him. He was thrust into an ideal world where as a coach, he did not feel obligated to always explain his sexual orientation.
Some of Graham’s other coaching jobs have been with kids, making his sexual orientation harder to discuss.
“It’s not like I can be extremely open about who I am,” he says. “I try to be open about it, because I think that in this day and age some of these kids need to be exposed and know that some of the people they know are gay.”
The mood feels different for Ford when he is with the Rideau Speedeaus.
“It is nice to have that freedom and atmosphere,” he says. “There is no stigma.”
Ford knows all too well the challenges of competing in sports as a gay man.
When he was in university he experienced some of the stigma involved with homosexuality. Most of it revolved around the changeroom.
“Being gay, especially in male sports, is not easily accepted because male sports usually have the macho-masculine attitude,” he says. “It’s funny because swimming is increasingly expanding as a gay sport. Some swimmers try to resist that and therefore it is becoming increasingly homophobic.”
The Ottawa Rideau Speedeaus d’Ottawa has been around for about 25 years. Although it is primarily a gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered swim team; it welcomes members from the straight community also.
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