Monday, February 13, 2017
Homophobia in sport: English Rugby Union praised for tackling abuse
English rugby has been praised for crunching down on homophobia in the sport. A British government select committee released a report on Sunday. It investigates the prevalence of homophobia in UK sport and how the ruling bodies were dealing with it. In November 2014, two rugby fans were banned for two years and ordered to pay $1,250 to a charity of gay referee Nigel Owens' choice after the Welshman was verbally abused while officiating an international match between England and Wales at Twickenham. I think it is very important to address homophobia in sports, because a lot of people are condemned just because of their sexuality. The day and age that we are we living in now there are so many new and different things that if you can't be open to them you can't really progress. This is more than just about the issue of homophobia it is also about racism and sexism. In America we should address these issues in sports because it is a bigger platform to get the point across. Millions of people around world watch sports of all kind and that makes it easier for more people to get the message. What do you think about English rugby clamping down on homophobia. Its up to the people learn to become more optimistic about these things and we need political figures that embody that too. We don't need people like Donald Trump who are still continuing with the stoic mentality that blacks and women are inferior. It has been proven that anyone is capable of great things. Once we learn to accept others and look out for each other rather than persecute those who are different we can make this world a better place. How do you think we can make things better not only in sports but in everyday life?
http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/11/sport/homophobia-rugby-england-nigel-owens/index.html
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I believe that the harsh punishment that was given to the two players is wrong and is the incorrect way to " Crack down" on homophobia. People are entitled to their opinions and cannot be forced to change their opinions for others. While I do think that verbally abusing someone is morally incorrect, they should not have to support a cause that they are not affiliated with. I can see why there might be homophobia in sports; after all, sports tend to be quite physical and up close. For some, that is uncomfortable. Even if it is the referee( who keeps their distance) they should not be punished for having a prejudice towards gay people. After all are you forced to accept child molesters or rapists in society? No. Because most of us do not agree with those ideas and would not want to be associated with them. This systematic way of forcing people to think a certain way is wrong. I think that a valid punishment would be to fine the players and put the money towards the rugby association or the teams they play for. If not, what we need to figure out is what punishments are appropriate and reasonable when it comes to these so called "hate crimes".
ReplyDelete-Sincerely,
Your Devil's Advocate
Even though this is a sports article I believe that this story has great the potential to effect great things even governments. Sports are national treasures that bring people together from different regions, religion, racial backgrounds and many other things that keeps us divided. Sports have had a great impact in politics societal influence, like in the Ali Summit, Ping pong diplomacy, Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier, Michael Sam coming out of the closet during football and many others. There was even a Select committee to stop baseball players to use PEDs. In sports we take the morals that come from them and apply them to the real world. If we see our leaders and heros take action like this. I think that stances on issues like this are huge because it has a great result of influencing policy.
ReplyDeleteYes here ye here ye. I agree with the comments that my fellow peers are making. Based on the title of this article we can tell that it has nothing to do with ap government and p[politics at all. Although your right and there should be diversity and it can be seen as a hate crime, No
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion this is a necessary step in the right direction for our society. We as a people find it easier to avoid the problem and not talk about it because we believe that it will eventually go away no questions asked. As a major sport internationally, the rugby community is vast and forcing people to face to face with their idols playing alongside of or being gay is a rude awakening for those who aren't "progressive". I think we as Americans aren't getting exposed to to gay culture correctly. In most TV shows they are effeminate and over the top and it shows us that there is a stereotype to the gay community. In some situations it's forced on us through certain media outlets that we have to be directly involved or openly supportive of the lgbt community or you are not really a " progressive " which at times isn't necessary when we have more major problems in the world compared to identifying someones sexuality instead of just living life as another citizen. What I think we can do is adopt the mentality that we shouldn't discriminate against gays but we shouldn't also have the mindset that we shouldn't accept being gay as idea but we should accept that it is a reality and there is no argument that can change that
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