The AFL had never had an out gay or bi player. One man’s courage has ended that.
Former West Coast Eagles defender Mitch Brown's decision to share his story has moved Australia's favorite sport a step forward. The post The AFL had never had an out gay or bi player. One man’s courage has ended that. appeared first on Outsports.
Mark
Coverage of Aussie rules football on Outsports has rarely given us reason to break out the “courage is contagious” slogan.
Looking at our archive from the last couple of years, suspensions for homophobic slurs have dominated, in sharp contrast to the AFLW’s enthusiastic embrace of its annual Pride Round.
However, at last, the men’s game has a landmark LGBTQ event worthy of celebration.
Mitch Brown, who made almost 100 AFL appearances for the Perth-based West Coast Eagles between 2007 and 2016, has spoken publicly for the first time about being bisexual.
Now 36, Brown’s admirable decision knocks a brick out of the wall of silence that has surrounded this very masculine and conformist code of football.
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Brown dropped an Instagram DM to The Daily Aus journalist Sam Koslowski, explaining that he is an ex-player who is bi and offering his voice towards the national conversation.
Encouragingly, he says Koslowski and the editorial team on the publication offered “incredible support” and he is “completely overwhelmed and grateful” to have been given such a platform.
Brown shares his name with a former AFL player who played for Geelong, Essendon and Melbourne. In an amusing side note, the “other Mitch Brown” posted to his Instagram story saying he had received a lot of messages due to the “understandable confusion” but wanted to express his “admiration and respect” for his namesake.
That was a nice touch. Meanwhile, the AFL and the Eagles were among those to salute Brown’s courage via their official social media accounts.
They should take Brown’s testimony seriously. In a feature article ahead of a podcast episode release, he describes an anxiety-inducing locker-room culture.
When at the age of 19 he tentatively asked a question about sexuality to a teammate, it was laughed off so dismissively that he never dared to raise the topic again.
Moreover, he would regularly hear homophobic comments used as insults on the field of play, and would sometimes overhear other players talk negatively about gay men.
Brown recalled: “I remember two people having a conversation around how they would feel having a shower next to a gay man, and one of the players said, ‘I’d rather be in a cage full of lions than have a shower next to a gay man.’”
Added to that sense of hostility was his own gradual realization that he is bi. He married former netball player Shae Bolton, with whom he has two sons. The couple split up, and he’s now with girlfriend Louisa. Both women are fully supportive of his coming out.
Injuries hampered Brown’s AFL career, but when he retired in 2016 at the age of 28, it was due to the mental strain as much as the physical.
“One of the biggest reasons I wanted to finish up playing AFL was to meet new people, to meet a diverse range of people, men and women, different cultural backgrounds, and I craved new conversations,” he explained.
“I craved talking to someone and not being judged. I craved the ability to choose who I wanted to be around rather than to fit into a team.”
(@westcoasteagles)Bi ex-AFL star Mitch Brown asks AFL fans to play their part
Almost a decade later, have the AFL, the NFL, the Premier League and elite soccer, and all those other men’s pro leagues with next to no gay or bi representation actually got any less suffocating?
At least, we now have some inspirational recent player stories from the top tiers of team sports to draw upon — there’s Ryan O’Callaghan and Carl Nassib; Robbie Rogers and Collin Martin; the MLB’s late, great Billy Bean and the NBA’s Jason Collins.
They have all shown that if you’re gay or bi, whether you’re retired or active, you can take control of what makes you different rather than be controlled by the culture you’re in.
We should commend Mitch Brown for joining them on the other side of the wall. In addition, his thoughtful comments on bisexuality and the “double rejection” that bi men often feel — “too gay for straight spaces and too straight for gay spaces” — should inform the AFL’s next steps.
Last year, results of a study showed 6.8% of Australians aged 16 to 24 identify as bi or use a different term, compared to 1.9% who said they are gay or lesbian.
@thedailyaus Until today, the AFL was the only major professional sporting league globally that has never had a single male player, past or present, publicly identify as gay or bisexual. Former West Coast Eagles player Mitch Brown just changed that. Part 1 & 2 of the full interview coming to the TDA podcast later this week. Available on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. ♬ original sound – The Daily Aus
Hopefully, the AFL will move to bring Brown into the fold and escalate work with LGBTQ organizations such as Pride in Sport and Proud 2 Play. Their experiences and expertise can help to shift those stubborn cultures.
The former Eagles defender also shared a powerful message for AFL fans who are not themselves gay or bi.
“If you can find it somewhere in your heart, whether you’re sitting there watching football on the weekend or you’re sitting next to your brother, to have a sense of empathy that hey, they might be that very person that might be suppressing feelings…
“They might be that person who is feeling so trapped and unhappy because they can’t be who they are.
“That sense of empathy, even just a fraction, I think it’ll make a huge difference.”
It’s good advice for AFL players too, the sort they should heed before they reach for and utter a slur that stops their teammate or opponent in his tracks.
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The post The AFL had never had an out gay or bi player. One man’s courage has ended that. appeared first on Outsports.
