Homophobia and sports seem to go hand-in-hand, despite this being 2019 and all. So it’s nice to hear when a professional athlete makes a stand against homophobia, whether he’s queer or not.
Danish pro football player Viktor Fischer has called out fans that were chanting the usual witty comments twice this week at games. In a video posted on Twitter, fans can be heard singing “Fischer is gay” repeatedly. Fucking genius boys.
And while the 24-year-old player hasn’t officially defined his own sexuality, he took a stand to say that the word gay shouldn’t (still) be used as an insult.
“I experienced specific songs against me, directed at me by name, saying I was gay,” Fischer told TV2. “That’s not the problem. I have nothing against being called one thing or another.
“The problem for me here is that the word ‘gay’ was used as an insult. That is a very, very bad culture for young people and generally for everyone who comes to a football stadium to see football.”
It’s bizarre to me that this is still the best insult that these basic bitches can think of, especially in countries as forward-thinking as Denmark, and the Danish football association is said to be considering disciplinary action while it condemned the chants.
“There’s something of a culture in elite sport, in football, which is based on just being tough, keeping quiet, because that makes you a strong sportsman. But it’s not about being a strong sportsman. It’s about the culture at [stadiums] needing to be better. It’s about ‘homosexual’ not being an insult. It never should have been [an insult], and especially in 2019 in Denmark, it should not be anymore.”
Peter Holk Svendsen, head of LGBT Danmark, spoke out in praise of Fischer’s refusal to stay quiet about this crap.
“It’s a challenge that this is not a culture in which it’s possible [to come out], and there’s not enough acceptance for all segments of Danish society.”
Let’s hope more sports-people speak up about this out-dated way of thinking, and therefore make the whole industry more accepting of those who want to come out without ending their careers.
What do you think? Do you hate when people say “gay” as an insult? And should more professional football players come out?
Let us know on Twitter or on the comments below.