Being out on the field often opens gay and lesbian players to discrimination a new study finds. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

On the heels of Michael Sam being drafted into the NFL and subsequently cut from the league, Out on the Fields, a new study, has found the United States to be the most homophobic English-speaking country in sports.

Out on the Fields billed the study as the first international study focusing on homophobia in sports. People who participated in the online survey were from various sports backgrounds with about 25 percent of participants identifying as heterosexual. The study’s findings concluded that although LGBT issues have made great strides in the United States overall, there is still more work to be done on the field. The study also chose to only focus on lesbian, gay and bisexual issues and excluded examining trans issues in sports.

According to the study, spectator stands and school physical education classes were the two places that had the most rampant homophobia. The study found that 83 percent of participants believe an openly gay person would not be safe as a spectator at a sporting event. The study also states that 78 percent of those polled feel youth sports, for those under 22 years old, are not safe spaces for LGB people. Susan Rankin, a senior research associate at Pennsylvania State University, sat on Out of the Fields’ expert review panel and believes LGB children are most susceptible to encountering issues during physical education classes.

“You’re changing, you’re in the locker room,” Rankin says. “You’re a little more vulnerable there than you would be in English class.”

That vulnerability in athleticism is why those who participate in sports can feel trapped. The study states that 50 percent of gay men and 53 percent of lesbians feel personally targeted for their sexual orientation in sports. Rankin credits that statistic to gay men not being as out in sports as lesbians.

Gay men are less likely to come out to their team or coach while they are on a sports team. Meanwhile, lesbians are more likely to be out and identify themselves as queer publicly. The study says that 83 percent of gay men remain in the closet to all or some of their team while only 63 percent of lesbians report being in the closet to some or all of their team. American gay men were also more likely to fear discrimination from their coaches and officials than gay men in any other country surveyed.

Gay men’s fear of coming out versus lesbians being more open also means lesbians are more likely to be targeted because they’re more visible. Rankin says she knows it to be true that lesbians are targeted from her own personal experience.

“The label of lesbianism in sports is one that women would go to great lengths generations ago to not come across as gay so they wouldn’t get dropped,” she says.

Another large part of sports culture is the frequent use of homophobic language. Those who had experienced homophobia reported 89 percent of gay men and 82 percent of lesbians had heard homophobic slurs. Rankin says the reason homophobic language is used often is because of the way sports have been structured over the generations. That structure is going to take time to deconstruct.

“It’s an area where masculinity and femininity are highlighted,” Rankin says. “It’s around gender and what that looks like and not going outside of those roles and challenging them. It’s the last dash for us to move through.”