Here's What We're Doing To #KeepItUp For 10 Years of Rainbow Laces
We’ve hit goal after goal, getting more than one million people to lace up and changing perceptions across the sporting world. But this must-win game isn’t over yet. Large parts of the LGBTQ+ community still can’t be their true selves whilst attending or participating in sporting events. And in 2023, that just blows our minds.
So, while we should be proud of what’s been done so far, this is no time to take our eye off the ball. In our tenth year we have to do one important thing…
Keep. It. Up.
Keep up raising awareness. Keep up supporting each other. Keep up pushing to make sure sport is for everyone. Lacing up is still making a difference but only if we keep doing it, and keep making all the noise we can.
Why do we all need to Keep It Up?
82% of LGBTQ+ people who take part in sport experience or witness prejudice. (Out in Sport, 2019).
43% of LGBTQ+ people feel unsafe and unwelcome at public sporting events. (YouGov for Stonewall, 2017).
21% More than one in five sport fans still think anti-LGBTQ+ language is harmless if it’s meant as ‘banter’ (ICM for Stonewall, 2021)
A third of LGBTQ+ people who participate in or follow sport are not out to anyone in their sporting life (Out in Sport, 2019).
29% -almost one in three sport fans think homophobic comments about players are still widely considered as acceptable (ICM for Stonewall, 2021).
What are we doing to Keep It Up, and how can you join?
Donate to Stonewall
You can donate to Stonewall’s Keep It Up campaign to celebrate 10 years of the good fight.
Embracing Diversity on the Field – a Rainbow Laces CPD Workshop.
We are hosting a dedicated online CPD event for coaches, managers, committee members, players, referees and parents involved in grassroots football.
The aim of this CPD session is to contribute to a positive change towards a more accepting football environment. This initiative aims at promoting inclusivity, diversity, and allyship in football through education and insights provided during the session.
Find out more about CPD, and sign-up.
Check out Stonewall’s resources.
Visit Stonewall’s Rainbow Laces website for further resources to help you celebrate LGBTQ+ equality in support, and to help deepen your audience’s understanding of why talking about LGBTQ+ issues in sport is so important.
Access resources
Tell stories to educate.
Beyond just a chance to show support or show off skills, videos of people keeping it up could be used to educate and inspire as well. If it feels like a good fit, you could recruit someone from within your organisation /network to do kick ups whilst telling their story of being accepted (or not) within sport.
Here’s how we celebrated alongside students from our football academy…
We have challenged 5 of our Hampshire FA Academy students to have 10 attempts at goal, with their weak foot! Take a look at the result below!