SYDNEY: Holding professional sports games with diversity themes, such as LGBT rights, can help change the discriminatory behaviour of athletes, according to an academic study released by an Australian university on Thursday.
"Players who used homophobic slurs during a pride match said it felt like they were swearing in front of their grandmothers,” said lead author Erik Denison of the Monash School of Social Sciences. The study surveyed players from eight teams in the semi-professional Australian Ice Hockey League and asked them about their use of, and exposure to, homophobic language.It found that players that took part in the LGBT-themed matches were around 20per cent less likely to have used a homophobic slur over the previous two weeks compared to athletes who did not take part in the contest.