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The German Sport University of Cologne has launched the first Europe-wide online survey on LGBTI people and sport.
Working with organisations across Europe, the University is looking to understand and tackle discrimination and violence in sport based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
I spoke with Kaus Heusslein, who is part of the consortium of associations behind the Outsport survey, to find out why the survey is so important.
How extensive is discrimination and violence — based on sexual orientation or gender identity — in sport today?
It’s difficult to quantify. There are news reports or anecdotal accounts of individual instances, but this survey will help us build the empirical data required to have a fact-based discussion.
Without that data, it’s really difficult to understand the extent of issues that LGBTI people may be experiencing, or to measure whether or not things are getting better.
What are the objectives of this survey?
The results from the survey will help shape the European Union’s policies regarding discrimination in sport. The policies that are currently in place don’t address discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
We want to encourage LGBTI people to participate in sport, so it’s important that we can identify and remove any barriers that might be stopping people.
Are discrimination and violence in sport worse in some countries or some sports than others?
We assume so, but the survey responses will be used to enable us to get some facts and evidence around this.
How important is it to have LGBT role models in professional sport?
Anecdotally, everyone agrees that this is very important. But the survey will be specifically looking at this question to give us some data that demonstrates the value of role models.
Who are some of the LGBT sportspeople who are having a positive impact through the visibility and leadership?
I’m particularly impressed by footballer Thomas Hitzlsperger and tennis player Martina Navratilova.
Who are your target respondents for this survey?
All LGBTI sports people. Ideally, we’re looking for people who are aged over 16 years, and who live in the European Union.
You don’t have to be actively participating in sport to complete the survey. Also, you don’t have to have experienced discrimination or violence in order to complete the survey. Everyone’s views are welcome.
How many respondents do you need to make the survey valid?
We hope to receive at least 6000 responses to the survey — that would give us sufficient data to enable us to do a scientific research on the topic.
When will the results of the survey be published?
We’ll be presenting the results at a conference that will held be in Autumn 2020.
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This post was originally published on Medium and is republished here with permission from the author.
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