Same source as Aker no doubt.

Tabloids make the news. Still, if it floats your boat, go for it.

Indeed, Pericles. I don't understand why homophobes feel compelled to burden the rest of the world with their inclinations. Too much information, if you ask me.

>> Most gay men or boys that I've known are just not interested.

It would be remarkable if people who've been told their presence in football changerooms is unwelcome responded that they want to play the game.

The Victorian Health Department's Come Out to Play report http://www.vichealth.vic.gov.au/Resource-Centre/Publications-and-Resources/Physical-Activity/Sport-and-recreation/Come-Out-to-Play-VU.aspx (released on the same day as Akermanis' article) sheds some light on why those gay men and boys might avoid team sports. Some key findings:
• 41.5 % of respondents reported experiencing verbal homophobia at sometime during their sports involvement.
• 26.0% of males and 9.9% of females reported there were sports that they would like to play but did not because of their sexuality, and 58.3% of transgender respondents reported there were sports that they did not play because of their gender identity.
• The most common sports males would like to play but did not / could not – was Australian Rules Football (45.0%), rugby (17.5%) and soccer (10.0%).

In short, homophobic attitudes are keeping sexual minorities out of team sports, and a large proportion of those who do participate are keeping their sexuality secret:
• Nearly half (46.0%) of respondents involved in mainstream sport were NOT OUT as LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender) to anyone.

This would confirm that in spite of some people's wishes to keep homosexuals out of sporting changerooms, they're already there.

Woulfe,
I'd like to play netball with the girls but I'm not allowed to because of my gender identity.
It's discrimination.
In fact, it's heterophobic!

woulfe

If the report is saying what you think it is saying they have stopped to pee on a very tiny shrub in front of a very large forest.

By far the greatest barrier to children playing sport is that the parent/s don't have time. Make that the parent/s can't make the time available to drop and pick them up. Sometimes that is because the parent/s really are committed, but usually it is because the parent can't be bothered - the Internet or whatever is more attractive to them. Soon the child learns to do the same.

However the Victorian government really didn't have to go off and do a report at all because the knowledge has been available from business and from sporting and recreational bodies for years and regularly updated.

How typical of the Victorian government to waste taxes on political correctness and at the end of it all that was produced was a brochure filled with platitudes. Wow!

Apart from that, you would have to in dreamland to imagine that any coach would pass over any kid that showed promise and the teams are the same. For goodness sakes in AFL girls play in boys' teams and the only reason they don't continue in competition is the increased body mass and strength of the boys.

woulffe:"It would be remarkable if people who've been told their presence in football changerooms is unwelcome responded that they want to play the game."

And it would be remarkable if people who were told their presence in gay men's clubs was unwanted reponded that they wanted to play that game. Now we've got that out of the way...

Top-level footballers start playing when they are very young and pre-sexual. They haven't made their mind up what they like doing to get their sexual kicks. By the time they get to senior levels they are part of the club culture and I suspect that most, unlike yourself, are simply not interested in making a political point about their sexuality. They feel "unconmfortable" about the disruption that would cause to their friends and the club they play for and so they choose not to make a fuss.

The report you linked to supports this view. It says: "Most participants could name a main sport in which they had been active
participants. Involvement in team sports was more likely for women (63.3%) than men (44.7%).
Most (84.0%) participants were involved in a mainstream club and were not generally out in that club- 46.0% were not out, 33.5% were out to some and 20.5% were out to all."

Mind you, it was a tiny survey, only 307 participants. As I said, a tempest in a teacup, but it does illustrate the enormous influence of the gay lobby for such a tiny minority. No doubt Vic Health was also highly influential in the club's response to Alermanis's comments.

You've ignored my example of the bogans and the gay club. Do you think that such a club should allow entry to such people, or would the discomfort caused to the members be too great?

What if they gained entry by dressing and acting like everyone else and then went and changed into their flannoes? Would that cause any discomfort among the others there?

As CJ said way back at the beginning of this discussion:

>> This thread's too funny.

It's still funny.

>> Would you feel uncomfortable if a couple of bogans turned up to your local gay club wearing flannoes and torn jeans with cigarette packets stuffed in the sleeves and acting overtly hetero?

First silly assumption: "bogans" aren't gay.

Second silly assumption: individuals in "flannoes and torn jeans" don't get into gay venues.

Third silly assumption: in order to get into a gay venue, you have to act 'gay'.

>> footballers [...] should be able to decide with whom they wish to share their space

Yes, with the proviso that they must act within the law. Gay venues aren't allowed to discriminate on the grounds of sexuality, and neither are sporting clubs. The University of Woolloomooloo is, fortunately, just a joke: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_f_p0CgPeyA