Parrots are flying the flag for LGBTQ
A Perth sports team has been highlighting LGBTQ+ visibility by taking part in the recent Rainbow Laces campaign.
On Tuesday, December 7, Perth-based floorball club Perth Parrots were joined by representatives of HISA Rainbow to jointly support the Stonewall Rainbow Laces Campaign for 2021.
Perth Parrots is an LGBTQ+ inclusive club for over 18s, formed in 2019.
The Rainbow Laces Campaign is championed by Stonewall UK, the UK’s leading LGBTQ+ charity.
In 2017, Stonewall also conducted research which showed 43 per cent of LGBTQ+ people “don’t believe sporting events are welcoming spaces” (YouGov research for Stonewall, 2017).
The Rainbow Laces Campaign has encouraged more than one million supporters to lace up and show solidarity while highlighting LGBTQ+ visibility in sport and helping make the often invisible, visible.
Debate and conversation about inclusion in sport is encouraged.
Stonewall’s national Rainbow Laces campaign began on Thursday, November 25 and ended last Sunday.
Last Wednesday was the designated Wear your Rainbow Laces Day.
Perth Parrots offers a safe and welcoming space to participants regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.
On December 7, the club showed solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community, helping people engage in meaningful conversation and show the importance of allyship.
Perth Parrots founder Frazer Robertson stated: “The Rainbow Laces Campaign led by Stonewall UK has significantly gathered pace in last few years and provides an perfect platform for our club and other partners to highlight our inclusive credentials which specifically strives to ensure a safe and welcoming for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) community in Perth and Kinross.
“Positive examples of LGBTI role models in sport are still sadly lacking and this simple but effective gesture of collective support will hopefully help encourage new members to our club while highlighting that homophobia, biphobia and transphobia has no place in sport”.
The club meets every Tuesday at the North Inch Community Campus from 6pm-7pm. All equipment is provided, and the first session is free.