‘‘I want people to see that I’m out here.’’ How Anton Down-Jenkins hopes to normalise the inclusion of the LGBTQI+ community in sport
When 21-year-old diver Anton Down-Jenkins walks out to the pool side at the Tokyo Olympics in July, not only will he be flying the New Zealand flag, he tells Zoe¨ George, he’ll also be flying the rainbow flag.
Anton Down-Jenkins is the first male diver to represent New Zealand at the Olympics in 37 years – and the 21-year-old is also an active and vocal member of the LGBTQI+ community.
He’s vocal because he hopes to normalise the inclusion of the rainbow community in sport.
‘‘There isn’t enough LGBTQI+ representation in the [sports] media, which is why I felt the need to bring it forward and to publicly announce that I am a member of the LGBTQI+ community, I want to be that representation. I want people to see that I’m out here,’’ he said.
‘‘I’m thriving. I’m competing at the highest level of sport that you can and there just needs to be more of it.
‘‘For sport to be a safe place there needs to be more representation in the media. It needs to become more normalised.’’
Homophobia and discrimination against the rainbow community is still prevalent in sport.
Research released in 2020 found only 13 per cent of LGBTQI + aged between 15-21 coming out to their team-mates, vastly behind other nations including the UK and Australia. 2015 research found 61 per cent of gay and 27 per cent of lesbian adults said they kept their sexuality secret from all their team-mates.
One-third of New Zealanders who do come out in a sport environment then face homophobic abuse, with the problem most common in male team sports. Only one per cent reported sport in New Zealand to be ‘‘completely accepting’’ of the rainbow community.
In 2019, the International Olympic Committee found LGBTQI+ athletes at a uniquely ‘‘high-risk’’ of abuse.
Down-Jenkins is fortunate he is part of the diving community, because it’s ‘‘so accepting’’.
‘‘I grew up having that LGBTQI+ representation in sport. There’s [British diver] Tom Daley who is a multi-Olympic medallist, you have [Australian] Matthew Mitcham who won gold in Beijing [and was the first openly gay athlete to win Olympic gold].
‘‘They definitely helped pave the way for LGBTQI+ representation in our sport,’’ he said.
‘‘I was so fortunate growing up that I knew my sexual identity has absolutely nothing to do with how far I could get in sport, because of them. I’m so grateful for that.’’
He said there is a misconception diving is a sport that attracts a lot of the LGBTQI+ community. ‘‘I’ve had people argue that the LGBTQI+ population in diving is larger than other sports. That it’s a ‘gay’ sport. That’s wrong,’’ he said
‘‘It comes down to people feeling safe and people feeling like they can come out and be in the sport without facing any repercussions.’’ While he hasn’t faced ‘‘repercussions’’, they still exist within sport culture within New Zealand.
The now United States-based Down-Jenkins was in his early teens, in a school environment that upheld ‘‘hetero-normative masculine ideals, that was a big part of the culture’’, when he realised he ‘‘couldn’t relate’’.
‘‘I didn’t identify with all of that. I didn’t feel at home in that environment,’’ he said. He moved to a school that was the ‘‘polar opposite’’, where people from every aspect of the LGBTQI+ community were ‘‘open’’ and accepted. That’s when he felt comfortable acknowledging he was part of the community.
‘‘That environment, where
was surrounded by so many [supportive] people ... helped me come to terms with my identity and helped me shape who I am and how comfortable I am as a person,’’ he said.
‘‘That’s why I never felt the need to ‘come out’. I’ve never felt the need to explicitly tell people ‘I’m gay’. I’m very fortunate because I know that’s not the reality for a lot of people.’’
Diving is the same for him, a highly supportive environment in which he can be his true self and where he can excel. He played team sports – including football and hockey – before stepping onto the diving board at age 10. The sport came naturally to him, so he stuck with it.
Down-Jenkins says a large part of coming forward and ‘‘placing an emphasis’’ on his identity is because he’s been away from New Zealand. He understands it can be ‘‘scary’’ to come out in a place where sport – particularly ‘‘traditionally masculine sports’’ like rugby – is such a huge part of the cultural identity.
‘‘There’s a lot more representation in the media in the US, which is arguably not as progressive as New Zealand. Over here I’ve learned how to be fully comfortable with who I am, which is not something I think I would be able to do if I had spent the last four years living in New Zealand,’’ he says.
Fortunately, he hasn’t experienced homophobia online or in sport, but has seen how ‘‘nasty people can be’’ when it comes to the rainbow community. He says it’s often from people who are ‘‘not as accepting’’.
Down-Jenkins says it’s important people think about how and why they are using these terms. The terms ‘that’s so gay’ or referring to something as ‘gay’ is often used in a ‘‘derogatory’’ fashion by others. It has an impact, he says.
‘‘A lot of people don’t think about it, but it connects a lot of negative connotations to the word,’’ he says.
‘‘Being part of the LGBTQI+ community is awesome. It’s not something that should hold you back or ever make you feel like you can’t succeed in not only sport, but anything you want to.’’