By Year 8 Student Matylda Harris
Even at such a young age, Year 8 Emerald Secondary School student Matylda Harris is already tackling the tough subjects head on. With a passion for LGBTIQ+ rights, Matylda wants the world to know why transgender and intersex people should be acknowledged in Australian sport.
Recently the vote for same sex marriage has been conducted in Australia and the AFL has been very clear that they support the ‘yes’ vote by placing an advertisement outside the AFL headquarters.
In 2016 there was a pride match where the teams St Kilda and the Sydney Swans played.
To show their pride the Saints had rainbow numbers and the Swans had rainbow socks, rainbow flags even replaced some of the flags in the stands.
By doing all of this, you would think that the AFL is a safe and supporting place for the LGBTQ+ community? But no!
A survey in 2016 showed that 58 per cent of the Australia public found the AFL unwelcoming, 47 per cent felt unsafe for people who are LGBTQ+ and 94 per cent had experienced hate in the stands.
These alarming statistics show just how divided the AFL is in the minds of the Australia public.
Recently Hannah Mouncey, a transgender female footballer, was denied the chance to take part in the 2018 draft picks for the AFLW.
The AFL has still not released the official reason why they banned her from the draft and they have no reason for why they have.
Currently in the AFL, there are no rules or guidelines on transgender or intersex players. There is no official way to decide whether a Trans or intersex player is allowed to play in that sex category.
Currently the only official Trans or intersex rules are the Olympics rules, and going off those rules, she passes as her testosterone levels are way below!
This shows that the AFL is still not acknowledging the entire community despite their superficial support of the ‘yes’ vote.
Today in this society, the LGBTQ+ community is becoming more accepted and more known. There are more LGBTQ+ playing sport or who want to play sport. With this happening, associations need to have rules to support them.
In Australia’s everyday sports like cricket, soccer, basketball and netball there is no rules to support this emerging community of people. It’s the same with the USA basketball and FIFA soccer.
Nearly all of England’s sports have guidelines or rules for Trans or intersex players and this illustrates just how much more Australia and other countries have to go to even begin to truly accept and acknowledge Trans and intersex people.
The 2017 same sex marriage postal survey gave associations opportunities to show their support. The AFL has taken great pride and shown their support, yet have denied Hannah Mouncey from the draft without rules or guidelines.
But they’re not the only sport and we’re not the only country. Rules or guidelines for transgender and intersex people is an issue that hasn’t been addressed.
We as a country should look to the results of the postal survey and take another positive step to support and acknowledge the whole LGBTQ+ community by setting some better guidelines in all sporting bodies across Australia.
