Changing Lives through Sport & Physical Activity

5th November 2018

2018 Conference Report 

On Friday, LGBTI sports people and activists from both Scotland and across Europe, came together with colleagues from the sports sector to examine issues for LGBTI people in sport. The morning plenary was chaired by Miki Lee Dale from the LEAP Board, with inputs from Joe Fitzpatrick, Minister for Sport, Chris Robinson from sportscotland, Hugh Torrance from LEAP and then inputs on the Outsport project and research from Rosario Coco of Gaycs and Tobias Menzel of the German Sports University in Cologne.  

The real highlights of the day were the discussion panels. The experience panel in the morning with an intersectional group of LGBTI athletes sharing their testimonies and experiences in sport chaired by LEAP Board member Jane Stewart was a powerful, poignant and illustrative reminder of the power that sport can have in people's lives yet the lengths that many people need to go to, just to take part. A huge thanks to Adam Harrison, Natalie Washington,  Stefan Hoggan, Connie McCallen and Al Hopkins. The afternoon discussion panel was chaired by Louise Tideswell of Plan4Sport and saw sports governing bodies coming together to discuss progress and learning on their work in equality and LGBTI efforts.  Francesca Snitjer from Scottish Athletics, Jamie Frail of Scottish Hockey, Kirsten Phillips of Scottish Swimming and David Fallon of Scottish Squash shared many encouraging insights and thoughtful reflections.  

With a series of very details breakout sessions looking at the role of the media in sport, the impact of large sports events, the need for LGBTI specific sports groups, supporting the inclusion of transgender people in sport, organising non binary participation and the issues surrounding intersex and sex verification, this sold out and packed day was the highlight of our learning and development calendar this year.  A huge thank you to everyone who attended, contributed and supported the conference.