Mr. Aidan Walsh:

I am the chairperson of Sporting Pride.

To begin, I ask everyone to imagine themselves as a teenager who loves sport but does not quite fit in. As this person grows older, they start questioning themselves and their future. They wonder if sport, which has been a huge part of their life, is really a place where they can feel comfortable being their true self, without the fear of discrimination and prejudice.

In reality, that teenager was me, a boy from County Mayo. I was immersed in sport all my life but I knew I was different. I decided to keep the real me to myself for 35 years because I did not think I could continue playing sport as a gay man. For me, those two things had to be separate. I look back now and wonder what might have been if that young me was welcomed into sport and how things might have been different if I had been made feel like I belonged and if I was given a safe space to be me.

For this reason I helped set up Sporting Pride, to show LGBTQ+ people of all ages that they can become healthy and active members of Irish society, via sport, fitness and exercise. Sporting Pride is a voluntary organisation that aims to break down barriers and create opportunities for the community to participate in sport through collaboration and partnerships.

In our six years of existence, we have collaborated with approximately 30% of national governing bodies, NGBs, and 20% of local sports partnerships, LSPs. We work regularly with both Sport Ireland and Sport Northern Ireland and we are on target to deliver more than 50 sports events this year.

Sporting Pride is playing a strong part in delivering actions 6.4, 6.5 and 7 under the national LGBTQ+ inclusion strategy. Furthermore, the increased focus on minority groups under Sport Ireland’s recent diversity and inclusion policy, means greater demands for our services as we provide staff training, facilitate open days and deliver programmes, such as "tri with pride" for triathlon, "ride with pride" for cycling, and "learn to swim".

Helping NGBs and LSPs deliver sport to the community is virtually impossible without an organisation like Sporting Pride, as we provide the expertise and communication channels to promote to the relevant target audiences. However, this effectively means that a volunteer organisation has been left with the massive responsibility of delivering on LGBTQ+ inclusion in Irish sport but without any direct funding, human resources or administrative support.

While brilliant work is being done in the equality, diversity and inclusion, EDI, space by all the groups represented here today and Government funding has been critical in implementing many of these programmes, there is nothing currently allocated directly to LGBTQ+ in sport. Why is this the case? What needs to be done for this to change? If we are serious about improving the mental and physical wellbeing of LGBTQ+ people, then we must fund organisations like Sporting Pride, that are having a positive impact on the ground. For this work to continue, we need to direct funding. We are asking today for funds in budget 2024 to be allocated to organisations like ours that are focused on the inclusion of LGBTQ+ people in sport.

According to international research, 50% of participants in sport have been personally targeted and 80% have witnessed or experienced homophobia in sport. Sporting Pride can help change this statistic and one solution is the LGBTQ+ sport clubs. Over the past six years, the number of clubs in Ireland by more than 100% and we print and distribute 5,000 copies of an annual leaflet promoting them. These clubs are safe, welcoming places to play sport, thus building a more active and healthy community.

From my own personal experience, I know that the LGBTQ+ world can be an intimidating and lonely place if one knows no one else in it. Sport is a fantastic way to bring people with similar interests and backgrounds together. These LGBTQ+ sports clubs should be celebrated for the vital role they play in the inclusion of LGBTQ+ community in Irish sport.

To conclude, Sporting Pride are experts in LGBTQ+ inclusion and we have the passion and desire to drive change in Irish sport. We can help the committee accomplish the targets set out in the national LGBTQ+ inclusion strategy and help Sport Ireland achieve its diversity and inclusion policy goals. If we are officially recognised and receive funding and administrative support, we will be able to collaborate with more sports bodies and help achieve our vision for Ireland to be the most inclusive sports community in the world.