When Beth Rigby asks Iain Anderson if it's OK for male swimmer Lia Williams to take gold medals away from women, he goes off on a wild tangent about a campaign to help gay men come out in professional football. Unfortunately for him, the shocking podium picture stays on screen pic.twitter.com/oo6FQMxFHz
It’s interesting that he’s going off on this particular tangent, because fighting homophobia in sport was the original reason that the rainbow sporting orgs (Athlete Ally, Outsports, the sporting divisions of orgs like Stonewall) were set up in the first place! It was a good goal, progress was being made (even in football, which is a tough challenge) and perhaps they’re starting to realise that they shouldn’t have abandoned it in favour of shoehorning males into women’s sport. “We don’t want any more Justin Fashanus” to “It’s beautiful and inspirational that this enormous bloke called Kelly is flattening the women’s rugby team” is one hell of a motte and bailey.
The swimmer’s name is Lia Thomas, not Lia Williams, as Simon Edge erroneously has it.
I think it’s an easy mistake to make, since his first name is William.
It’s interesting that he’s going off on this particular tangent, because fighting homophobia in sport was the original reason that the rainbow sporting orgs (Athlete Ally, Outsports, the sporting divisions of orgs like Stonewall) were set up in the first place! It was a good goal, progress was being made (even in football, which is a tough challenge) and perhaps they’re starting to realise that they shouldn’t have abandoned it in favour of shoehorning males into women’s sport. “We don’t want any more Justin Fashanus” to “It’s beautiful and inspirational that this enormous bloke called Kelly is flattening the women’s rugby team” is one hell of a motte and bailey.