Hannah Spyksma The Campaign for Marriage Equality has expressed gratitude to a queer Auckland woman who has blown the whistle on homophobia in rugby, saying we need to have this discussion. Rainbow Youth Board member, journalist and All Blacks fan Hannah Spyksma has shared her experience with loutish crowd members at Eden Park. She urged them to stop calling players “homos and faggots” during the test between France and the All Blacks on Saturday, she was told ‘it’s just part of the game.’ The three men responsible then turned on her for the rest of the match, directing slurs in her ear, tapping her on the head and telling her not to go to the rugby again. The Campaign for Marriage Equality says homophobia has no place in sport in New Zealand. “We are grateful to Hannah for speaking out on her experience at Eden Park because, post-Marriage Equality, we need to have this discussion.” The group says it’s fundamentally about standing up for equality for all New Zealanders. “There cannot be full equality when there is discrimination,” it says. “We are disappointed in Eden Park management's response, saying that they are not the ‘PC police.’ They say, ‘it's not our job ... to try to move the cultural morals of society.’ We strongly disagree. New Zealand has moved passed a point where homophobia can passively endorsed in sport. Racial slurs would not be tolerated in the same way,” the group continues. “We strongly believe that sport should be free from homophobia and believe that it is indeed the job of Eden Park and the NZRU to ensure that spectators and players are protected from this kind of abuse. “Many overseas sports grounds and teams have taken strong lines against fans and players who use homophobia on the field and we support moves to do the same here. “We hope that you will stand with us and send a message to Eden Park management that they must do better than passively endorsing homophobia by allowing it to continue in their stadium.”
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Wednesday, 12th June 2013 - 2:45pm