By Giselle Chicot
“It’s such a small thing for people to put on a random bit of lace, I don’t even know what colour my laces are usually, but to someone who is LGBTQ+ that will mean the world without you realising”
This year’s Rainbow Laces campaign is running from the 25th November to the 12th December and Heriot’s decided to speak to a few Blues players who love rugby and are also proudly LGBTQ+. We asked them what they thought about the campaign and the current situation for their community within the rugby world.
First up, we spoke to Emily Oliver (Ollie) and Caitlin Sedgeworth (Sedge) who have been playing Full Back and Scrum Half respectively at Heriot’s Blues Women since they joined in the summer of 2020. They may seem like any two players on the pitch, putting in the hard hits and working together as any other teammates would, but they are in a civil partnership and have been in a relationship for nearly 5 years.
We spoke to them and asked what they thought of the Rainbow Laces Campaign and how they felt as a LGBTQ+ couple in the rugby community:
“My name’s Emily (Ollie). I started playing rugby aged 25, as I wanted to try something new.”
“My name’s Caitlin (Sedge) and I’ve played rugby since I was a child. We joined Heriot’s in the summer of 2020 after moving north of the border. Several things stood out: the quality of the coaching set-up, the club’s ambition to develop its women and girls programme, and how welcoming the players were when we came down to training.”
“Visibility is so important in promoting dialogue and accepting environments, and also bringing attention to areas where change is needed. The Rainbow Laces campaign is a great simple and easy way for people to show they value inclusion of LGBTQ+ people. I think by itself this visibility can be performative though – we need clubs to engage with LGBTQ+ people in their communities (not just those already at the club) to work out how we can do more to attract and support diverse players, especially those underrepresented in rugby (e.g., people from minority ethnic communities). Those who are included will tell you an environment is inclusive, but we need to also look at whose voices are missing!
While women’s rugby has a strong reputation for being an inclusive space, and men’s rugby has a growing presence of high-profile role models and allies, we definitely still have a way to go in terms of how consistently we enact these values. Two areas I’d like to see us continue to work on that could make a huge difference to LGBTQ+ people are tackling transphobia and challenging narratives around toxic masculinity.
We’ve really enjoyed our time at Heriot’s and have never been treated in any way unfairly or differently because of our sexuality. It’s a diverse, supportive, and welcoming team, and we received really warm congratulations when we formed our civil partnership in June. Our rugby family will be a big part of the eventual ‘proper’ celebrations!“
“We both played rugby before we met, and met at a rugby club, and it continues to be a big part of how we spend our time (together and separately). It’s great to have something you’re both interested in and passionate about, though it has led to some pretty intense debates when debriefing a game or training session! In games, we’re just teammates like any other to be honest – there’s too much else to think about to worry about what your partner is doing at the same time/if they’ll get hurt etc, etc.”
Next up is Jade Courtney. Jade is a versatile Back Row and promising young player at Heriot’s Blues Women, who we can expect will make a big impact in the premiership the more she grows. As someone who has played various sports growing up, it was within rugby that she felt the most comfortable, finding an open and welcoming community. She has never looked back and today spoke to us about why Rainbow Laces is such an important campaign and the ups and downs of being a gay player within the sport:
Introduce yourself, explain how you got into rugby and how you ended up at Heriot’s?
“I’m Jade Courtney, I’m 22 and I play number 8 for Heriot’s. I had always played sports throughout my life and at school. I took a gap year before University and I felt a little bit lost, as if there was something missing in my life so I spoke to my dad who is really, really, involved with the rugby club in Ayr. He knew a few players from the women’s team who encouraged me to play, so I came down to try it and that was it really. I ended up at Heriot’s as I moved to Edinburgh for university, and I met a few Heriot’s players at Napier University who encouraged me to join. I needed that step up and Heriot’s gave me that”
The Rainbow Laces campaign celebrates the impact that sport has on LGBTQ+ people, and the impact that LGBTQ+ people have on sport and considers how we can all play our part in making sport everyone’s game. How do you feel the rugby community is towards LGBTQ+ people for both men and women, is it a welcoming environment? Do you feel as though the current representation within the sport is enough?
“I think unfortunately you do have to separate that into men and women’s rugby. I think men’s rugby is making good progress, maybe not the best progress, but they’re better than where they were in terms of trying to get more representation, in terms of trying to push for queer inclusivity in sport. However, women’s rugby is literally the best place in the world for queer people! I think it’s a place that really helped me become confident and comfortable in my identity. People say “rugby is for everyone” and I think that goes beyond your body type, who you are, where you come from etc. It also encompasses sexuality. So, it’s a great place for the LGBTQ+ community. I think for the men’s teams, it is a little different as the culture is very “macho” and it can maybe be hard if you’re a more effeminate gay man or if even straight man.
I first heard of the Rainbow Laces campaign at University when someone just randomly gave me a pair of multicoloured laces, and once it was explained to me it just made me think how nice this was and what we were doing, it moves you. If you’re not gay you probably don’t care, it’s just a pair of laces but for me it was really heart-warming.
The tiniest changes, like what you wear or say, can make the biggest difference to someone, like putting on these laces. Plus, it’s linked to the Stonewall charity which is obviously doing a lot of work for the LGBTQ+ community.”
As a member of the LGBTQ+ community how do you feel about the Rainbow Laces campaign?
“I think the Rainbow Laces campaign is a very good thing, everyone always says representation is the most important thing when it comes to the visibility of any minority. If you’re a queer person and you see people supporting you who aren’t queer themselves (allies) that makes a big difference. It’s such a small thing for people to put on a random bit of lace, I don’t even know what colour my laces are usually, but to someone who is gay that will mean the world without you realising. I think that’s why it’s also nice on the men’s side because there is a degree of stigma with homophobia in some men’s sports teams, so seeing these guys show their support to the community is very good.
There is always more that can be done, representation itself isn’t enough and putting on laces doesn’t mean you support gay rights, if you don’t act upon it. However, in the women’s game I don’t believe there is a toxic culture of homophobia, so I don’t think there’s much to be done otherwise. On every team I’ve been in there are proud “out” players and no one bats an eyelid.”
There’s a stereotype about women’s rugby players that goes beyond their sexuality and judges their appearance, their behaviour etc. How do you respond to that? Do you think it’s an accurate portrayal?
“That stereotype is the funniest thing in the world to me because… there are so few confidently “out” people in other spaces, and that’s because women’s rugby is such a safe space for people to be themselves, including gay if they wanted to, and that’s why women’s rugby receives this stereotype. There could be one player on a team who looks like me (short hair, muscular, proudly gay) people will look at me and say, “all women’s rugby players are like that” (and why is that a bad thing in itself?), which is fact not true.
Most teams I’ve played on are predominantly very feminine girls, I think the stigma comes from the fact it’s a very physical sport and physicality isn’t associated with femininity in our society. What’s expected of feminine women is being small and delicate and that’s not what rugby is. Most players I know are straight and feminine but will hit hard on the rugby field. There could be one or two who don’t fit into that mould, and it becomes a stereotype.”
“I am a walking stereotype, I will fully admit that, and I used to feel bad about that because I was portraying that stereotype and giving women rugby players this “bad rep”, but it’s just a space where people are comfortable being themselves no matter what that is, because women’s rugby is incredibly accepting. If that same environment existed in men’s rugby, football, or ballet there would be just as many gay people (think about it statistically). It’s stigmatising people who don’t fit into the box of what society wants women to be like.
All that being said, even if there are many queer people on a team, it should be celebrated!
I’m very proud to be a part of a community where people feel like they can participate no matter how they identify, that’s a great thing to have.”
Do you feel as though you can be true to yourself with your teammates and within the club?
“I feel as though I can very much be myself 100%. You can fully be yourself at Heriot’s. When I started playing at Heriot’s I had long hair and dressed differently, and over the course of lockdown I kept cutting it shorter and shorter, and after coming back from injury no one at Heriot’s had seen me with short hair. Everyone just said, “nice hair” and then moved on. It wasn’t a big deal, and no one thought “oh you look gay”. It’s one of those places it’s just so normalised and it’s a nice place where I feel comfortable talking about every aspect of my life without feeling uncomfortable. I love rugby. Rugby, including Heriot’s, was a massive part of me finding myself and feeling 100% comfortable with who I am and being authentic.”