The intersection of race, religion and homophobia in British football

Abstract

In this semi-structured interview research, I use inclusive masculinity theory to frame attitudes toward homosexuality in 17 young Christian footballers from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. I show that, despite the recent decrease of cultural homophobia, almost half of these men maintained conservative attitudes toward homosexuality. Others, however, were more tolerant, particularly when discussing legislation introducing marriage equality in the UK. Participants’ attitudes were positively correlated with where they had grown up. Most strikingly, support was almost unanimous when engaged in the hypothetical discussion of levels of support for a gay teammate, which extended to assuming the role of ‘best man’ at a friend’s same-sex wedding. Thus, this research advances inclusive masculinity theory by applying it to the attitudes of young, religious men who are under-represented in contemporary masculinities literature.