The Australian Football League and the Sydney Swans have been slammed as “embarrassing” and labelled “hypocrites” for pushing their LGBT agenda on fans by using a man dressed as a woman as entertainment.
The now-annual Pride Game between the Sydney Swans and their opponents was held at the SCG on Saturday evening, with the Swans defeating Essendon 68 – 54 after the teams ran out together to show “unity” accompanied by rainbow flags and smoke.
The Round 21 fixture was held in front of only 20,805 fans and also featured rainbow-themed guernseys and socks, and entertainment by “drag queen” Nikita Iman.
Mr Iman, a Sydney-based drag performer who claims to be a Faʻafafine – a Samoan word for men who “align with feminine gender roles” – told pro-LGBT media outlet QNews that “it was an amazing experience” and that she was “really happy I was able to be a part of it”.
The match is now in its ninth season and has been increasingly emphasised by the AFL, which claimed it was intended “to celebrate and stand united with LGBTQIA+ communities” and provided “a platform to listen, learn, and highlight stories.”
“Everyone is welcome in our game,” the AFL said.
Swans CEO Tom Harley said of the annual fixture: “Our club is really proud to play in the Pride Game and show our support for the Rainbow Swans and our wider LGBTIQA+ supporter base”.
Mr Harley added that the rainbow guernsey used for the round “is a visual symbol that the Sydney Swans believe football should be a place where everyone feels seen, safe, and celebrated”, and that the match “is a fantastic celebration of football and diversity”.
The match is also used to sell the $120 Pride Guernsey, which is but one of many LGBT-themed products available from the club’s online “Swanshop”. This year’s fixture also saw the Swans partner with a fertility provider, while last year the team joined forces with a major bank to launch a “take pride in your language” campaign.
Yet the constant emphasis on LGBT issues and extremist gender ideology has provoked a backlash among ordinary Aussies.
“Who is in charge at the Swannies? Where the gay thing, is more important and surpassing every other thing, our players, or our coach, all the fans. Why is this taking over every single thing about the Swannies?” one supporter asked.
Another AFL fan mocked this year’s match and its meagre attendance: “You had 29,246 on 27 June vs Bulldogs. Pride Month is in June, it runs for 30 days, dragging your social virtue signalling into August is embarrassing!” the fan wrote.
The AFL has also drawn the ire of mainstream commentators who have noted the hypocrisy of an alliance between the LGBT-inspired Swans and Qatar Airways – which is run by a regime which beats, tortures and is able to execute homosexuals under Islamic law.
Political commentator Rita Panahi wrote in the Herald Sun that the Swans are the “biggest hypocrites in the AFL”.
“The Swans can be as pro-LGBTQIA+ as they like. They can even force that activism down the throats of fans just wanting to watch a game of footy,” she wrote.
“But to do that while simultaneously partnering with Qatar Airways is not only contradictory and unprincipled, it’s depraved.”
This year’s Pride Game also comes after a supposed spate of “homophobic” incidents in the AFL, and an unprecedented amount of players who have been suspended for so-called homophobic slurs, with four players banned in the last 16 months.
Sydney Swans rookie Riak Andrew was suspended for five matches in July for using a homophobic slur in a VFL game against North Melbourne. This came a week after West Coast’s Jack Graham was banned for four matches for a homophobic slur heard in a game against GWS in Round 17.
As part of their sanctions, both Andrew and Graham will be required to attend a “Pride in Sport” education campaign.
The Pride Game is but one part of a deeper shift in the AFL towards LGBT matters, as seen in the league’s LGBTQI+ Inclusion Action Plan. This is part of a broader cultural and commercial emphasis on LGBT issues, with the economic value of the “Pink Dollar” in Australia now worth around $95bn annually.
Header image: Left, Nikita Iman (Instagram). Right, an AFL official (AFL).
