Vicsport named Gold Sporting Organisation for second straight year at Australian Pride in Sport Awards

For the second consecutive year, Vicsport is proud to have been recognised as a Gold Sporting Organisation at the Australian Pride in Sport Awards, acknowledging the work achieved in the previous calendar year to make the Victorian sporting industry more accessible for the LGBTIQ+ community. 

Each year, Pride in Sport create a national benchmarking tool for LGBTIQ+ inclusion through their Pride in Sport Index. Driving best practices and setting comparative standards for sporting associations and clubs, the Index allows organisations to submit their work completed in Diversity and Inclusion spaces which is then tallied and scored out of 100. 

A score of 60+ earns organisations Gold and Vicsport has now backed up last year’s achievement by reaching that mark for work completed in 2024. 

“It is an incredible honour to have received the Gold Sporting Organisation award for a second time,” said Participation and Inclusion Manager, Michaela Cook.  

“The team and I are extremely proud of the work we were able to achieve throughout 2024 to support our own individual knowledge and confidence with embedding LGBTIQ+ inclusive practices, policies and procedures into our organisation. We were also able to support our members’ knowledge and abilities to create accessible, safe and reflective sport and active recreation initiatives, opportunities and practices for the LGBTIQ+ community, helping them thrive with pride in sport.” 

“As a peak body, Vicsport’s values are to lead by example and we aim to be a beacon for inclusion in the Victorian sporting industry,” said Vicsport CEO Lisa Hasker. “We want to ensure all Victorians have a place in sport, exactly as they are.” 

Through 2024, Vicsport’s work in the LGBTIQ+ space included attending the Midsumma Pride March, running the Rainbow Sports Alliance alongside Proud 2 Play which allows organisations to come together bi-monthly and collaborate on ways to enhance LGBTIQ+ inclusion across the Victorian sports landscape as well as supporting six State Sporting Associations who have begun their Rainbow Roadmap journey – an initiative to ensure LGBTIQ+ inclusion is embedded into core business through practices, policies and procedures. 

Several events were also run by Vicsport to promote rainbow inclusion while coinciding with the recognition of Days of Significance. To celebrate Pride Month in June, a Trans and Gender Diverse Inclusion event featured a showing of the documentary 'Equal the Contest' as well as a follow-up Q&A with filmmaker Mitch Nivalis. Michaela then ran a workshop with participants to unpack learnings and discuss ways sporting clubs and organisations can become fully inclusive. 

On IDAHOBIT (International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexism, and Transphobia), Vicsport teamed up with Swinburne University and VicHealth to launch the ‘Free to Exist’ report, the first of its kind in Australia that analysed LGBTIQ+ participation rates and the prevalence of discrimination in sport & movement settings. Vicsport CEO Lisa Hasker and Michaela hosted the event, Dr Ryan Storr and Dr Carleigh Yeomans presented their findings and then a panel of LGBTIQ+ professional athletes (Darcy Vescio and Andy Brennan) as well as Tennis Australia's Irena Farinacci provided personal stories from their experiences in sport as members of the rainbow community. 

“These events are important opportunities for us as a peak body to bring our members together, share lived experience and real-life case studies to increase their understanding and knowledge,” said Michaela. “It is also an important piece of work for us to gather insights on the challenges our members face which helps us advocate to government and subject matter experts to help discover solutions.” 

Vicsport is committed to continuing our education in the inclusion space and in 2024, all staff attended an Allies training session run by Proud 2 Play. We looked at how we can assist the LGBTIQ+ community as individual allies as well as an organisational ally, actions that can be undertaken to address issues of homophobia, biphobia and transphobia and education that we can pass on to other associations to assist in stamping out discrimination. 

“With language, society and best practice continuing to evolve, it is important for Vicsport to continue to educate ourselves so we can maintain our position as both a leader and an organisational ally,” said Michaela. 

Visit Vicsport’s LGBTIQ+ inclusion webpage for more information on why rainbow inclusion is important, organisations and initiatives that can assist your own inclusion practices and helpful links on language and terminology, Days of Significance, how to be an ally and how to create an inclusive club.