A LGBT football supporters club is encouraging football fans to join them in creating awareness around Pride month through football.
Lee Spary from Blackburn is a committee member of the fan club Proud Rovers and has been a Blackburn Rovers supporter since the early 90s.
June is known as Pride month and usually events are held as a way of recognising the influence LGBT people have had around the world, although lockdown has curtailed many this year.
Lee said: “I was really pleased to join, because I strongly believe that football should be inclusive for everyone, regardless of their race, religion, how they identify or their sexual orientation.
“Rovers are a good community club, I’ve not personally been approached for being gay at Rovers, but it’s not easy to listen to homophobic chants, that’s often confused with banter.
"There was a period of time a couple of years ago where people would say stuff like ‘that pass was really gay.’
“The term gay can obviously be offensive when used as a negative term. I don’t think people do it on purpose.”
The group was started in 2019 by Hannah Parys from Sheffield.
Miss Parys, who is bisexual, became a fan of Blackburn Rovers a year ago, when a friend took her to a home game.
She felt the community atmosphere at the match and wanted to encourage more LGBT Rovers fans to feel welcomed about attending.
She said: “There were reports of homophobia at football games, so many people in the LGBT community are afraid.
“When I go to watch them play, I do not hear anything that I don’t want to hear.
“Whenever I attend a Blackburn Rovers game, it is very friendly and welcoming, so I want to encourage more people to come to the games.”
The group will meet up before games and it has more than 25 members currently – and is looking for more.
To join them visit their website https://proudrovers.org/
Miss Parys said: “Heterosexuals are our allies as they may be able to help others understand and more people will come to realise we are not different.
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