The LGBT Sport Podcast

Izzy Cerullo is someone with a sporting CV to envy. Born in the United States to Brazilian parents, the rugby star is a double-Olympian, a Pan-American Games bronze medallist, a five-time South American champion and the first Brazilian to become an ambassador for the Athlete Ally charity. And if you didn’t know any of that, you’ll almost certainly have seen the moment when Izzy’s now-wife Marjorie...

We’re taking you to New Zealand on the podcast today - where England are about to begin their campaign to retain the Women’s World Cup which they won in that thrilling final with India at Lords back in 2017. And if they do manage to claim back-to-back titles, two of the main reasons will be Katherine Brunt and Nat Sciver – who, in addition to being team-mates, announced their engagement in October...

If you watched even a few minutes of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, you’ll know who Bruce Mouat is. And on the off-chance you've been living under a rock and don't know the name, then you'll certainly know the hat! The Scot skipped Team GB’s men to silver in China last month and then – just a few hours after earning Britain their first medal of the Games – was chosen to be the flag-bearer at the...

It seems like more and more networks are springing up in sport to support the LGBTQ+ community – and earlier this month, we got another one. At the LTA’s National Tennis Centre in Roehampton, ‘Pride in Tennis’ was launched – with the aim of making the sport a place where everyone feels welcome, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Ryan Watson founded the South London Smashers...

When Josh Cavallo was thinking about coming out last year, there was one man he turned to for advice. After all, Thomas Beattie was one of just a handful of people who knew how Josh would be feeling, after sharing his own coming out story with the world a little over a year earlier. The ex-Hull City youth player had the chance to play professionally in Scotland with Kilmarnock, and ended up making...

It’s no surprise that Ryan Russell was smiling when we recorded this conversation. After all, it’s Super Bowl season – and with just days to go until the Los Angeles Rams face the Cincinatti Bengals inside the cavernous SoFi Stadium, it’s one of his favourite times of year. The defensive end had spells with the Dallas Cowboys, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Buffalo Bills, lining up against the l...

Kirsty Gilmour was barely out of school when she went to her first Commonwealth Games in Delhi. The Scottish badminton star first picked up a racquet at the age of four and has gone on to accomplish extraordinary things in the sport – including a silver medal at her home Commonwealth Games in the singles in 2014, and a bronze four years later on the Gold Coast in Australia. Factor in two Olympic G...

Have you ever wondered what it takes to make it as the person behind the microphone, calling some of the biggest moments in sport? As a commentator, you put the lyrics to the music created by some of the world's top sportspeople - and when you get it right, there's no feeling quite like it. So today on the podcast, we’ve got a special compilation episode featuring some of the best commentators tha...

Sam Lansdale has always had a passion for getting people into football. A director and trustee with Sevenoaks Town, he’s volunteered as a referee, played as a teenager - and spent years coaching at a youth-level as well. He really is dedicated to making the beautiful game a place where everyone feels welcome - but to do that, Sam had to first feel comfortable in himself, and be open with the footb...

Tammy Parlour’s love of sport really came about when she moved to the United States. The martial art of Hapkido offered her a way to feel like she belonged in a new country – and once she tried it, she was hooked. She has forty years of experience in the discipline under her belt as a student, teacher and coach – and in 2012, in the wake of the London Olympics, she was inspired to co-found the Wom...

There aren’t many referees who end their career with a guard of honour. But that’s exactly what was given to Matt Cecchin after he finished his final NRL match in September – and brought the curtain down on a top-flight career that spanned more than 350 games. The Australian had officiated at the highest level since the early 2000s, refereeing at the World Cup as well as in the Four Nations, while...

It’s time to bring the curtain down on 2021 with the second part of our ‘Year in Review’ special, as we remind ourselves of some of the brilliant guests who have joined us on the podcast between July and December. There’s lots of topics on the agenda in this one – coming out in professional football; representation of the LGBTQ+ community in wrestling; winning an Olympic gold medal; standing up as...

It’s been a bumper year on the BBC’s LGBT Sport Podcast, with more big guests than ever before. So, to wrap up 2021, we’re taking a trip down memory lane for our next two episodes to remember some of the stars who have joined us over the past twelve months – and the brilliant stories they’ve shared. Today’s guests all joined us between January and June - where we talked about everything from chang...

It’s fair to say Jake Williamson has loved sport for as long as he can remember. As a kid, he tried a bit of everything – but it was skiing, running and football that really stood out from the pack. In fact, he was good enough to pursue a career at a professional level, trialling at Inverness Caledonian Thistle and travelling to Europe where he was offered a contract to play football full-time in...

It seems odd for the founder of West Ham’s LGBTQ+ supporters group to come from family containing plenty of Spurs fans – but that’s exactly what happened with Jim Dolan. In fact, that seems to be a running theme amongst the folks at Pride Of Irons – because Jim’s co-chair Jo Bailey also has a smattering of Spurs fans in her family (although as you’ll hear from the recording, not the huge amount I...

‘The network is just the start’. That’s the message from Katie Sadleir – the former Commonwealth Games swimmer and current CEO of the Commonwealth Games Federation – on the day that the Federation launches the Commonwealth Sport Pride Network. The group will champion LGBTQ+ inclusion across the Commonwealth sport movement, and aims to bring together LGBTQ+ athletes, coaches, organisers and allies...

If you’ve enjoyed any of the content that Manchester City has put out over the past few years, there’s a good chance that Cameron Kirton is behind it in some way. He’s a video producer with the club – so has a hand in creating bucketloads of the content that you’ll have seen everywhere from the club’s website to its YouTube channels. Basically, he helps take us to the places where we just aren’t a...

As a child, Sarah-Jane Perry played pretty much every sport going. Rounders, tennis, athletics, hockey – they were all part of her life, but it was squash that she really fell in love with. In 2011, just before finishing university, Sarah-Jane decided to turn professional – and what a decade it’s been in the ten years since then! Ranked Number 6 in the world, she’s one of the world’s leading squas...

Ian Pearson-Brown was brought up with Newcastle United in his blood. He was there for the club’s remarkable rise up through the leagues - and has followed them, home and away, from the heyday of Kevin Keegan’s time in charge to the turbulence of the Mike Ashley era. Like many LGBTQ+ people, he struggled with his sexuality – and in his own words, he became ‘the most homophobic gay man you’d ever me...

It was founded in 1989 by a group of clubs in Germany and the Netherlands. And in the three decades that have passed since then, the European Gay and Lesbian Sport Federation has grown into a body that represents more than 22,000 members from right across the continent. The goal is simple – to represent all athletes in Europe, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, and to help...

Helen and Kate Richardson-Walsh are British sporting superstars. They're both double Olympic medal-winning hockey players, taking bronze at London 2012 and then gold in a penalty shootout with the Netherlands at the 2016 Olympics in Rio in one of the most iconic moments of the Games. Kate captained the side for thirteen years – and we really don’t have the space to fully document two careers that...

Max Lindsay went to his first Southampton game when he was just three years old. It was at The Dell – and he missed Saints’ last-minute equaliser because he needed the loo! But in spite of that, the experience got Max hooked on football – and now, he’s one of the co-founders of the club’s ‘Rainbow Saints’ inclusive supporters group. It started earlier this year – and, since Max’s day-job happened...

Helen Hardy’s obsession with football started at the same time as Euro ’96 – and continued throughout her childhood, as she’d go along to St James’ Park to watch Newcastle United in action. She played at primary school and intended to keep going until – as for so many girls – the game was taken away from her at secondary school, and just staying involved with football became so much harder, for no...

It’s hard to remember a time when football wasn’t in David Gough’s life. We’re talking GAA – which David first started playing when he was just a child in Ireland. Soon, he got into refereeing – and since then, he hasn’t looked back. As one of the top officials in Gaelic football, he’s done everything there is to do in the sport – and he also made headlines when he opened up about the fact he’s ga...

If you’re a football fan, you’re going to have read something brilliant by Adam Crafton. Formerly of the Daily Mail, he’s now a reporter at The Athletic, where he’s written powerfully about everything from UEFA’s relationship with Eastern European governments to a moving look of the life of Justin Fashanu. So if you love the beautiful game, you’re in for a treat with this episode – as Adam joins u...