Make Sport Everyone's Game - Edmund's story
As part of the Rainbow Laces campaign, Stonewall has spoken to people who have come out for LGBT people in sport and made amazing progress for inclusion in their communities.
In this interview, we talk with Edmund Connolly from the Rainbow Rexes, the world’s first explicitly inclusive men’s lacrosse team.
The Rainbow Rexes are the world’s first explicitly inclusive men’s lacrosse team.
The game was created by the Indigenous peoples of North America, and diversity should be at the heart of modern lacrosse. It’s fast paced and very physical and in the UK there’s a growing mixed lacrosse game, so it has a rare gender balance for a physical sport.
At the heart of our team is a core of active allies who play for the Rainbows, supporting LGBT equality regardless of their own orientation or identity.
We set out to make this team reflect the society we want to see in the world. So we don’t ask people to declare their sexual orientation. It’s not a case of joining a team because you’re lesbian, gay, bi or trans. At the heart of our team is a core of active allies who play for the Rainbows, supporting LGBT equality regardless of their own orientation or identity. We’re just a group of welcoming individuals who love lacrosse and want you to feel included, whoever you are.
We don’t want the Rexes to be a novelty team. It should just be the norm.