The Pride in Sport Index will measure how LGBTI players, staff, spectators, and supporters are treated.

A new system to help measure LGBTI inclusion in sports has been launched. Six principal Australian sporting codes have already adopted the Pride In Sport Index (PSI). It will help to evaluate better efforts to include LGBTI individuals in the organisations.

The Australian Rugby Union, National Rugby League, Australian Football League, Football Federation of Australia, Cricket Australia and Water Polo Australia will regularly use the independently administered benchmarking system.

It will allow all national and state sporting organisations to have their LGBTI-focused initiatives, programs and policies reviewed, measured and monitored.

The results will be published annually to display how the participating organisations stand. Awards will be provided to participating organisations and individuals demonstrating excellence in promoting LGBTI inclusion, with the first awards ceremony in May 2017.

The PSI was developed in response to last year’s groundbreaking Out On The Fields study, which revealed alarming statistics, including 1% of respondents feeling that LGB people were accepted in sporting culture and almost 80% believing that openly LGB fans would not be safe as spectators.

The Vice President of ACON and co-founder of the Pride In Sport Index, Andrew Purchas, said, “In 2014, Australia’s major sporting codes signed up to the Australian Anti Homophobia and Inclusion Framework for Australian Sport. Today’s launching of the world’s first Pride in Sport Index continues this important work. The Index will be more than just a signature on a piece of paper. It will provide the means for sporting organisations to demonstrate how they reduce homophobia and transphobia and make the sport more accessible for all.”

To learn more about Pride In Sports, click here.