As a Stonewall Diversity Champion, England Lacrosse is once again delighted to be supporting Stonewall’s annual Rainbow Laces campaign that is celebrating its 10th birthday in 2023.

The campaign, which runs from the 25 November to 11 December, encourages those involved in sport to wear rainbow coloured laces in support of LGBTQ+ equality.

Over the past ten years, Stonewall has hit goal after goal, getting more than one million people to lace up and changing perceptions across the sporting world.

Thanks to the campaign and the support of millions of people around the UK, Stonewall has helped change the game; their polling indicates that, of fans who have seen the campaign:

74% now consider LGBTQ+ people part of the sport community
68% feel a responsibility to stick up for LGBTQ+ fans of the teams and sports they follow
49% believe they are more likely to challenge anti-LGBTQ+ language at live sport fixtures
71% think leading sports organisations are taking their responsibility to support LGBTQ+ fans and players more seriously than they were a year ago.

Obviously, this must-win game isn’t over yet and large parts of the LGBTQ+ community still can’t be their true selves whilst attending or participating in sporting events.

This year, discriminatory abuse and chanting on the pitch, on the side lines and in the terraces across grassroots and professional sports has been on the rise. That’s despite research showing that the number of people who see homophobic remarks or banter as ‘acceptable’ has halved over the last five years; from 25% in 2017 to 14% in 2022.

In 2023, that just blows our mind so while we should be proud of what’s been done so far, this is no time to take our eye off the ball and that’s why Stonewall’s 2023 Rainbow Laces Campaign message is to keep it up.

Keep up raising awareness. Keep up supporting each other. Keep up pushing to make sure sport is for everyone.

Lacing up is still making a difference but only if we keep doing it, and keep making all the noise we can. Lace up to keep it up.

For more information about the Rainbow Laces Campaign, visit the Stonewall website HERE or view their activation pack HERE.