The Narrowing the Margins project raised awareness of LGBTIQ+ people in sport and tackled the inclusion of LGBTIQ+ people in the margins of sport. Many people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex or queer already experience disenfranchisement and exclusion from sport, but for those who also have additional exclusions such as disability, age, ethnicity, refugee status, social class or levels of poverty and income, then their equal access to physical activity or grassroots sport is problematic.

This challenging and innovative multilateral European project brought together partners to:

• use the opportunities of major sporting competitions as a means of reaching LGBTIQ+ people in the margins of sport
• use non-formal methodologies as a way to encourage and sustain LGBTIQ+ people’s participation in grassroots sport
• use sport as a tool for social change and embedding it into community approaches
• work at the confluence of sport, culture, games, youth and community work and equality

This project consisted of activations in each partner country to encourage social inclusion and equal opportunities for LGBTIQ+ people in sport. The project used the platform of the multi-sport European Championships 2018 (Glasgow and Berlin), Gay Games 2018 (Paris), Water Polo World Cup 2018 (Berlin), World Volleyball Championships 2018 (Sofia) and the Ice Hockey World Championships 2019 (Bratislava).  The following short film summarises the activity of the project:

 

You can also download our final toolkit Using Major Sports Events to Further LGBTIQ+ Equality: A Practice Toolkit

Partners:
LEAP Sports, Scotland
Bilitis Resource Center Foundation, Bulgaria
SAPLINQ, Slovakia
Seitenwechsel Sportverein für FrauenLesbenTrans*Inter* und Mädchen, Germany
PARIS 2018, France