New Zealand athletes are being invited to take part in an international study to find out how prevalent homophobia is in sports teams, and how we compare to the rest of the world.
Out on the Fields is believed to be the first international study of its kind and is expected to reveal how prevalent homophobia is in our sports clubs, how it is expressed and how it impacts all people - not just those who say they are part of the gay community.
Australia's Victoria University's Caroline Symons is one of the specialists providing analysis of the data collected and encourages New Zealanders to take part and fill out the survey online.
She hoped sporting bodies would pick the study's findings up and use it to create policies around inclusion of all people.
Homophobia forced people to hide, creating stress and detracting from sports performance, Dr Symons said.
