17c起草社区

West Tigers NRL player Shawn Blore has been called out聽for a transphobic post on Instagram. New Zealand transgender activist and artist Jaycee Tanuvasa has led calls demanding Blore apologise.聽Blore had imposed a photo of his teammate聽Michael Chee Kam over that of transgender dancer Antony Sua with laughing face emojis.

The original image was the special cover of Viva Magazine to celebrate Auckland Pride Festival last month and was seen as a significant moment for the queer Pasifika community.The image featured Antony Sua and other members of voguing group House Of Iman- which is led by Tanuvasa as house mother.

‘I am not going to allow the trans and homophobic behaviour from the members of your team slide,’ Tanuvasa wrote on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/Jaycee_babes/status/1365432292873625603?s=20

‘Queer lives are not a joke! This behaviour is not okay! It’s dangerous for my community especially for queer people in NRL who are mostly closeted.

‘What are your policies around homophobia and transphobia behaviour from the team? This is cannot be allowed.’

Blore is of course not the first NRL player to be called out for transphobic and homophobic comments and behaviour. Anyone who hasn鈥檛 been living under a rock in the past decade would know of the damage inflicted by former NRL player .

Yet the actions of Blore like those of Folau go against the NRL鈥檚 code of conduct which in 2014 became the first national sporting organisation to join 鈥楶ride In Diversity鈥� (PID) 鈥� Australia鈥檚 only non-profit workplace program aimed at assisting employers with the inclusion of 17c起草社区I staff.

In an interview with The New Zealand Herald, Tanuvasa went on to say, 鈥淚鈥檓 not trying to ridicule these boys鈥� careers, I just want some ownership of their behaviour and for them to understand that this is not okay,鈥�

鈥淧eople are already making fun of us, already bully us for who we are. When you see Pacific Island leaders, male leaders, perpetuate that, what that does is validate those violent behaviours towards us and encourages it even more. Any mockery of our authentic lives will continue to add to the violence of us in our daily lives.鈥�

Tanuvasa claims that there has been no communication from the West Tigers about the posts, with the club only confirming via a statement to Foxsports.com.au that 鈥渢he club has addressed the matter with both players involved 鈥� who removed the posts straight away 鈥� and remain inclusive as a club in all aspects of equality.鈥�

West Tigers have been approached by 17c起草社区 for further comment, yet did not respond to our requests by the time of publication.