\u201cThey\u2019re absolute cowards,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cCall it for what it is. This is homophobia.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is bigotry. Just call it for what it is, at least have the courage to stand up and say, \u2018yeah, I\u2019m against this, I\u2019m not for same-sex people being same-sex attracted, I\u2019m totally opposed to that and I won\u2019t wear a badge\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe consequences can be catastrophic for kids who are dealing with their sexuality and you\u2019ve got d…heads like this who want to jump up and wave their religious book or culturally.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought religion was supposed to be about embracing and loving and caring.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pride Round is the basketball league\u2019s annual celebration of diversity and inclusion, recognising the LGBTQIA-plus community.<\/p>\n
Roberts said he wasn\u2019t surprised by the basketball team\u2019s decision and believed there had been political and religious pressures.<\/p>\n
The former Kangaroos and NSW Blues representative said the Breakers didn\u2019t appreciate the depth of feeling within the sporting rainbow community.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why I get so worked up when people push back against it, it\u2019s just saying, we embrace you, you\u2019re welcome. That\u2019s basically what it\u2019s saying.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvents like this make people feel better about themselves and make people feel worthy and make people feel like they\u2019re not freaks and they\u2019re not all isolated.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s to be a part of this sport and to be a part of the sporting community. It should be a thing of celebration. It shouldn\u2019t be any controversy… that\u2019s why I just find it difficult that people want to use culture, cultural issues or religious issues or political issues to push back against stuff like this.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is about saving kids\u2019 lives. That\u2019s the bottom line for me, that\u2019s how I see it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Manly Sea Eagles great said he believed in the power of sport to change people\u2019s lives and hoped the Breakers reconsidered their position.<\/p>\n
In a statement, the Breakers said they \u201cacknowledge the courage and leadership of Ian Roberts\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has been a strong advocate for a Pride Round in the NRL, and in sports generally.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Breakers strongly support the NBL Pride Round and will celebrate the diversity of LGBTQIA+ players, members, volunteers, and supporters. We are committed to ensuring the Breakers are a safe, welcoming, and inclusive place for all, both on and off the court.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur players discussed the matter as a team and decided they would not wear the specific insignia. This is their choice driven by a collective decision that wanted to protect individuals from being singled out for their personal convictions.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2013 RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThey\u2019re absolute cowards,\u201d he said. \u201cCall it for what it is. This is homophobia. \u201cThis is bigotry. Just…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":141771,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[3392,96076,57505,185,20439,111,139,69,1523,55233,40601,19993,213,1961],"class_list":{"0":"post-141770","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-breakers","9":"tag-homophobia","10":"tag-ian","11":"tag-is","12":"tag-jersey","13":"tag-new-zealand","14":"tag-newzealand","15":"tag-nz","16":"tag-over","17":"tag-pride","18":"tag-roberts","19":"tag-slams","20":"tag-sports","21":"tag-this"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}