“Of course it is possible to be a Rugby player and gay”, Antoine Dupont, headliner of the fight against homophobia

Accompanied by Julien Marchand and Charles Ollivon, Antoine Dupont is at the heart of a “Our Diversity, Our Strength” campaign to combat homophobia, set up by the National Rugby League (LNR) and the French Federation (FFR) . This campaign is part of a societal program called “Celebrating Diversity” and implemented by the NRL since 2020.

Behind the scenes of the campaign, Antoine Dupont also gave his opinion on the fight against homophobia in rugby in France. “ Being a rugby player and gay today, of course it’s possible. Afterwards it is up to the person to feel how they can say it to their partners, even to the world of rugby in general, so that it is as accepted as possible. It is also up to everyone to become aware of it, to have a fairly educational discourse with young people, and even at a professional level, to say that it is a very open environment and that there is no concerns about sexual orientations.»

Thoughts shared by his teammates in club and selection, Julien Marchand and Cyril Baille, both of whom agree on the fact of normalizing one's sexuality. “It doesn't matter what you think, what you do off the field. Today, people need to be more comfortable with that. And they say it and don’t hide it. Because they are the ones who are right», declared the Stade Toulousain hooker.

The video will be broadcast before the match in the stadiums from the 9th day of TOP 14 as well as during the three matches of the autumn tour which await the Blues in November against Japan (November 9), New Zealand (November 16) and Argentina (November 22).

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