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The acceptance of gay males in sport is growing in various western countries. However, research also suggests that young males, including athletes, tend to engage in homonegative speech acts, often called microaggressions, that make it difficult for them to navigate practices of masculinity. We used solicited diaries or diary logs written by (non-)heterosexual young male team sport athletes (aged 16–25) to investigate how they experienced and heard expressions of homonegative and heteronormative microaggressive speech acts. We drew on Foucault’s notion of discourse, Butler’s conceptualization of performativity of heteronormativity and Sue’s work on microaggressions to examine how microaggressive speech acts by young male athletes reflect current sexual and gender cultural norms. The results revealed how homonegative speech acts were embedded in a gay aesthetic and abject femininity and used to endorse a desirable heteronormative masculinity. We concluded that homonegative microaggressive speech acts contribute to the preservation of discursive heteronormativity in sport despite growing acceptance of non-heterosexual male athletes.

Purpose: The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender/transsexual, and queer/questioning students normally occupy a marginalized and at-risk position in classes and especially in physical education. In this paper, the authors explore the ways in which queer tango can contribute to counteracting heteronormativity and opening up students to new interactions and identifications through the performance of different gender performances in Physical Education and Sport Tertiary Education. Method: A queer tango session was carried out with 111 university students (91 men and 19 women aged 19–22 years). Data were obtained from interviews, video records, and open questionnaires about the practice. Results: The findings reveal that the performance of dance roles that are contrary to the heteronormative order reinforced both heteronormativity and queer embodiments in Physical Education and Sport Tertiary Education. Conclusion: An isolated activity is not enough, and more queer pedagogical practices should be introduced in order to make meaningful changes to mainstream students’ ideology and behaviors.

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