Dublin camogie star Aisling Maher believes Father Sean Sheehy’s comments could add to “fears or anxieties” that gay athletes may have around coming out.
Father Sheehy has been widely condemned on the back of his sermon he delivered when celebrating Mass in Listowel, Co Kerry last weekend in which he condemned homosexuality, transgenderism and the distribution of contraceptives.
Scores of parishioners left the church in disgust while the Bishop of Kerry, Ray Browne, has apologised for his comments and stood him down from celebrating Mass, though Father Sheehy continues to stand over his views.
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Maher is openly gay and serves on the Gaelic Players’ Association’s LGBTQ+ working group and though she questioned how much oxygen should be given to the cleric’s views, she admitted that it can have an impact.
She said: “I suppose hearing anybody say that they don’t think or they don’t believe that anybody in our society should have the right to be their authentic selves or to express themselves as feels comfortable to them or to love who they want to love is hurtful in a way.
“At the same time, I would like to think that if you bring it back to GAA, ok, we’re not perfect and we can get better but I don’t think we’re that bad so, look, I think what we need to learn from that is that sometimes we look at Ireland as a country and we say we passed the gay marriage referendum and things are great, everything’s fine and people can be who they want.
“But the reality of the situation is that we’re not there yet and there are a lot of improvements that can be made and maybe things like what have happened over the last couple of days highlight that and this isn’t a finished battle by any extent.
“There’s a long way still to go before we find ourselves in a country that’s absolutely accepting across all communities,” noted Maher, who was speaking at the launch of the AIB All-Ireland Club Championships.
The number of female inter-county players that have come out as gay is relatively high, certainly in comparison to their male counterparts with no active player in the men’s game having done so since former Cork hurler Donal Og Cusack in 2009.
Maher has spoken in the past about how progressive it would be for a male player to come out and when asked if tirades such as Father Sheehy’s make it more difficult for someone to take that step, she replied: “I won’t try and put myself in the position of a gay male player who isn’t comfortable coming out because I don’t know how they feel and it would be unfair of me to even speculate around that.
“But I can’t imagine that it makes it easier, I can’t imagine that it makes you feel more comfortable or more accepted or more welcome.
“I’m sure there are players for whom it does add to fears or anxieties that might be associated with coming out.
“Look, I don’t think it’s helpful but I also don’t know how conducive it is moving forward to continue to give someone like him oxygen, to continue to listen to it and cover it because at the end of the day, I do think he’s a minority expressing views like that or at least I would like to think that he’s a minority expressing views like that.
“There is work still to be done and it does highlight that but past that I’m not sure how much it’s worth analysing.”
