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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Sport
Lucy Small

WSL’s call to take surfing to UAE forces gay athletes like Tyler Wright to pay too high a price

Australias Tyler Wright walks on the beach at the 2023 Billabong Pro Pipeline.
Australia’s Tyler Wright at Pipeline last year. Wright is the WSL’s only openly gay athlete, but she may be forced to miss next year’s event in the UAE due to the coutnry’s laws on homosexuality. Photograph: Brian Bielmann/AFP/Getty Images

Calls for the World Surf League to remove its latest addition to the 2025 Championship Tour calendar in Abu Dhabi are growing louder, as the decision to host an event at a new surf pool in the UAE – where homosexuality is illegal – is called into question.

“The WSL have chosen to support a government that criminalises LGBTQIA+ people and discriminates against women, and in doing so are choosing to place their athletes, support teams, and spectators at risk,” reads the opening paragraph of a Change.org petition.

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