Cork dual star and LGBTQ+ advocate Hannah Looney pictured at the launch of SuperValu’s ‘Wear with Pride’ Laces campaign. As part of the initiative and SuperValu’s wider #CommunityIncludesEveryone campaign, rainbow laces will be available to purchase in over 222 SuperValu stores nationwide for Pride month, with proceeds going to support Belong To, LGBTQ+ Youth Ireland. Photograph by INPHO/Dan Sheridan.
By John Harrington
On and off the pitch, Cork dual star Hannah Looney is a person of courage and conviction.
As an ambassador for SuperValu’s ‘Wear with Pride’ laces campaign for Pride month 2023, she’s a powerful advocate for the LGBTQ+ community.
Yesterday she sat down with the national media to speak about her own lived experience of being a member of the LGBTQ+ community, the support she’s gotten along the way from team-mates, and how the Gaelic games clubs can be even more inclusive.
Q: How happy are you to be involved with SuperValu's 'Wear with Pride' laces campaign for Pride month 2023?
Hannah Looney: I'm delighted to be involved with SuperValu's 'Wear with Pride' campaign. Diversity and inclusion is something that's very close to my heart. And I think SuperValu picked this up a couple of years ago when the GAA were maybe slightly behind D&I trends that were coming through and really started pushing messages through every community and every parish.
Being a part of the LGBTQ+ community is something I'm very proud of and I'm very conscious we need to be role models to younger people in our clubs and elite level. So I'm just very proud to be a part of it and I'm delighted that SuperValu are on board again pushing that message of diversity and inclusion because in Ireland at the moment there seems to be a lot of far right movements creeping in and that can be a bit scary and daunting. The only way to fight back on these movements is by spreading messages like this and educating people that Ireland needs to be a place for all. That's something I really want to promote.
Q: The GPA carried out a survey that found 99 per cent of players would be welcoming to an LGBTQ+ team-mate. Was that your lived experience?
HL: Yeah, 100 per cent. I guess my hope for the future is that coming out and stories like this will be a thing of the past. It will be just that you have a boyfriend or girlfriend and it doesn't really bother anyone and your friends will be there to support you no matter what. My best friends are in sport in camogie and football and when I came out in 2017 the first people I told were Aisling Thompson, Meabh Cahalane, and Orla Cronin, fellow camogie players.
I suppose I was a bit nervous and a bit anxious. I've never been afraid of being myself but I suppose society has brought me up that there might be consequences and I guess I just had those internal fears more than anything. Coming out for me was a joy. I think the girls were first concerned, they were like, 'oh Jesus, what has Hannah done again?' And it was more a relief that it was only a coming out story and there were giggles and laughs and support and nothing ever changed for me.
I'm so grateful that playing the GAA has always been an environment for me where I can be myself. I had a great time in school, but I think school can be an environment where people can't express themselves. But for me, always in sport I was able to do that. I'm just grateful.
Q: The other statistic that jumped out from that survey was that 69 per cent of female players knew a team-mate who was LGBTQ+ but only 10 per cent of males did. That suggests some inter-county male plaeyrs are still reticent about their sexuality which is a bit of a shame...
HL: Yeah, it is a shame and it's quite upsetting. I guess no-one can really put their finger on it. My opinion, I could be wrong, is that men are concerned about their masculinity and their image and being an inter-county player and the image that comes along with that. Whereas us women are fighting for a lot of issues as it is. So coming out and being a part of the LGBTQ+ community is probably so low on the list of priorities. Whereas men don't have all of those things to deal with on top of it. It is sad that that's the way it's still perceived at the moment.
What it's going to take is an inter-county player to come out publicly. It's unfortunate that's what it's going to take. There's no denying that there's gay inter-county male players out there. When it will happen, I don't know. All we can do in the meantime is keep promoting a diverse and inclusive environment. I've spoken to many male players about this and as that survey shows everyone is going to be welcoming so it's just going to take someone to be break the mould and open it up for other players to just feel comfortable and express themselves in whatever environment they're in.
Pictured is GAA Referee and LGBTQ+ advocate David Gough and Cork Ladies footballer and LGBTQ+ advocate Hannah Looney, alongside advocates Kerry footballer, David Clifford and Mayo footballer, Padraig O’Hora at the launch of SuperValu’s ‘Wear with Pride’ Laces campaign. As part of the initiative and SuperValu’s wider #CommunityIncludesEveryone campaign, rainbow laces will be available to purchase in over 222 SuperValu stores nationwide for Pride month, with proceeds going to support Belong To, LGBTQ+ Youth Ireland. Photograph by INPHO/Dan Sheridan.
Q: Gaelic Games is as much about community as it is sport so where better to promote the message of diversity and inclusion?
HL: Yeah, exactly. The GAA is part of every community. GAA players around the country are role models for younger players, older players, all people in the community. As I said, I think that's what it's going to take, a player coming out publicly. But, in the meantime, the voices of allies need to keep coming. It's great the GAA are promoting it, the GPA are promoting it, we've seen a lot more male allies coming out and standing up for LGBTQ+ friends and that needs to continue
Q: What can people do this month and beyond to do more for LGBTQ+ awareness?
HL: In June, it seems all these messages about LGBTQ+ come up more often, which is great because it is Pride Month, but the message has to stretch beyond the end of June. We’ve a lot of older generations involved in the local GAA club so how can we educate them to what society is nowadays and how everyone no matter who they are or what they are can be accepted. I think for me education is key, be it putting up the Pride flag in local GAA clubs to show that we’re supporting this, setting up talks and having a place where people can chat and learn a bit more about the LGBTQ+ community and what’s going on it’s very important.
Something for me that really helped, my local GAA club at the time I remember it was Covid summer of 2020 when club football came back before the inter-county season. I was living with my girlfriend at the time, we were living in Cork and there was nothing else to be doing only playing club football. She had played football in Kildare previously and I invited here to play club football with me in Aghada and at first people were like, ‘Jeez, who’s Hannah’s friend that’s coming along?’ and then the older generation were like ‘Oh, that’s Hannah’s girlfriend’ and telling their friends and family that Hannah’s girlfriend was down playing in Aghada GAA club. That was a really proud moment for me, that you could feel accepted with generations of people that traditionally were less educated and maybe more suppressed growing up in their sense.
Q: Do you feel like you weren’t fully yourself until you came out?
HL: I’m grateful for... I didn’t bottle things up for too long. I’m a person who wears their heart on their sleeve so if there’s anything bothering me I do tend to speak about it. There is for some reason that nerves and that fear around it. The minute I was able to open up and get that off my shoulders it was a huge relief. For me, mental health is huge and I know the importance of... when my mental health is good, whatever I’m doing on the pitch or in the dressing room is going to be improved by 10%-20% if not more. I was conscious of that as well by bringing my best self and getting that off my shoulders I was able to be a better team-mate and better support for my players.
Q: Do you feel pressure to be a role model now for the LGBTQ+ community?
HL: I wouldn’t say I feel pressure. I just hope that I represent myself in the best way possible inside the pitch and off the pitch. That’s the most I can do. I wouldn’t feel the pressure. People staying in sports and encouraging the younger generation to stay in sports is the key thing for me.