Aon Partnering with Manchester United

“Coming out is a unique experience and people do it in different ways. Looking back, I stopped playing football as a teenager when I started to understand who I was and didn’t feel my identity matched with playing sport,” says Doug Edward, Senior HR Business Partner at Aon and captain of Stonewall FC, Britain’s first gay football team.

Homophobia remains the ugly face of football. 72 percennt of football fans have heard homophobic abuse, and one in five 18- to 24-year-olds say they’d be embarrassed if their favorite player came out. “Sport can be such a massive part of people’s lives,” says Edward, “and growing up gay you often don’t have a sports role model that can make you feel accepted.”

LGBTQ discrimination can have a dramatic effect on the culture of sport. “Sport should be everyone’s game, but homophobic abuse continues to be heard in stadiums and practice fields across the world,” explains Ruth Hunt, Chief Executive Officer, Stonewall. “This needs to change.” Homophobia is also bad for business. It is estimated that the US economy could save $8.93 billion a year if organizations were more effective at implementing diversity and inclusion policies for LGBTQ staff.

With its established commitment to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace, and as a global partner of Manchester United, Aon realized it could play a unique leadership role in convening other organizations to stamp out homophobia – on and off the field.

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