CULTURE: Gay Brazilian Athlete Harassed by crowd, but supported by team!

Michael Santos, a middle blocker from Team Vôlei Futuro in Brazil, was subjected to waves of verbal slurs during a recent match. As he served, the crowd chanted kept screaming “Bicha! Bicha! Bicha!” which means “faggot” in English (you can watch the horrific scene here). As a result, Santos publicly came out and acknowledged his sexuality, details the Harvard Law Blog.

But the story doesn’t end there. His team rallied behind him, and a week later the team wore pink warmup shirts to show support for their teammate, and the team’s libero wore a rainbow jersey during the match.

The team’s fans unveiled a huge banner that read,”Vôlei Futuro Against Prejudice.” They even brought thundersticks emblazoned with Michael’s name to turn the stadium pink. It’s hard to imagine a group of American sports fans rallying behind a gay athlete in the way that Vôlei Futur’s fans have . . . but it’s great to see this type of behavior happening in Brazil, nonetheless.