How the joy of Pride is 'a form of resistance' against queer discrimination

GWS player Tilly Lucas-Rodd says AFLW Pride Round is important to keep celebrating and championing while harmful attitudes towards queer people persist.

Lucas-Rodd, who is non-binary, said the joy and pride of the moment is an important counter to the discrimination queer people can still face in sport.

"I feel like we were getting to a place of more acceptance and now we're going backwards, and there's more discrimination, and more homophobia, and transphobia," Lucas-Rodd told ABC Sport.

They said this is evident particularly if you look at comment sections online that contain discriminatory rhetoric towards queer people, including at times AFLW posts on social media.

"People are coming out of the woodwork and they're proud and happy to have these opinions, and they think it's okay, which is why I think it's so important that we still have Pride round, and show up and represent community and challenge these dangerous beliefs with joy," they said.

"There's a time and place to be reflective on the harm and the negative parts in terms of like the discrimination we face and truly reflect on that and sit in that and be like 'this is not okay'.

"But there's also a time to use joy and pride and celebration as a form of resistance."

They have seen the impact representation can have on lives.

Last year, Lucas-Rodd went public with having had gender affirming chest surgery in an exclusive with the ABC Sport.

The top surgery was a procedure that involved the removal of breast tissue in essentially a double mastectomy.

They received many messages from people after the story came out, with people sharing it had opened up conversations with family members, and gave a better understanding of the gender diverse and trans experience.

"A parent at my school that I taught at was like, 'You being so visible shows that for young trans (and) gender diverse kids you can be successful, because they're often so hard on themselves and they don't see a future that's bright,'" they said.

"They see hardship, they see discrimination, they see transphobia as their future, but then they see someone being successful, being championed, being celebrated publicly, and they could see a way forward for themselves.

This year, making Pride round even more special for Lucas-Rodd, is that it coincides with their 100th game.

Over the past 11 seasons, Lucas-Rodd has played for four different clubs, including Carlton (2017-2020), St Kilda (2020-2022), Hawthorn (2022-2025) and now GWS.

"It is so funny," Lucas-Rodd laughed, noting in particular the shaved sides and bun years at Carlton. "There's been so many eras.

"I've changed completely as a person and it was guided by AFLW. All I've ever known (as an adult) is AFLW and all I've ever really been overly passionate about in my 20s is AFLW," they said.

The environments of the league helped shape them, which again they say, is why Pride round is so important because the welcoming rooms they've been in aren't the same for everyone in sport.

They did a video with men's GWS player Tom Green earlier this week for the club's channel for Pride round, where he asked Lucas-Rodd if they ever struggle with using their platform.

It made them reflect on how they use their social media accounts — quite often championing trans and gender diverse people playing sport and playing footy — and how it has created a two-way dialogue with more people in the community.

"When I speak to people or hear from people's actual lived experience in community sports, it's not safe," they said.

"And I was like, that's something I've only ever learned through more conversations around Pride round."

Lucas-Rodd sometimes thinks, "Oh, this is probably getting old, people are probably bored of it", when they speak about their LGBTQ+ experience.

"But then I have someone message me being like, 'Oh, my parents read this, they heard this, they watched your video, and that made the conversation easy for me.'

"And it takes you back to that's why it's so important that we still have Pride round.

"That's why it's so important that we have visibility and representation and keep talking about it over and over again because it helps make other people's lives easier out there in community."