Mitch Brown was the first openly bisexual male athlete in the Australian Football League (AFL). His groundbreaking decision has made him a celebrated reformer and the target of serious opposition. It’s his social media activity that has recently caused a national stir. They created national debate over the treatment of LGBTQ+ people in sports, particularly against the backdrop of homophobia.
Brown’s rise to fame on the national stage started when he posted a moving message on his Instagram stories. He bravely stated that “any form of homophobia” is basically “loser behaviour.” This unexpected public reaction was a hopeful win, but it opened the floodgates of hate against him and his partner Lou Keck. The couple has endured extreme harassment, including death threats, ever since Brown publicly came out. In spite of all this, Brown has said he has no regrets about being the first bisexual representative in the AFL.
Brown joins the team at close to a decade of experience within the league. From that stance, he has become something of an unofficial queer AFL community spokesperson. His coming-out moment was a celebration across the queer spectrum, as well as among younger fans for whom coming out makes Lee a role model. Yet, as he continues this journey, his experience has been a somewhat mixed bag. He acknowledges that while there have been overwhelmingly positive responses, there are dark moments filled with hate, including receiving homophobic slurs from opposing fans during games.
“It has been so good, but then there’s a lot of hate … it’s not only targeted homophobia at me. It’s people questioning our relationship,” Brown remarked, reflecting on the duality of his experience as an openly bisexual athlete.
From the outset, Brown and Keck have worked hard to shape a positive story about what they’ve faced. Each cohort varies their content, but they all emphasize strength-based dialogue, knowing that they might not always get it right. Brown noted, “I’m not shying away from my own imperfections. I make mistakes.” This honest reflection is a testament to how sometimes even the best intentions and progress toward new conversations about identity fall short, in deep and painful ways.
In fact, both Brown and Keck have been candid about their disappointment with how the discussion around Brown’s coming out has played out. They call for the national conversation to go beyond specific acts of hate and address cultural concerns at a deeper level. “I think we’re missing the point when we debate that. The more important question is why this kind of language is still used so often, and what we can do to shift our culture that allows it to feel acceptable,” Keck stated.
As a trailblazer in the league, Brown is doing the hard work of confronting all forms of casual homophobic language. He bravely takes us to task for the humor that remains ingrained in the fabric of our culture. He also understands the negative impact that these attitudes can have on people in the queer community. That can be, you know, traumatising or triggering for people in the queer community. So we acknowledge that too,” he continued.
Through all of this, Brown has developed an openness to being challenged, to having his experiences contested by others. “For those that have dropped into our DMs and gone and challenged us, we haven’t shied away from engaging in those conversations, as long as it’s respectful,” he explained.
