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Víctor Gutiérrez’s fight to combat homophobia in sports

Víctor Gutiérrez, during a game. / planet-dome books

Water polo

The CN Terrassa player publishes ‘Yellow ball, rainbow flag’, a book where he recounts how he flies the LGTBI banner

“If there are two things that define who I am, they are water polo and my identity.” These words by Víctor Gutiérrez (Madrid, 1991) come from ‘Yellow ball, rainbow flag’ (Libros Cúpula, 2022), a work that he has written almost as a catharsis. Since he was eight years old he has been struggling against ghosts, first internal – an education that made him feel different, his own feelings, disapproving looks… – and then external, especially when he made the leap to professional sports.

One of the best Spanish water polo players in recent years has been forced, out of conscience, to spearhead the fight against homophobia. He has experienced it in the first person. One of the last episodes was in April 2021, when Nemanja Ubovic, from CN Sabadell, insulted him and made fun of him for his orientation. “I thought he had found a safe space. Also, I had changed teams and was being the way I am… That was like a regression. That made me reflect that if that happened to me, at 30 years old and in the elite of sports, how could boys or girls not suffer it in the schoolyard and that I, with my silence, was being an accomplice in that situation? “, remember.

For this reason, he publicly denounced what happened, and forced the authorities to act, who punished the Serbian player with a four-game ban and a fine of 200 euros. Even so, for Víctor Gutiérrez it has not been easy and he has received a lot of criticism. Either out of fear or out of caution, he admits that “many times” he has had to bite his tongue. Now, through this book, he wants to make it clear that his case is like that of many others, only that he has the speaker of the elite sport.

With his example, Víctor Gutiérrez wants to help homosexuality be experienced naturally, something that in the middle of 2022 still costs depending on which sectors. His figure has not only helped people outside of him, who see him as a media focus of the LGTBI world, but also people who have been very close. «Six years have passed since I made the cover of ‘Shangay’ and even today I still receive messages every day from people who thank me, who thanks to my case have found the strength to talk about it with their parents or their friends. That is worth more than any medal or sporting success », he affirms, and gives as an example what happened to him when he was finishing his Degree in Audiovisual Communication.

Example for your tutor

«It was when I handed in my end-of-degree project, with my tutor. I was about 40-45 years old, and he told me: ‘Víctor, I read your interview and thanks to it I have come out of the closet with my parents. If a 25-year-old student of mine has given him that courage, it seemed incredible to me that I hadn’t done it’. I find it very nice, because it is the reflection that not only young people have this problem of facing up to talking about the situation at home. It happens to adults. Look, a teacher, with his family and his home… It’s a shared story. Sometimes you need to see that push to get the step of your life, “says the CN Terrassa player.

For some time now, Víctor has taken his claim as an obligation. Beyond his representative function as an elite athlete, he accepted the call from the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, to assume the position of Secretary of LGTBI Policies of the PSOE. Outside the pool, he will try to make his voice not only remain in the field of competition, but throughout society. «I did not want my coming out of the closet to be something anecdotal, but that taking this rainbow flag went further. I have given talks, courses, conferences, etc. I have tried to make the message reach more people than the mere news of a day. Politics is the place where things can be changed and where there are more tools to do it », he assures.

The moment that led him to make that decision is clear. «It was as a result of the last Andalusian elections, when Vox entered with force and changed the political landscape. I saw that it was possible to regress and even that my rights were put into question. I couldn’t be more proud. From the position I am in I can help more people and I am in the perfect place to help so many people who have found themselves in my situation », he says.

The publication of ‘Yellow ball, rainbow flag’ comes to support that idea. Víctor Gutiérrez, buoy in the CN Terrassa, politician and now a writer, but above all a person proud to be and live what he feels, and a mirror for those who, like him, suffer from problems of homophobia in many areas of the society.

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