Soccer player Dina Orschmann of 1. FC Union Berlin wrote a guest column for Tagesspiegel (paywalled) describing the differences in how openly queer people are welcomed in women’s sports compared with men’s sports.
In women’s soccer, it’s straightforward: “The reality is colorful — lesbian, bi, straight, all kinds. I bring my girlfriend, my teammate brings her boyfriend.” You don’t even need to come out publicly, the striker continues. “That may be because we’ve long fed the stereotype that all female footballers are tomboys and lesbians,” the 28-year-old explained. “That sounds silly at first, but this stereotype has also meant that queerness among us was somewhat expected and therefore never a big topic.”
She further wrote: “When I experience discrimination, it’s more sexism than queerphobia. But we female soccer players know that you always face pushback. The important thing is to keep going and to know: We are more.”
Critique of the DFB
In men’s sport, there is resistance to such a casual approach. In Orschmann’s view, this stems from entrenched structures. She admired the coming-out campaign #ActOut among actors and wished for something similar in men’s soccer: “But when I spoke with a staff member at the DFB’s center for gender and sexual diversity and reached out to other institutions like Deutsche Sporthilfe, the impression quickly formed: diversity is promised outwardly, but when it comes to concrete actions, there is little movement.”
Moreover, the mass coming-out announced by former youth player Marcus Urban in 2024 did not materialize. “That shows how far men’s football is from other areas of society in this regard. The fear of consequences is simply still too great,” she concluded.
The Berlin native Orschmann is regarded as a defining figure for Union Berlin and has progressed through the club’s youth system. Her goals helped the club rise in just two years from the Regionalliga Ost (the 3rd division) to the Bundesliga. The club finished its first top-flight season this year in ninth place, far from the relegation zone.
