First it was rowers, now hockey players are getting naked to fight homophobia.

UPDATE:

The bums are back.

First, it was a group of hot naked rowers that were standing up for gay rights. Now, it’s hockey players.

A male hockey team from the University of Nottingham in the UK have stripped off and said no to homophobia in a beautiful, grassy, slightly muddy kind of way.

The boys have made a video to promote their cause, which, by the way, is for a student-led project called ‘Voice Your Rights’.

There is hockey. There is stripping. There are many, many bums. And there’s a beautiful message at the end of the video.

Watch. Watch it right now.

The team had this to say about their cause:

“We believe that we all should be able to live in an society in which every person is respected and treated as equals.”

Mamamia previously wrote…

By KATE LEAVER

“This is the hottest way to make a change.”

You can say that again. (“This is the hottest way to make a change.”)

A crew of butt-naked British rowers have just done something mildly heroic. They’re getting naked to fight homophobia and it’s magnificent.

Last year, the Warwick Rowers (a crew of rowers… from a place called Warwick in the UK) got together and posed for a naked calendar to raise cash for their rowing club. There were lots of abs, lots of naked butts, and lots of meaningful staring into the middle distance.

Then the boys heard that most of their supporters were gay men. More gay men purchased their calendar than any other group (apart from me; I’ll take 50 copies).

Now, you’d think a team of male, as-far-as-we-know heterosexual athletes would react badly to that news. They’re men! Manly men! They do manly sports things! They sweat, shower, and change together, but as a general rule, overcompensate for the homoeroticism of all that by being as masculine as manly possible.

The sport industry is broadly homophobic, so it’s fair to assume that these guys would be uncomfortable knowing that gay men were ogling them. Or at least, they’d make a real show of being uncomfortable.

Nup. Not this bunch.

The Warwick Rowers decided to get naked again — only this time, they created a charity called Sport Allies and all funds will go towards “promoting inclusion and challenging homophobia in sport.”

Watch the whole story here (probably NSFW).

(Continue past the video for a) why this is so significant, b) a glorious GIF of three naked men just hanging out and c) details of how you can get in on this naked altruism). 

Warwick Rowers 2015 Calendar: The Story from Sport Media Productions on Vimeo.

That video has been watched by half a million people in 3 days, paraphernalia has been bought in 77 countries, and the boys have made $300,000 so far.

They’re selling the calendar as well as a film, t-shirts, mugs, art prints, wristbands — they probably even have naked rower tea-towels and I want 10 for Christmas. In fact, if someone could wallpaper my room with the following images, that’d be great, thanks.

In all seriousness, though. This is fucking great. These beautiful naked men are doing something powerful here.

The sporting community worldwide is deeply homophobic. The industry simply does not know how to deal with or support LGBTQI players. Particularly in games like football, soccer, NRL, NFL, AFL, there’s a “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy that forces players into years of self-denial. Or worse, there’s a barely contained undercurrent of violence, bullying, and insult-slinging.

That’s exactly why it was such a huge deal when Ian Thorpe came out. And exactly why he kept his sexuality a painful secret for decades. We have made such progress in so many ways when it comes to tolerance and inclusion for the LGBTQI community. Sport is one of the final frontiers.

And if these boys are willing to get their kit off to raise money and tolerance, then let them. And applaud them.

And if you just caught yourself watching that perfect little moment a few too many times, go straight to their website and donate. Help these beautiful men fight homophobia in their own naked way.