Australian rugby player suspended for using anti-gay slur

Mitchell Moses received two-match suspension after apologizing

Australian rugby player Mitchell Moses has received a two-match suspension after calling another player a “fucking gay cunt,” a slur heard by television viewers, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Moses, of the Wests Tigers, aimed the homophobic remark at Queensland’s Josh Bateman during a May 3 match. He later apologized to Bateman and officials of the National Rugby League (NRL), which took Moses’s remorse into consideration in issuing the suspension. Moses is also required to participate in an anti-vilification education program.

According to The Herald, Bateman maintains hes not troubled by the incident and does not plan to lodge a formal complaint against Moses.

Australia’s major sports organizations recently joined forces to put an end to anti-gay discrimination, committing to an agreement to establish inclusion and anti-homophobia policies by August.

Natasha Barsotti is originally from Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean. She had high aspirations of representing her country in Olympic Games sprint events, but after a while the firing of the starting gun proved too much for her nerves. So she went off to university instead. Her first professional love has always been journalism. After pursuing a Master of Journalism at UBC , she began freelancing at Xtra West — now Xtra Vancouver — in 2006, becoming a full-time reporter there in 2008.

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