You may be wondering, “Wait, who are these naked men? Yes, they’re incredibly hot, but why are they on a calendar? What is a Warwick?” Let me paint you a tale that ends up being this image of naked, beautiful men. Once upon a time, there was a rowing team at the University of Warwick in England. For those who do not know, rowing is an expensive sport, as it needs boats and paddles and upkeep. So, in 2006, these strapping young British boys decided to make a calendar to raise some money for the team. Thus began our journey.
After a few years of doing naked calendar shoots to raise money, the Warwick rowers noticed that the majority of their sales were coming from the gay community. This discovery led into the creation of the Sports Allies Progamme—a program that challenges homophobia, “delivers an outreach programme to local schools, challenging homophobia and seeking to make sports more accessible to all.” 10 percent of the profit from every product sold by the Warwick Rowers goes toward this great program, which is on its way to becoming an independent charity.
One rower, Lucas, explained how he feels about Sports Allies by saying that "homophobia is a threat to self-development, not only for LGBT people, but all of us." He describes how sports are a chance for people to grow, follow their dreams and simply just have fun, not a chance for hatred or ignorance. Lucas concludes that "sports should be about inclusion and not to force young people into a model of what we think is 'normal'."
Sports Allies has a clear mission to "establish a replicable model for all university sports clubs to become more diverse and inclusive, and undertake community outreach work to promote inclusion to young people
." They are looking for solutions to problems caused by homophobia, and they want these solutions to be able to be repeated in any sports team or club. It is such an amazing charity for such a necessary cause.So, if you purchase a calendar, you are supporting a wonderful charity for the LGBTQ youth, and a great rowing team. So go ahead, buy that calendar, greeting card, or poster of these beautiful, naked men. You know you want to.
To purchase items and learn more about the Warwick Rowers, please visit http://www.warwickrowers.org/.
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