Athlete Ally, an LGBT activist organization founded in 2011, recently announced the launch of its #EveryFan campaign, the mission of which is aimed directly at all of the major branches involved — leagues, teams, athletes, and fans — in an attempt to improve the dialogue around LGBT culture in sports.

So far, approximately 35 current and retired professional athletes and teams have come out in favor of this campaign, including Chris Kluwe, Megan Rapinoe, Ali Krieger, Jason Collins, Robbie Rogers, and Michael Sam.

But while #EveryFan and its attendant endorsements paint a positive picture of a country — of a world — that is truly evolving, the facts prove humanity still has a long way to go.

In a recent international study conducted by Out On the Fields, homophobia in sports is laid brutally bare, in a way to both educate and alert the masses on the still-devastating realities. To wit:

• The United States has the highest number of participants in sporting culture (54 percent).
• 60 percent of those particular participants believe that LGB individuals are “not accepted” or are only “slightly accepted” in sporting culture.
• 84 percent of American participants reported witnessing and/or experiencing homophobia in sports.
• 83 percent of those American participants reported hearing homophobic slurs such as “dyke” and or “faggot” at sporting events.

These haunting percentages remain woven into the very fabric of America’s sporting culture — in 2016. Despite same-sex marriage having become the de facto law of the land. Despite LGBT characters being increasingly incorporated into popular culture. Despite much of the globe bearing witness to the World Cup victory kiss between Abby Wambach and her wife.

And yet, discrimination remains a fact of life for far too many millions of people. That such ignorance continues to be tolerated — in the United States of America, in 2016 — isn’t merely disconcerting; it’s alarming.

Last week, reports surfaced that three senior football players in suburban Philadelphia were facing charges after penetrating a freshman student with a broom handle as part of Conestoga High School’s “No Gay Thursday.”

The “purpose” of the ritual, if such a thing can exist, was to give the students one day a week to participate in behavior traditionally considered “gay.” Typical acts included upperclassmen placing genitals on underclassmen, escalating further towards the aforementioned — and truly horrific — revelation. All three male offenders (aged 17) have been charged, as juveniles, with no counts of sexual assault.

Rather, it’s all being chalked up to some hazing gone wild. So it goes. Time to move on. Nothing left to see here.

Really, there never should have been anything to see in the first place — here, there, or anywhere. And yet, there’s something to see nearly everywhere you look. We’re just constantly putting on blinders.

In another unfortunate event, former Ohio State cornerback Eli Apple was asked about his sexual orientation by an Atlanta Falcons coach at the NFL combine — further proof that homophobia in sports doesn’t merely exist in 2016; it’s being allowed footholds that, however seemingly slight, allow it an almost perpetual traction.

Setting aside the strides that have no doubt been made, the LGBT community, whether explicitly or as a matter of course, continues to be alienated in America’s sporting culture — one that demands, or at the very least encourages, the sexually diverse to remain in the closet. Indeed, it’s no wonder why so many athletes wait to reveal such an important part of themselves until at or near the end of their careers: somehow, the risks still outweigh the benefits.

Think, for a moment, about how all of the bullying, physical trauma, sexual abuse, etc., might negatively impact an athlete’s career. Or any career, for that matter. It’s far too easy for us to focus the lens on celebrated pioneers like Robbie Rogers, Meagan Rapinoe, Brittney Griner, or Jason Collins, when we have no idea how hard it was for these athletes to even get to that point — of believing who they are is what they want the world to know.

Robbie Rogers had to briefly walk away from soccer in order to come out of the closet. Brittney Griner was not able to live openly at Baylor University, due to discouragement by members of the coaching staff. And while these athletes have overcome incredible adversity and deserve to be celebrated as the vanguards they are, we have yet to significantly move the stigmatic needle.

It doesn’t mean the world’s allowed to forget that Justin Fashanu killed himself because of the shame he was made to feel for being gay. It doesn’t mean we’re allowed to forget that Max Korten once tried to punch the gay out of himself, because he so desperately wanted to be straight. It doesn’t mean we’re allowed to forget that, just this week, a suburban American high school was covered by mainstream media for celebrating No Gay Thursday.

We can’t forget, because we all — every one of us, whether explicitly or implicitly — are setting the standard. And right now, the one we’re setting remains way too low.

So, while I applaud the New York Mets for hosting its first ever LGBT pride night, and commend the L.A. Kings for featuring a gay couple on its kiss cam, it’s simply isn’t enough.

The prevailing wisdom about sports, beyond the low-hanging benefits of improved physical and mental health, is that they provide community. But that belief really doesn’t hold much water when cast against how our culture continually fails to foster real, genuine inclusion. Ostracizing another human being because they’re different than you — that’s not building community. Nor does it improve physical and mental well-being. If anything, it compromises it.

That, in essence, is why Athlete Ally’s #EveryFan campaign feels like it’s truly on to something. If only by recognizing that 83 percent of Americans believe LGBT individuals would not be safe at sporting events, they’re putting us all on notice. This isn’t faux activism; it’s the golden rule, writ large and modern and whole. It’s what all our mothers taught us, without the wink and a nod at the end.

Treat. Everyone. Equally. So simple, and yet so powerful. A lesson that’s given all of us, no matter our roots or beliefs or politics, plenty of growing pains and lessons learned. From athletes to coaches, fans to front-office staffers, Athlete Ally is challenging all of us to empathize. And if we’re courageous enough to accept the challenge, maybe then we’ll truly be able to eliminate the archaic, bigoted barriers holding back the games we love.

Maybe then, #EveryFan can become #EveryPerson.

If that isn’t poetic justice, I don’t know what is.