DUBAI: Megan Schutt has plenty of tattoos. From a pineapple to a flamingo named 'Freddy' and a camel to just a normal smiling face. There are plenty of them. However, on her bowling arm rests potentially the most important tattoo she has ever inked.
It simply says "No place for Hate."
While the other tattoos show the quirky side of the most senior pacer in the Australian squad, this tattoo is something she lives by. Schutt has always been that person. As one of the few queer athletes representing Australia long before same-sex marriage became a legal reality in 2017, she has been exceptionally vocal about her opinions.
She prefers calling herself 'stubborn'. "I am more stubborn about this sort of stuff than other people," Schutt told this daily remembering the time when same-sex marriage was not legal in Australia.
"What hurt the most was not having the legality of a piece of paper to say that in an emergency, I'm the person of contact. I'm her wife. Everything that was deemed important for a heterosexual couple wasn't possible for a gay couple. I hated that because it's obviously inequality, but it's also just seen as less natural. I remember proposing to Jess (Schutt's wife), it wasn't legal when I did that and we even got to the point of going like, should we just elope? We were thinking about going to New Zealand where it is legal. It was more frustrating than anything because, to me, it seemed like a pretty easy law to change," Schutt recalls.
After 22 unsuccessful attempts in the Federal Parliament to legalise or recognise it under federal law, on 15 December 2017, as a result of a voluntary postal survey where 61.6 per cent of respondents voted in favour of same-sex marriage, Schutt was legally allowed to marry in her own country.
She remembers being on a flight when the results were supposed to be announced and that mixture of excitement and anxiety was enough for her to remain emotional throughout that journey.
"I was on a flight. I knew the results were being publicised that day. When we would land, I was about to find out what the ending was to that. I had a bunch of messages from different people when I got out of the plane. It was splashed all over social media"
"I remember being over the moon. I got a bit emotional on the plane at the time. But then I shifted a little bit the next day when I saw that still 40 per cent of people didn't agree with it. It was admittedly a bit disappointing. It was a roller coaster ride of emotions for a few days," one can sense the hurt in her voice when talking about it.
In the tide change that eventually happened, Cricket Australia as an employer of the athletes stood behind their queer players on every walk. She was surprised by that active support but also believes that it led to many conversations among her teammates that they probably would have never had before.
"I loved that. I didn't think that they (Cricket Australia) were going to do that. That was a nice surprise. More importantly, it's what follows from that really, which is the conversation," she added.
"I remember sitting down with Midge (Captain Alyssa Healy) randomly one day and she said 'Shooter, I never really thought about it. When planning our wedding (with Australian men's player Mitchell Starc) we had that privilege. We didn't have to think about whether people would allow us to get married. Will this be acceptable? Will people make our cake or do people want to be our celebrant? We never had to think of any of that and I'm really sorry.' That was one of the most candid conversations I and Midge had at the time. And I was like, well, thank you. You don't need to apologise. She was not part of the problem. It's conversations that are what change people's minds," Schutt couldn't help but get a little emotional recalling the incident.
"I think of a lot of my friends, and parents who were probably homophobic when we were growing up. I remember one of my close friends' dad was really homophobic. When I came out, he flipped the coin and was suddenly so sweet. It didn't change at all with me. I thought that was beautiful because I was really afraid to tell him. Then she ended up coming out gay. We didn't know how that was going to go because it's always a little bit different when it's your kid, but it was freaking great."
"So like, as soon as you're exposed to that, you go, hang on there, these are regular people with really good hearts, like a normal person. That's what shifts. So I think the conversations that stem from it were probably the more important things in the active activism of Cricket Australia. But, I love the fact that I felt super supported. I think it's what follows from that. That's important."
Those conversations have certainly changed the way the athlete is perceived. With the birth of her daughter, Rylee, in August 2021, everything changed for Schutt and her wife Jessica. It made her emotional. It made her free.
"It has made me heck more emotional, which is great, which is something I didn't tap into enough but pre-Rylee and that was probably on purpose. When it came to anger and those emotions that made me a good cricketer but I probably wasn't good at accepting the more emotional side of myself and having had Rylee has changed everything. I love it, it makes life hell a lot harder, I am not going to lie, you don't stop worrying. I try and narrow everything down to is at the end of the day when she goes to bed in a warm safe bed, is she happy and is she safe? That's all you can try and provide."
"Cricket is now taking a bit of a backseat. It is my job and how competitive I am will never change. It's just not my number one anymore and I kinda love that. It makes me feel a little bit more free with my cricket if I'm honest. When I have a bad day, it doesn't feel as bad as it used to. Rylee changed my perspective on life. Our whole life flips on its head and the way you've interpreted things throughout your lifetime also just makes you want to be a better human," her face sparkles speaking about the three year old.
In yet another T20 World Cup campaign for Australia that started against Sri Lanka in Sharjah today, Schutt achieved a career milestone where she became the joint-highest wicket-taker in the history of the tournament alongside Shabnim Ismail of South Africa.
She is still one of the best bowlers in the world, but more than that Schutt is at peace now. The definition of success has shifted but she keeps being the voice for those who need it. She keeps living by that tattoo. No place for hate. Not now. Not ever. And by the looks of it, she will continue to do so.