Five years ago, I decided to make a documentary about homophobia in sports. Although a few professional sports icons, like Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova had come out as lesbians, I wanted to understand why athletes seemed to feel being out was unsafe when lesbian and gay visibility was increasing everywhere else. In 2005, WNBA star Sheryl Swoopes became the first basketball player to come out of the closet. Later that year, an outstanding Division I basketball player, Jennifer Harris, was thrown off her college team because her coach believed that Harris was a lesbian. When Harris decided to sue the coach, athletic department, and university, she became the focus of the new documentary I co-produced and directed with Fawn Yacker, Training Rules.
Jennifer Harris was a premed student and a very good player at Penn State University. She would have been the leading scorer on her team at the beginning of her junior year. Instead, after the last game of her sophomore year season, she was cut from the team by Coach Rene Portland, who had a long history of discriminating against any player she suspected might be lesbian.
Penn State settled the Harris case, but that didn't bring an end to homophobia in women's sports, nor is Penn State the only school that has allowed such practices--far from it. And so far there is only one out lesbian who is the head women's basketball coach of a Division I school.
Unlike men's basketball, where concern about a player's sexuality is rarely addressed, it's common practice in women's athletics to raise the specter of lesbian players and coaches. You would think this has changed, since five states recently extended marriage rights to same-sex couples. But with the prospect of losing their scholarships and being cut from their teams, very few student athletes feel safe enough to come out. Clearly, we still have a long way to go.
Training Rules is a painful reminder that homophobia still exists in women's sports. The Penn State players featured in the film represent many others throughout the world of college athletics whose careers have been terminated because of homophobia.
It's time to level the playing field. All athletes deserve to compete unencumbered by the fear of discrimination based on sexual orientation.
As a woman's basketball writer I take umbrage with the notion that athletes fear coming out. It'sot so much that they haven't , because in the small circle of athletes at universities, where campus parties find them crossing paths often over four years' time, everybody knows quite a bit about the individual athletes' lives. In a larger urban setting, say USC and UCLA in LA, much is written in major media publications about the athletes. I think you seem to think they should have a press conference and announce their sexual preference and that just doesn't happen! In fact, pressers are just about plays, not about the individuals as much. Team sports are about the collective not the individual. This is just not the arena for airing one's personal lifestyle. Homophobia is not an issue. Even in prosports where Pitcher Jim Bouton once wrote in "Ball Four" that 5% of baseball was gay, I have no problem with that, but I prefer knowing if the .333 lifetime hitter is healthy and hungry for a fastball, not hot for the catcher--even if he is.
In the end, every kid - even gay kids need a role model to look up to, and when LGBT players, coaches, and even philanthropic causes are demonized (or at best avoided), a whole group of people feels that as rejection.
Secondly, they are no longer "kids" as you refer to them in college and the pros. They are adults. People are responsible for their own sexuality and its consequences. You are wrong that they are not counseled; I know differently. Freshmen orientation for athletes in summer school is part of this process and basketball teams deal with this all the time. Coaching women is far different than men and there are LGBT counselors available, but just because it's not on a billboard doesn't man it's not there.They are also warned about compromising situations that could land them in hot water. They do not always listen, however, and kids of both sexes get into trouble or suffer emotional trauma.
If - as it seems - the implication here is that gay men have it much easier than gay women in the sports world, this is perhaps the most naive or disingenuous sentence I have ever read. The reason that a male athlete's sexuality is rarely questioned is that the thought of a gay male basketball player is so unthinkable that there may as well be a platypus on the team. Seriously, this is like saying: "Unlike in female ballet, where concern about a dancer's sexuality is rarely addressed, it's common practice in men's ballet to raise the specter of gay dancers."
College Sports are still driven by MONEY not dreams and wishes and hopes and a few adoring parents. But hard cold cash from the alumni and citizens of the community.
Many of our universities are nestled in a homophobic community driven by the ALL MIGHTY GOSPEL.
Find a way to change the citizens minds and you'll find a way to come out of the closet.
I was a premier athlete at a prestigeous college and our coach was devoutly religous. He openly kicked players off the team for their sexual orientation but lied about why he terminated their scholarships. We all knew who was gay and who wasn't and for the most part as players we all respected each other as athletes and team members first and people second.
Even Greg Louganis was hesitant to come out of the closet and his closet was damn near wide open.
We have a long way to go as a species. I'd like to see some mainstream documentaries hit dinner time regular tv or story telling radio on gospel channels emerge. THATS where the fight is, that's the war room.
Straight men have molested their women team members or students countless times. It is wrong for ANY authority figure to have sexual relations with his/her charges. It isn't MORE wrong if that authority figure is homosexual. It is equally wrong.
Today, the President is hosting a roundtable about the anniversary of Title XI, which brought "equal opportunity" to women in school athletics. The problem is, now that we're not facing quite so much sexism, ever since rock star athletes emerged like the Williams sisters, Mia Hamm, and Picabo Street, but homophobia is still a rampant problem, and it extends through all levels of sport.
When I heard this individual had numerous affairs with people in the athletic department including players I was frankly relieved it was over. The winning coaches spend days and night pouring over film, recruiting, meeting...not on a meat and greet, as we say in jest. .
If you've never heard of him, I strongly advise you to look up his struggles in life, which sadly, he lost.