While at the conference, Hlengiwe wore with pride her FGG clothing, and spoke of the Gay Games and the role of LGBT sport with other participants in the conference. Thanks to Hlengiwe!
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| Hlengiwe with a delegate from Cleveland |
Featured events
| 6-9 April 2012 Ladies EuroVolley Tournament, Paris  Early registration is open. Learn more HERE. | 27 June-1 July 2012 Eurogames, Budapest  Learn more HERE. | 1-9 June 2012 IGLFA World Championships, Mexico City  Learn more HERE. |
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Hlengiwe Buthelezi flies the colors of the FGG at New Orleans conference
TOGS delegate to the FGG Hlengiwe Buthelezi from Durban, South Africa participated last month at the 2012 National African-American MSM Leadership Conference on HIV/AIDS held in New Orleans. Hlengiwe's club in Durban, KZN LGBT Recreation, engages in ongoing HIV/AIDS education and prevention actions for men and women, and while in New Orleans she was able to exchange with leaders from around the USA and from other countries on the need for a strong engagement to fight against AIDS in communities with particular needs.
While at the conference, Hlengiwe wore with pride her FGG clothing, and spoke of the Gay Games and the role of LGBT sport with other participants in the conference. Thanks to Hlengiwe!
While at the conference, Hlengiwe wore with pride her FGG clothing, and spoke of the Gay Games and the role of LGBT sport with other participants in the conference. Thanks to Hlengiwe!
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
GLSEN's "Think Before You Speak" at the Superbowl
Our friends at GLSEN Change the Game will see the public service announcement produced with the NBA shown at this weekend's Superbowl:
At Super Bowl XLVI, 70,000 spectators plus a parking lot full of 80,000 fans will see our ThinkB4YouSpeak PSAs, on the big screen outside the stadium. That's 800,000 impressions over the course of the day.
1 August 2012 / Unity Football Cup in Stockholm
From 1-5 August 2012, during Stockholm Pride, the LGBT team Stockholm Snipers IF together with the straight team Råsunda FC are hosting a football tournament 1-5/8 2012. LGBT teams from all over Europe are invited to join mainstream teams from Stockholm.
The aim is to build bridges between the communities andto create unity. The Swedish FA and Stockholms FA are supporting the tournament. The event will include a 7-a-side and a 11-a-side tournament with up to 9 teams in each. The venue for the tournament is Skytteholms IP in Solna. More information will follow as soon as possible.
Follow the news on Facebook HERE.
Outsports on new effort from the first out US professional team sport athlete
Andrew Goldstein, America’s first out pro team-sport athlete, issues a challenge
Jan 25th, 2012
by Cyd Zeigler jr..
When we put together our list of the 100 most important moments in LGBT sports history, we knew we’d probably overlook something. Maybe an Austrian hurdler came out in the Eighties, or some Slovakian soccer player had said something horribly homophobic and damaging. And we may have missed something like that. But I was incredibly embarrassed when I realized we missed a story that we had written about extensively, and that I personally feel is a deeply important moment in our history.
Many people, gay and straight, wonder when we will have the first openly gay professional team-sport athlete in America. The truth is, we’ve already had him.
Andrew Goldstein was openly gay when the Boston Cannons drafted him in the 2005 Major League Lacrosse draft. While many athletes claim an out athlete will lose his position on the team if he comes out, Goldstein was selected by a team that knew perfectly well he was gay.
[...]
With his professional sports-playing days behind him, Goldstein has turned to amateur gay athletics. It’s not easy finding a lacrosse game in Los Angeles, so he’s returned to ice hockey. He played with the Los Angeles Blades for several years; He won a gold medal in ice hockey playing with a Toronto-based team at the 2010 Gay Games.
Goldstein has also found a home with the GForce hockey team. The team was started years ago by Glenn Witman as a challenge to a straight local all-star team during Aspen Gay Ski Week. GForce still represents gay athletes while playing in mainstream tournaments, but it’s become a larger advocacy organization. Recently the group has spoken to the American Hockey Coaches Association, the University of Toronto and the University of Denver.
It was a trip to Boston, to speak to high school and college athletes on behalf of GForce, that most struck Goldstein. The mini tour included a forum with athletes and coaches from Boston College, Boston University, Harvard and Northeastern; Also on tap was a speech at the Northfield Mt. Hermon School, which sends more athletes to the Ivy League than any other (video of that speech is below).
While Goldstein had been a part of preaching-to-the-choir panel discussions, these audiences were filled with students, athletes and coaches from across the spectrum on the issue. Legendary college hockey coaches like Jerry York and Jack Parker sat with their teams and listened as Goldstein and other GForce members talked about the stinging power of gay slurs, among other issues.
“They were listening to us and asking questions about, ‘what do I do if an athlete comes out to me’ or ‘what should I be doing to change things’?” Goldstein said. “I’ve been part of these forums where you feel the people going are the people interested in changing homophobia in sports. But going right to these athletic teams and their coaches and having them ask questions…and they ask honest questions like, ‘are these gay athletes looking at us in the shower?’ Speaking to the athletes themselves is the biggest impact we can have instead of going to a panel that’s going to self-select the people who are interested in hearing about it.”
Now Goldstein is on a mission to recruit more athletes to push these tough conversations with athletes and coaches. His new challenge to gay athletes and allies is simple: Coming out isn’t enough anymore, you’ve got to get in the trenches, talk to more coaches, athletes an administrators and affect real change.
[...]
Read in full HERE.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
1 February 2012 / A focus on Title IX for National Girls and Women in Sports Day in USA
MYTH: Title IX has done its job and is no longer needed.
FACT: In the past five years, the gap between male and female athletic participation at the high school level has grown.
Female high school athletes receive 1.3 million fewer athletic participation opportunities than their male counterparts (2.9 million female vs. 4.2 million male).
Female athletes receive 86,000 fewer opportunities at the college level (205,000 female vs. 290,000 male).
Female college athletes receive $148 million less in athletic scholarships ($617 million female vs. $765 million male).
In addition, female high school and college athletes continue to lag behind males in the provision of equitable resources such as equipment, uniforms and facilities.
MYTH: Title IX has resulted in the loss of athletic opportunities for men's sports.
FACT: Overall, men's athletic opportunities since Title IX's passage have increased. Title IX has been wrongly blamed by its critics for cuts to some men's sports teams at some educational institutions.
Schools choose to support, eliminate or reduce particular sports opportunities on both men's and women's specific teams for a variety of reasons, including varying interests in specific sports and choices about how to allocate budget resources among the sports teams the school decides to sponsor or emphasize. The number, competitive level and quality of sports programs are individual institutional decisions, just as the number and quality of academic programs are institutional prerogatives. The government cannot dictate that particular varsity sports be added, retained or discontinued for men or women.
Opponents of Title IX have tried to mislead the public into believing that the loss of men's wrestling and a few other sports at some schools is a sign of massive loss of men's participation opportunities overall when exactly the opposite is true – men's sports participation continues to grow. Athletic programs add and drop teams all the time. Men are not losing.
This misinformation campaign takes the focus away from the facts that (1) women continue to be significantly underrepresented among high school and college athletes, (2) the gap between men's and women's sports participation and support is not closing and (3) it is the wealthiest athletic programs in NCAA Division I-A that are dropping men's minor sports, typically because they are shifting these monies to compete in the football and men's basketball arms race.
MYTH: Title IX's three-part test imposes a strict quota.
FACT: The three-part test imposes no numerical requirement even remotely analogous to quotas.
A three-part test for participation opportunities determines if institutions provide female and male students with equal athletic opportunities. In order to comply, institutions must pass one of these three tests:
a) Proportionality-male and females participate in athletics in numbers substantially proportional to their respective enrollments in school, or
b) History and Continued Practice of Program Expansion-the institution shows a history and continuing practice of program expansion which is demonstrably responsive to the developing interests and abilities of members of the underrepresented sex, or
c) Full Accommodation of Interests and Abilities- the institution demonstrates that the interests and abilities of the underrepresented sex (females) are fully and effectively accommodated by the existing programs.
Because athletic teams are gender-segregated, individual educational institutions must decide how many athletic opportunities they will allocate to each sex. Thus, schools are required to make gender-conscious decisions related to allocation of opportunities. Far from imposing quotas, the three-part test is merely a measurement, a benchmark for determining whether schools distribute sex-segregated athletic participation opportunities fairly. Courts have repeatedly recognized that the three-part test in no way creates quotas.
Furthermore, Prong Three was used by institutions most frequently:
Prong One 28% (21 institutions) Substantial proportionality
Prong Two 5% (4 institutions) History and continuing program
expansion
Prong Three 66% (49 institutions) Full
and effective accommodation of interests and abilities
MYTH: Girls are not as interested as boys in playing sports.
FACT: The dramatic increase in girls' and women's participation in sport since Title IX was passed in 1972 (by 456% at the college level and 904% in high schools) demonstrates that it was lack of opportunity – not lack of interest – that kept females out of high school and college athletics for so many years.
Before Title IX, women were told that they were not as interested in law or medicine as men were. But given equal opportunity to pursue these interests, women thrive in these fields. Similarly, given equal athletic opportunities, women will rush to fill them; the remaining discrepancies in sports participation rates are the result of continuing discrimination in access to those opportunities.
Additionally, it simply defies reality for colleges to claim a lack of interest in sports participation on the part of female athletes. With more than 2.9 million girls playing high school sports and hundreds of thousands more participating in Olympic sports not offered in schools and colleges – and with only 205,492 female participation opportunities available at the college level – it is clear that there are more than sufficient numbers of women interested in playing on college teams. The single factor depressing female sports participation and Title IX compliance is the failure of schools to add more women's teams.
To accept the stereotyped notion that women are inherently less interested in playing sports has been repeatedly rejected by courts. Gender-based stereotypes used to justify limits on women's opportunities are illegal.
MYTH: It is not fair that Title IX requires equal spending on men's and women's programs because the men's programs bring in all of the school's money.
FACT: Title IX does NOT require equal spending on men's and women's programs, and less than 12% of college athletic programs actually make a profit.
MYTH: Football should be taken out of the Title IX equation because women do not play football.
FACT: No matter how you cut it, football players are male participation opportunities, not a third sex. They must count.
Men don't play field hockey in this country and few men play volleyball…should we eliminate those sports too? Title IX recognizes that men and women may be interested in different sports. It simply says, that you have to provide them with comparable opportunities to play sports. You cannot pretend that 100 male football players are not receiving the benefits of the athletic department- benefits that the school is obligated to provide to women as well.
MYTH: The American public is not supportive of Title IX.
FACT: Eight in 10 voters (82%) support Title IX with agreement across all political parties and among voters with and without children.
The American public believes that sports participation is as important for our daughters as it is for our sons.
Death of former Boston Mayor Kevin H. White, supporter of LGBT sport
Thanks to Boston Pride, we have learned of the death of former Mayor of Boston Kevin H. White. Mayor White was a progressive political force whose work to support diversity enabled women, African-Americans, and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community to be better represented and more involved in Boston’s political system.
Mayor White’s fervent support of the LGBT community is best exemplified by his signing a pioneering Proclamation declaring the week of August 28th to September 5th, 1982, “Gay Athletic Games Week” in the city of Boston (photo), in recognition of the first Gay Games held in San Francisco at the time.
We join Boston Pride in expressing our condolences.
Panteres Grogues board member elected to board of Catalan Tennis Federation
For the first time, the Federació Catalana de Tenis (FCT or Catalan Tennis Federation) will have on its board an out gay man, Manel Gines, a board member of FGG member organization Panteres Grogues in Barcelona. Manel is the treasurer of Panteres Grogues, and the coordinator of tennis within the multisport club.
He joins the board of FCT as part of a slate of candidates led by Joan Navarro, a childhood friend of Manel.
Their victory is a big shake-up for the federation, after a difficult election against outgoing president Francesc Orriols. The new team won by 110 to 104 in a run-off vote after a tied first round of voting.
A concrete hope for Panteres Grogues is for more favorable terms for renting tennis venues for their annual PantereSports multisport tournament, which will next be organized in September 2012. More important is the new possibility for developing projects within the FCT to fight homophobia in sport. The new team in place will be a much more interesting partner for such actions.
Sport in Spain is highly decentralized, and the autonomous region of Catalonia has full responsibility for sport. All sports clubs in the region are member of the Catalan federation for their sport, with some also being members of the Spanish national federation.
The FGG sends its best wishes to Manel in his new duties, with our hopes for a fruitful exchange between LGBT and mainstream sports bodies.
CDG Brasil leader visits Los Angeles
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| Shamey, left and Jeferson, right, with Jeferson's host in LA center |
See our posts on CDG Brasil HERE.
Athlete Ally to partner with NCAA
A message from Hudson Taylor from Athlete Ally about a new partnership with the National Collegiate Athletics Association, the governing body for university sport in the USA:
I'm proud to announce that the NCAA Department of Inclusion is an official partner of Athlete Ally.
A few weeks ago, I was asked to speak at the annual NCAA convention in Indianapolis, Indiana. While there, I got the chance to speak to student-athletes representing Division I, II, and III athletics. I used this as an opportunity to talk about the importance of LGBT allyship in sports and share what Athlete Ally is doing to combat homophobia and transphobia across the country. As a result of this presentation, the NCAA logo will soon be added to the Athlete Ally homepage. This is a true testament to the difference we are making.
Also, in the coming weeks I will be talking to the NCAA about how they can better serve the LGBT community within college athletics. If you have any ideas about what the NCAA or Athlete Ally can do differently, please reach out. The more ideas brought to the table the better!
Stay tuned as we continue to build on this important relationship and work with our friends at the NCAA to advance equality and respect on and off the playing field.
Unity Cup Stockholm 2012
Stockholm Snipers are together with the straight local team Råsunda FC hosting the UNITY CUP, a football tournament in Stockholm during Stockholm Pride in the beginning of August 2012.The tournament is supported both by Svenska Fotbollsförbundet (Swedish FA) and Stockholms Fotbollsförbund (Stockholm FA) and by inviting some straight teams our goal is to build respect between the communities through football. Råsunda FC is a supporter team to AIK, the best Stockholm team which finished second in Allsvenskan (Swedish Premier League) 2011.
That connection will also give extra interest and publicity to the tournament and it is possible that a team consisting of former veteran AIK-players will take part in the tournament.
The tournament will be played both as a more competitive 11-a-side and a 7-a-side tournament for up to 9 teams each.
The Venue for the tournament will be Skytteholms IP which consists of three fields with high quality artificial grass next to Råsunda Stadium (the Swedish national football stadium). The venue is situated near Solna Centrum and the metro with 8 minutes ride to the city center is only a couple of minutes away.
The tournament will be open for whole teams or individual players without a team for who we are helping to find a team to play with.
Stockholm Snipers is working on putting together an affordable package including among other things a 4 nights stay in a double or triple room in a hotel located in the city center, a travel card for the public transportations, entrance pass for the Stockholm Pride.
More information are available soon at the Facebook Site of the event.
Let's go to Stockholm and enjoy some bright summer days of football, parties and friendship !
Monday, January 30, 2012
Registration for housing opens for GALA 2012
GALA has reserved rooms at 14 downtown Denver hotels all within 6 blocks of the Denver Performing Arts Center. Registration for rooms at those hotels will be handled by the Housing Bureau of the Denver Convention & Visitor’s Bureau through an online housing registration system. The housing registration system will open on January 30 at 11:00 AM EST. Please do not contact the individual hotels as they are not able to take room reservations under the group rates. There are a number of tools available to assist you with planning your Festival housing.
Info HERE.
11 March 2012 / Team Philadelphia goes to the Circus School
5900 Greene Street, Philadelphia, PA 19144
(215) 849-1991
Philadelphia School of the Circus Arts will introduce Team Philadelphia members to new, exciting forms of working out and training during a special "Intro to Circus Workshop." PSCA faculty will help Team Philadelphia members get their feet off the ground and turn their workouts upside down - literally! Members will be broken down into groups of six participants to learn aerial skills (rope, trapeze, fabric), tightrope and juggling. Team Philadelphia members discover creative ways to build upper body and core strength. Program: 5:15pm sign-in and waiver review, 5:45pm circus workshop with warm up, 7:00pm social hour, networking, snacks/drinks provided by Team Philadelphia. NOTE: The price for this event is $35 per person ($25 for the school at time of registration and $10 for the Happy-Hour when you arrive.) Team Philadelphia is the umbrella organization for LBGT Sport in the Philadelphia, PA region and an official delegate to the Gay Games.
Register on line: REGISTRATION LINK: HERE.
For more information contact Bob Szwajkos.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Help get Greg Louganis on "Dancing With the Stars"
From LGBTQ Nation:
“I really want to do this for GLBT youth,” Louganis told me this morning. “Being on Dancing With The Stars is more than me being on the show, it sends a positive message — an ‘It Gets Better’ message. And that message is still important- kids are still losing hope. I want to do what I can for them.”
There have been gay men on DWTS before — Lance Bass, Carson Cressley and Louis Amstel — and Chaz Bono broke the transgender barrier last season. But if his bid is successful, Louganis would be the first openly HIV positive contestant. And it’s about time, say HIV activists.
You can show your support by liking the page which you can find HERE.
Amal Fashanu, Justin Fashanu's niece, on the continuing silence
There are currently around 5,000 professional footballers in Britain, but none are openly gay. Amal Fashanu, niece of Justin Fashanu, asks why no gay player has followed in her uncle's boots in nearly 25 years.
My late uncle, Justin Fashanu remains the only professional footballer in Britain ever to come out publicly as gay.
Justin broke into football as a teenage prodigy at Norwich. In 1980 he won the BBC's goal of the season award for an incredible strike against Liverpool. I still feel a surge of family pride every time I watch it.
It's the casual celebration which always gets me. That was Justin. Effortlessly talented, effortlessly stylish, if a touch cocky.
But what I learned about Justin is that, sadly, "that goal" marked the high point of his career.
He was catapulted to fame, when Nottingham Forest paid a million pound-transfer fee to Norwich. But it was largely downhill from there.
Forest's manager, the famous Brian Clough - or in my family the infamous - took a disliking to Justin.
In his autobiography, Clough recounts the confrontation he had with Justin over rumours about frequenting gay clubs in Nottingham:
"'Where do you go if you want a loaf of bread?' I asked him. 'A baker's, I suppose.' 'Where do you go if you want a leg of lamb?' 'A butcher's.' 'So why do you keep going to that bloody poofs' club?'"
Those were the typical attitudes Justin faced in his profession, and very little had changed by the time he took the momentous decision to come out publicly a decade later in 1990.
These prejudices he had to endure saddened, rather than shocked, me. But what I did find surprising was the slow pace of change within football since my uncle's courageous step into the limelight.
I learned Justin was no angel, but he genuinely believed he was setting an example to other players facing discrimination. Sadly, it's an example no other gay player has felt able to follow in nearly 25 years.
Keep reading HERE.
Cleveland beers take top honors
Great Lakes Brewing Company Medals at 2012 World Beer Championships
Blackout Stout, Edmund Fitzgerald Porter and Christmas Ale Latest Winners
January 23, 2012—CLEVELAND, OHIO—Great Lakes Brewing Company (GLBC), Ohio’s most celebrated craft brewer of award-winning lagers and ales, announces that its Blackout Stout, Edmund Fitzgerald Porter and Christmas Ale scored medals in their individual categories at the 2012 World Beer Championships conducted by the Beverage Testing Institute of Chicago. Blackout Stout, a seasonal, scored 94 Points for a rating of “Exceptional” and a gold medal in its category “Imperial Stout”. Edmund Fitzgerald, available year-round, scored 93 Points for a rating of “Exceptional” and a gold medal in its category “Porter”. Christmas Ale, a seasonal favorite, scored 89 Points for a rating of “Highly Recommended” and a silver medal in the “Winter Ale” category (click on the “Points” for judging remarks).
Since GLBC’s inception in 1988, these three beers have garnered 16 gold medals collectively at the World Beer Championships, with Edmund Fitzgerald Porter achieving “World Champion” status twice. The World Beer Championships are considered one of the top beer judging events in the craft beer industry.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Profile of sports journalist LZ Granderson
TOn a recent airplane flight, a college student asked LZ Granderson, “Excuse me — are you LZ Granderson?”
She asked for his autograph and then to pose for a photo with him.
“Then everybody else on the plane thought, ‘Shoot — he must be somebody. I’ll get my picture taken with him, too,’” Granderson recalls with a laugh. “I know I got my picture taken with a bunch of people who had no idea who I was.”
Who is he?
An award-winning journalist for ESPN and CNN, Granderson — keen observer and genuine nice guy — produces words people feel compelled to read.
Keep reading HERE.
Outsports round-up
Former St. Louis Cardinals All-Star pitcher Bob Tewksbury has voiced his support of same-sex marriage rights in New Hampshire. He and his wife, Laura, live in Concord, N.H., where Tewksbury was born. They have joined Standing Up for New Hampshire Families to stop the state legislature from removing same-sex marriage rights in the Granite State.
Golden State Warriors president Rick Welts, who came out of the closet last May, will receive Out & Equal’s advocacy award for coming out in the front office of his former team, the Phoenix Suns.
Openly gay professional soccer player David Testo has been nominated for a position on the U.S. Soccer Athlete Council. The Council represents the interests of athletes in U.S. Soccer.
We also looked back at Outsports and found some interesting stories that we missed when they were first published:
A California high school water polo coach claims he was fired for his sexual orientation. Mitch Stein, an openly gay man, was fired as the junior varsity boys water polo coach at Charter Oaks High School in Covina, Calif., after pictures surfaced of him with people dressed in drag. Stein is a graduate of the school and his daughter is a freshman at the school. Stein alleges that he was fired because he is gay.
Cyd Ziegler takes a good hard look at the politics and consequences of "gay rumoring", using Troy Aickman as the starting point. Here's an extract:
It’s time for our community to make a choice. Are we going to be that bully in fourth grade who pushes gay people deeper into the closet and makes enemies of potential allies? Or will we spend the time we’d otherwise use spreading gossip to make our world easier for those gay people to be themselves and those allies to be a little warmer and a little fuzzier?
Read the thoughtful essay in full HERE.
Ben Cohen in Out Magazine
Rugby star Ben Cohen has a very personal reason for standing up to bullies.
By Aaron Hicklin
Some years ago, early in the evolution of social media, a fan page for English rugby player Ben Cohen appeared on Facebook. “It had about 30,000 people on it at the time, and they were all men,” recalls Cohen, who recently announced his retirement from rugby to focus on combating homophobia and bullying in sports. Cohen, who is married with twin daughters, found the attention flattering, but also a responsibility. “People were telling us their stories, and I felt it was important to respond,” he says. “I know what bullying does, and I know it can tear you apart, and that, for a lot of young gay men or people who are perceived to be different, there is no family infrastructure to turn to, no support.”
Read more HERE.
Friday, January 27, 2012
Will Iranian women be able to watch the Olympics?
(CNN) -- Iranian authorities have ordered a ban on women from watching live broadcasts of soccer matches at public movie theaters, the semi-official ILNA news agency reported.
A state police agency that monitors Iranian businesses called for the ban because "the presence of women and families at movie theaters increases security risks and inappropriate behavior," ILNA reported.
Movie theaters in Iran's major cities have broadcast matches from this year's Asian Cup, where Iran's national soccer team has advanced to the quarterfinals after winning its first three matches.
The final decision on the ban rests with a government office, according to an official with Iran's movie theater industry. "Movie theaters operate under the authority of the Ministry of Culture and Guidance, so we're waiting for their decision in this matter," Amir Hossein Alamalhoda was quoted as saying.
Women already are banned from attending men's soccer matches at stadiums. Hard-line government officials and clerics say the presence of women at men's sporting events is not compatible with Islam.
The English Football Association must work harder to fight homophobia
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| Michael Ball |
In less than two weeks, two professional footballers have been punished for making homophobic comments on Twitter. On 12 January, Oxford City sacked Lee Steele for making an offensive remark about Gareth Thomas, the openly gay rugby league player. And on 24 January the FA fined Leicester City's Michael Ball for sending a homophobic tweet about the gay Coronation Street actor Anthony Cotton. Oxford City and the FA acted quickly to deal with the players; could it be that the game is finally getting to grips with homophobia?
Football's chronic problem with homophobia goes back decades. In the Nineties it was brought into sharp focus by the experiences of the England's first - and, to date, only - openly gay professional player, Justin Fashanu. After he came out in 1990 he faced years of unchallenged homophobic abuse from other players and managers, and found it hard to find a team willing to sign him. He killed himself in 1998 after being wrongly accused of sexual assault, leaving a suicide note saying he wanted to 'spare his family and friends 'more embarrassment'.
Keep reading HERE.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Chris Morgan produces UK LGBT sport timeline
Thanks to Chris and Jonathan, and Sue and everyone else involved in UK LGBT History Project and the UK LGBT History Month, which takes place in February
Young gay runner takes a rock to the head... and what happened next
Sometimes a rock isn’t just a rock; it’s a wake-up call.
That was certainly the case for Jacob Gardner, a Madison [Connecticut] teen on the Daniel Hand High School track team. Two years ago, when he was a freshman, he was walking the track with his teammates before a meet when he was hit in the head with a rock the size of a baseball.
It had been thrown at him by one of his teammates, who defended himself by saying it wasn’t a big deal because, after all, Gardner is gay. (The guy used a series of gay slurs to get this point across.)
“It was an awakening,” says Gardner, 17, now a junior. “I had been bullied and teased in middle school, but once I got to the high school, everything had settled down. I even dared to join an athletic team.
“When I joined the cross-country team, I realized I couldn’t have chosen a better team to participate with. I was treated like one of the guys. People weren’t saying nasty things to me in the hallways anymore. I was in a passive state of feeling that things were getting better. And then that happened.”
This story — unlike many of the stories we hear about what can happen to gay teens — has something of a happy ending.
Keep reading HERE.
Outsports shares coming out story of college athlete
This past year I was lucky enough to be involved in a project at Saint Mike’s as a part of the “It Gets Better” campaign that involved a lot of students, athletes, and administrators rallying around the cause. Though I’m sure there are other gay athletes at SMC, I don’t happen to know any of them personally. I don’t know any other gay athletes around the NE-10 Conference either, but I’ve never experienced any negativity around the subject and I don’t ever expect to. I hope the video, at the very least, spoke to an athlete at or elsewhere who’s struggling with their sexual identity or with fitting in.
It was one of the most rewarding activities I’ve ever been a part of, and I feel very lucky to have been a part of it, and we had an overwhelmingly positive response. It makes me really proud to have been a part of the production and a character in the video that reached more people than we ever though it would.
Read in full HERE.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Sports personalities feature high on Campus Pride's "Hot List" of 25 top speakers for student events
Campus Pride officially releases the 2011 HOT LIST! The list represents our "Top 25 LGBT Favorites" -- lecturers, comedians, musicians. poets, artists, researchers, activists and more. Every year Campus Pride picks the most diverse, provocative, inspiring and enlightening artists/speakers as a resource for your LGBT student organization. The purpose is to provide a recommendation of the BEST OF THE BEST in planning your campus events and activities.
The artists/speakers listed are not only our SIZZLING HOT PICKS but they also rate highly among recommendations from LGBT young adults at colleges and universities across the country. If you want to create change -- PICK FROM OUR TOP 25 LGBT FAVORITES!
BURNING HOT: Learn more about each artist/speaker and don't forget to mention the Campus Pride HOT LIST!
On the list you'll find speakers such as:
Ben Cohen, MBE
Campus Pride Hot Tag -- Speaker/Lecturer, Sports
Ben Cohen, MBE, is an England Rugby World Cup champion, and among the world’s greatest athletes. He ranks second in all-time scoring for England, and first among straight professional athletes to focus his philanthropic efforts for the benefit of the LGBT community. In May 2011, Cohen founded the StandUp Foundation, Inc., the world’s first foundation dedicated to raising awareness of the long-term, damaging effects of bullying. The StandUp Foundation funds those doing real-world work to stop bullying, regardless of to whom it happens. Because lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people are often targeted by bullies, the foundation gives particular attention to this community. Cohen and his foundation considers removing homophobia from sports as central to his personal mission.
Hudson Taylor
Campus Pride Hot Tag -- Speaker/Lecturer, Sports
Hudson Taylor is a competing athlete and Division I college wrestling coach at Columbia University. He graduated from the University of Maryland as a Division I three-time All-American wrestler in 2010 and currently ranks among the top-five pinners in NCAA history. Hudson grew up in an Evangelical Christian family with missionary roots. Committed to civil rights and social justice, Hudson wore a Human Rights Campaign sticker on his wrestling headgear in college to show solidarity — as a heterosexual athlete ally — with the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community. This single act drew media attention around the country and prompted thousands of inspiring, personal messages. With this encouragement, Hudson became committed to speaking louder as an athlete ally and created the Athlete Ally Pledge and Whydoyoufight.org blog to gather support from athletes and advocates around the country.
LZ Granderson
Campus Pride Hot Tag -- Speaker/Lecturer, Sports
LZ Granderson is a senior writer and columnist for ESPN the Magazine and ESPN.com, as well as a regular contributor for ESPN’s Sports Center, Outside the Lines and First Take. A member of the National Association of Black Journalists, Mr. Granderson was a Columbia University Hechinger Institute Fellow, a 2009 GLAAD Award winner for online journalism and won first place in the opinion writing category for the 2008 Excellence in Journalism awards given by the National Lesbian Gay Journalist Association. He recently ignited an intense national community debate with his op ed piece, "Gay is not the new black" on CNN.com.
Brian Sims
Campus Pride Hot Tag -- Speaker/Lecturer, Sports, Politics
In 2000, Brian Sims was the captain of the Bloomsburg University football team in northeast Pennsylvania, and following the greatest season in the Division II school’s history he did the unthinkable: he came out of the closet! In doing so, the regional All-American and team captain became the only openly gay college football captain in NCAA history and the most notable college player to ever come out. Sims is currently running for the Pennsylvania State House and was formerly the Staff Counsel for Policy & Planning at The Philadelphia Bar Association. In addition to his practice, Sims serves as the former President of the Board of Directors of EqualityPA and as the Chairman of GALLOP (Gay & Lesbian Lawyers of Philadelphia). In 2009 he was selected as a State Political Leaders Fellow by the Center for Progressive Leadership and joined the National Campaign Board of The Victory Fund. He also travels and speaks about his experiences in college level athletics for LGBT students and allies.
Michael Holtz
Campus Pride Hot Tag -- Lecturer/Speaker, Sports
Michael Holtz is an inspirational public speaker, inspiring people how to live their best lives and to embrace their uniqueness, empower themselves, and enrich the lives of others. He is also the founder and race director for the Swim for Equality series which has a race in June from Swim for Equality from Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay and in September 24 in Malibu, California. Through it all, Michael has trained, competed and achieved numerous prestigious honors to date. These include: Compete magazine's Athlete of the Year; Mr. Gay USA 2011; and first runner-up Mr. Gay World 2011. International Olympic and US springboard diving legend Greg Louganis describes Michael as, "A very committed, young, energetic man and a wonderful role model for what is good in the LGBT Community in Sports and Awareness.
"LGBT world championships: sexualized ghettos in global scale?"
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| Wagner Xavier de Camargo, Paris 2011 |
After a partial presentation of his work at the December 2011 conference on sport and homosexuality organized by FGG member organization FSGL in Paris, Wagner Xavier de Camargo along with Carmen Silvia Moraes Rial have published (in Portuguese) their paper in the Revista Estudos Feministas.
The positions taking are striking, but, at least based on an imperfect Google translation, many would take issue with the conclusions, and the research behind them. For example, the description of the role of the FGG Board in choosing a host city does not correspond to the reality of the process. And the role of a search for a non-sports model for a sports event in the creation of the Outgames is undoubtedly exaggerated, and is inconsistent with the diversity of the content of the Gay Games themselves, ignoring the cultural component of the Gay Games, along with an explicit commitment to human rights (for example at the 2002 Gay Games in Sydney).
Nor do the authors take into account the diversity of participants in the Gay Games (and Outgames). While the writers were struck by the presence of affluent white men from developed countries, such people cannot be identified as the only participants in such events (it is true that as privately self-funded events, and despite efforts for outreach, finances may skew the profile of participants). And to reduce the interest of participants to tourism, and in particular to sexual tourism, is to deny participants their identity as athletes.
And while there may be some participants who prefer to remain isolated among LGBT people alone, this is in any case not the official position of organizers. All are welcome to participate. And if it is true that with some exceptions, relatively few spectators with no connection to the athletes can be found at venues, this is not specific to LGBT sport: the majority of non-elite sporting events are alas not particularly well attended by fans with no connection to those playing.
There may be validity in speaking of "ghettos" in the context of LGBT sport. But the ghetto above all is a creation of the oppressor, and this paper deals little with the very real homophobia and exclusion of mainstream sport that participate in the creation of such "ghettos". Nor does the paper adequately recognize that rather than ghettos, LGBT sport creates spaces of freedom, not just for LGBT people, but for all people anxious to do sport together, with specific values, best represented by the FGG motto of "Participation, Inclusion and Personal Best".
We look forward to further discussions, and opportunities to enrich the understanding of these researchers and others of the legacy and potential of the Gay Games and the international LGBT sports movement.
Akron mayor signs on for marriage equality
We're excited to announce the launch of Mayors for the Freedom to Marry, a bipartisan coalition of 75+ Mayors who pledge to support marriage for gay and lesbian couples! You may have first heard about this impressive coalition of Mayors a few days ago when the Wall Street Journal broke the story that Mayors of some of America's largest cities were joining together to support the freedom to marry.
The coalition will officially launch this morning at 10am, as Freedom to Marry and a handful of notable Mayors host a press conference at the 80th annual U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington D.C. Participants at today's press conference include: Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa of Los Angeles; Mayor Jerry Sanders of San Diegol Mayor Thomas M. Menino of Boston; Mayor Annise Parker of Houston; Mayor Marilyn Strickland of Tacoma; Marc Solomon, our National Campaign Director here at Freedom to Marry; and Tom Cochran, U.S. Conference of Mayors CEO and Executive Director.
Mayors for the Freedom to Marry includes mayors from cities and towns—large and small—with diverse geographic, ethnic and political backgrounds. The list includes the mayors of America’s four largest cities—Michael Bloomberg of New York, Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles, Rahm Emanuel of Chicago, and Annise Parker of Houston. It also includes mayors from cities including Juneau, Alaska; Des Moines, Iowa; Bloomington, Indiana; and Lewiston, Maine, where the freedom to marry may go to the ballot in 2012. You can click here to view the full list of Mayors.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Looking ahead to IGLA 2012 in Reykjavik
We look forward to welcoming you to the 2012 IGLA championships in Reykjavík Iceland. We proudly invite you to the coolest capital in world for fantastic championships from 30th of May to 2nd of June. Experience unique nature and enjoy local hospitality as well as a top standard competition on the roof of the world. Prepare yourself for a new experience in our fantastic geothermal pools and some serious fun and activities lined up for the championship.
The IGLA Championships in Reykjavik at the end of May 2012 will coincide with Reykjavik Arts Festival, which is one of Northern Europe's the oldest and most respected arts festivals. The purpose of the Festival is to promote Icelandic and international culture in all fields of art. The programs offer a range of concerts, theatre performances, exhibitions, dance and opera. In combination with its focus on Icelandic culture, past and present, the Festival has hosted many outstanding international artists and performers, for example Amadou & Mariam, San Francisco Ballet, Goran Brecovic and Pavarotti.
The swimming competition as well as the water polo will be held in a 50 meter indoor pool in Laugardalur, and swum in ten lanes. All events will be conducted according to the IGLA Championship rules as well as FINA rules. Heats will be seated according to age groups. However, all heats will be filled. The coaches meeting will be held in the morning and warm up will start at 8.00. The outdoor pool will be available for warm-ups and cool-downs during the whole competition. As well as the hot tubs and the water slide.
The 25m meter charismatic indoor swimming pool will be perfect for hosting the diving and synchronized swimming. The pool is situated down town Reykjavik and was built in 1937. It includes private changing facilities, two outdoor hot tubs and a steam bath. It is a bright and friendly facility loaded with history and character. This gorgeous pool is a testimony of Iceland's most prestigious Icelandic architect, Guðjón Samúelsson who also created the National Theatre building and main building of University of Iceland. The pool was Iceland´s first indoor pool and a great ...for a community that wasn´t so keen on taking regular baths.
The IGLA 2012 calendar is full of great events! The championships start on the morning of May 30th and the Opening Party is in the famous Blue Lagoon that same night. IGLA's partner Pink Iceland offers daily tours during the whole week. The Pink Tours are specially put together for IGLA guests and will therefore be very queer, fun and fabulous.
We look forward to seeing you all in Reykjavik!
Where's the sports? Two LGBT news items that are lacking in sport
First, the GLAAD media awards:
Over the last few years we’ve been very pleased to see GLAAD recognize the increasing LGBT work done in sports with multiple sports-related nominees for their media awards.
This year, as far as we can tell only one of the 151 nominees is directly related to sports: ESPN’s segment on Kye Allums. What makes that nomination a little strange is how negative that piece was, with so much focus on made-up negative aspects of Allums transitioning and playing on a women’s basketball team (not to mention Kevin Blackistone constantly referring to Allums as “a woman” and “she”). We’re glad any time sports are highlighted by gay organizations; This one, however, is a bit of a head-scratcher.
And documentary film project Second Class Citizens:
A fantastic, moving video was posted on YouTube earlier this week that chronicles the ups and downs of the gay rights movement. From being outcasts in the ’50s to defeating Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, it touches some of the more powerful moments in gay-rights history.
While the video includes references to politics, entertainment, youth, housing, employment, adoption, the military…there is no reference to sports. Not a big deal, not every project has to touch on every corner of the world (e.g., we don’t touch politics 99.99% of the time). But from the day we started Outsports, we’ve said there’s as much need for education about sports in the gay community as there is for education about gay issues in the sports world.
To which we say: indeed!
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