Indiana University's gay-friendly athletics program

This is the story referred to in our previous blog post, HERE.

Read it in full in the Advocate HERE.

As it happened, the window opened at a pivotal moment in the recent history of Indiana University’s flagship campus in Bloomington, home to more than 40,000 students southwest of Indianapolis. Months earlier, controversy had erupted when the Kelley School of Business presented Marine Gen. Peter Pace, retired chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, with a yearlong appointment. The general angered gay rights activists in 2007 when, during his tenure as the nation’s highest-ranking military officer, he expressed his personal view that homosexuality is “immoral” and asserted his support for the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

Given the bumpy episode, Kitto says he resolved to approach Glass and the athletic department for a meeting last December with the goal of fostering stronger ties between the gay community and other campus departments. He had no idea what to expect.

“We in the LGBT community generally have stereotypes about people in sports,” said Kitto. “The thing that floored me about all these people is that they didn’t care.”

Support from the athletic department and the football team in particular felt immediate and strong. The department donated items to the silent auction for the LGBT homecoming, and the football coached helped judge the Mr. Out at Kelley contest.

Kitto felt comfortable asking Kraft about making an appearance at Indy Pride, and Kraft responded affirmatively the next day.


Kraft and two others, none of whom have ever attended a gay pride event, will staff the Indiana University athletic department booth during the festival on the same day as the parade. He said he looks forward to the experience.

“Like I feel about all of our events, I’m excited,” said Kraft. “Because it’s a new thing for us, I’m actually really excited. At the end of the day, my job is to get Hoosier fans excited.”

Officials say the pride festival participation and other advances this year have marked the start of a solid working relationship. In fact, they are already talking about an outreach effort to gay youths on the day this fall when area high school students attend an Indiana University football game. No high-profile athletes have come out as gay yet, but as the relationship continues to develop, that is likely only a matter of time.
Perhaps the person least surprised by all the progress is athletic director Fred Glass, who mentioned the trailblazing history of Indiana University as the home of the first African-American to play basketball in the Big Ten, the first African-American to be drafted into the NFL, and the Kinsey Institute.