Sports fans know the University of Connecticut for its men’s and women’s basketball teams. It’s a fine academic institution too. But one day soon it may be famous for its CLASS.
That’s CLASS as in the Connecticut LGBT Athlete Safe Space.
An online support system and resource network including links, educational information, question-and-answer forums and more, the site is designed to provide information on LGBT issues for students (athletes and non-athletes alike), coaches, administrators and faculty members–regardless of sexual orientation. It is believed to be the only Web site of its kind affiliated with a college athletic program.
Ingrid Hohmann–an academic counselor working with UConn’s Counseling Program for Intercollegiate Athletes–came up with the concept. A track and field athlete at the University of Delaware, she did not come out until after graduation in 1990. “I never felt comfortable going to the LGBT Center on campus,” she says, recalling her college years. “In fact, I was terrified.”
She would have welcomed “any athletic-related resource that I could have just looked at to answer questions,” she says. “Like a lot of athletes, I wasn’t political. But it would have been nice to have access to help me figure out who I was.”
In addition to LGBT athletes, “some allies and potential allies may be interested in ways to support their peers,” says Alana Linick, CPIA academic counselor and tutorial coordinator, describing CLASS’s desired audience.
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