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.
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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.
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Read in full HERE.
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