The other Interpride "Game Changers"

The 2012 Interpride magazine features 16 "Game Changers", "16 amazing Americans who are giving their
all to promote equality on (and off) the court". We've posted about the Game Changers closest to the FGG, but we don't want to forget the others:

Anna Aagenes, Kye Allums, Patrick Burke, Helen Carroll, Craig Cassey, Pat Griffin, Robert Lipsyte, Karen Morrison, Martina Navratilova, Pete Olsen, Paul Tagliabue, Hudson Taylor and Equality Coaching Alliance's Kirk Walker.

Read the article here:

Open publication - Free publishing - More 2012

GLSEN profile of Dr Tom Waddell on US National Running Day

From GLSEN Sports Project/Changing the Game:

Today is National Running Day.

Did you know Tom Waddell (1937 - 1987) was a decathlete on the 1968 United States Olympic team in Mexico City. He was also a gay man. He founded the international sporting event called the Gay Games, which began in 1982 and is held every four years. Thousands of LGBT and ally athletes from around the world participate in the Gay Games. Waddell originally called this event the Gay Olympics, but was sued by the United States Olympic Committee for using the word "Olympic" in the original name.

Keph Senett on campaigns against homophobia in sport

In Xtra.ca, Keph Senett asks if campaigns are having an impact on homophobia in sport in Canada and beyond:

While more professional athletes have come out of the closet in the past year than in the past decade, an expert on homophobia in professional sports says it is still the last great bastion of institutionalized homophobia.

In 2011, dozens of athletes publicly came out across a spectrum of disciplines, ranging from swimming to cycling to soccer. Momentum gathered as several high-profile organizational figures — such as Phoenix Suns president Rick Welts and ESPN radio host Jared Max — followed suit, and straight allies like wrestler Hudson Taylor, of the Athlete Ally foundation, and rugby player Ben Cohen, who founded the StandUp Foundation, helped put the anti-homophobia message on the international agenda.

The same year, Major League Baseball got involved at the franchise level when the San Francisco Giants participated in Dan Savage’s It Gets Better project, and by the end of the season a total of eight MLB teams had produced videos for the campaign.

Former basketballer Charles Barkley was vocal in his ondemnation of homophobia in sports, and the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network ran its Think B4 You Speak campaign on television during a National Basketball Association game in May.

Gains were made even in the world of soccer, which has been heavily criticized for its lack of organizational support for an anti-homophobia strategy. In 2011, the United Kingdom’s The Justin Campaign, which advocates against homophobia in the sport, secured official endorsements from both The Football Association and the Union of European Football Associations.

Indeed, if a spectator dropped in for the 2011 sports season only, it seems likely that he or she might conclude that homophobia in sport is an antiquated issue, a throwback to a different, less enlightened time.

But according to Caroline Fusco, an associate professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education at the University of Toronto, professional sport remains a stronghold of homophobic attitudes.

“Sport as a space has been one that has really been there for the production of a certain kind of hyper-masculinity. Particularly when you think of pro sports, the big ones: hockey, football, baseball. These all tie in to the rugged notion of masculinity, and these attitudes remain — that gay men aren’t masculine,” she says.

Strategies like Brian and Patrick Burke’s You Can Play campaign, which is aimed at the National Hockey League, are trying to change that. Advocates go after the highest-profile names they can secure to create messaging that challenges that notion.

It’s an effective method. The events of 2011 seem to suggest a sea change in the sporting culture. But is the endorsement or coming out of a collection of high-profile sports figures a reasonable measure of the state of homophobia in sport? Is it the best way to tackle homophobia?

Marc Naimark, vice-president of external affairs for the Federation of Gay Games (FGG), seems to think not. “The Federation of Gay Games [has] continued to offer opportunities for LGBT athletes to be active in sport in a safe environment while engaging straight athletes in clubs or at sports competitions,” he says. “When we consider sheer numbers, that is far more significant than the elusive out pro athlete.”

Keep reading HERE.

17 June 2012 / Seattle Frontrunners Run and Walk with Pride

Run and Walk With Pride is an annual community event open to all, presented by Seattle Frontrunners. Join us on Sunday, June 17th in Seward Park for a fun 4K run, 10K run, or 4K walk. All abilities are welcome, so come and join the fun! Chip timing is provided and we have awards for top finishers. All finishers will be eligible for our fabulous raffle prizes!

Each year we select a local non-profit GLBT organization as our beneficiary. The selection process is designed to ensure the proceeds make a meaningful difference to them as our beneficiary.

For 2012 we selected It Gets Better Project, with proceeds going to GLSEN WA!

You made the videos, now is your chance to really help Make It Get Better! Register today and Donate/Fundraise for this great cause!

Info HERE.

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.

Congratulations to Helen Carroll and Pat Griffin, Outsports' persons of the year

From Outsports, some great news about two friends of the FGG:

You’d be hard-pressed to name two people who have collectively had a stronger impact on the gay-sports movement than Pat Griffin and Helen Carroll. These two pioneers have been working toward equality for the better part of 30 years. They’ve visited high schools. They’ve talked to colleges. They’ve waged legal campaigns. They’ve educated educators. And with more incredible work in 2011, our readers have named these two women our “Persons of the Year.”

In 2011 alone, Griffin launched GLSEN’s Changing the Game project, which is bringing tools to end homophobia in sports directly into K-12 sports programs; Carroll, who heads up NCLR’s sports project , has taken a lead roll on the project’s advisory board. Together the women published what has become the NCAA’s de facto policy on trans-athlete participation. Their behind-the-scenes work is unparalleled in this world; Much of what happened in 2011 can be traced in some way to the work these two women did in previous years. And their guidance to us here at Outsports has been invaluable.

The dynamic duo won by the proverbial landslide, garnering 53% of the vote, a testament to their work in what has been dubbed the “gayest year in sports.” High School bloggers and ‘It Gets Better’ teams tied for second with 11% each. Rick Welts and the Golden State Warriors, who together executed what might have been the single-most important moment of the year, earned 10%. Sean Avery received 9% of the vote, and Anton Hysen got 7%.

Read in full HERE.

GLSEN and San Francisco school district workshops on student athletes

In his latest column, Roger Brigham looks at progress for adult LGBT athletes, and the challenges for younger athletes:

[But] with reports of student suicides and bullying seemingly more prevalent than the coming out of elite athletes, is it a safer and more inviting sports world for LGBT youth athletes?

That topic was a central theme for workshops held in San Francisco last week for public school coaches and physical education teachers, and will be explored this weekend in a panel discussion at a Gay Straight Alliance Network summit in the city.

Professional development workshops were presented on December 1 and 3 by the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network and San Francisco Unified School District's Student Support Services focused on utilizing "student-athletes' leadership potential as role models for respect and inclusion in schools; countering gender and sexual orientation stereotypes in athletics and physical education; addressing anti-gay name calling and bullying among athletes, coaches and spectators; and inclusion of transgender students on sports teams and in physical education classes."

As wrestling coach at Mission High School, I attended the first workshop. SFUSD's Ilsa Bertolini and Kevin Gogin presented an alarming battery of statistics from surveys of middle school and high school students, showing the greater risks LGBT students are exposed to than their straight classmates. Statistics such as transgender students being three or four times more likely to be threatened or injured with weapons, or LGB students being four times more likely to attempt suicide.

Pat Griffin, director of GLSEN's Changing the Game program, then led discussions with the coaches and teachers about proactive steps they can take to help LGBT students feel safe in gym classes and on sports teams, and how to address situations as they arise. For four hours we exchanged anecdotes about how bullying incidents were handled, how teaching moments are identified and capitalized upon, and how things such as signage and setting positive examples can help encourage respectful behavior and greater self-acceptance.

Throughout the day, as we discussed the issues faced by adolescent and pre-adolescent athletes, I kept thinking back more decades than I care to admit to my days as a blossoming gay teen athlete. I was blissfully unaware at the time of my sexuality, but like so many others I was keenly aware that I was "different," and everything around me signaled that I should not speak up about ways in which I might be different.

But the one place where I always felt at one with those around me was on the soccer field or on the wrestling mat. It wasn't so much a sense of family as a sense of tribe I had there. Ultimately, it was realizing that I not only could survive and thrive in athletic combat but that I could find friends and a sense of belonging that over the course of the years gave me the courage to come out.

Coach Lisa Howe makes "Changing the Game" video for GLSEN Sports Project

Lisa Howe, fired as soccer coach by Belmont College in Nashville, speaks for the GLSEN Sports Project.

Listen to this morning's radio program with Brian Sims and Pat Griffin

GLSEN's Pat Griffin and Gay Games Ambassador Brian Sims appeared this morning (10am to 11am Eastern Daylight Time) on Radio Times, on Philadelphia public radio station WHYY:

Gay Americans are living and competing openly in the workplace, in politics and elsewhere. But what about the playing field and sports arena? Are they safe spaces for athletes to come out of the closet?

Recent events in the NBA, with the president of the Phoenix Suns coming out as gay as an NBA ad denouncing homophobia was airing even as basketball players Kobe Bryant and Joakim Noah were being fined for using anti-gay slurs on the basketball court and on camera. The events have cast new light on the questions surrounding homophobia in sports.

Joining us to discuss these questions are people who have grappled with the issues themselves:
PAT GRIFFIN is a former college athlete, coach and then professor and now directs the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network’s Changing the Game initiative addressing LGBT issues in K-12 school-based athletic and physical education programs.
BRIAN SIMS led his Division II college football team to the national championship game, and is the president of Equality Pennsylvania and chairman of the Gay and Lesbian Lawyers of Philadelphia.

• Find the podcast of the broadcast HERE
  
• Or listen on our player below:

Gay Games Ambassador Brian Sims, educator Pat Griffin, and Will Sheridan discuss gay athletics on live radio program this morning

Listen this morning (10am to 11am Eastern Daylight Time) to Radio Times, on Philadelphia public radio station WHYY (you can call in; learn more HERE):

Gay Americans are living and competing openly in the workplace, in politics and elsewhere. But what about the playing field and sports arena? Are they safe spaces for athletes to come out of the closet?

Recent events in the NBA, with the president of the Phoenix Suns coming out as gay as an NBA ad denouncing homophobia was airing even as basketball players Kobe Bryant and Joakim Noah were being fined for using anti-gay slurs on the basketball court and on camera. The events have cast new light on the questions surrounding homophobia in sports.

Joining us to discuss these questions are people who have grappled with the issues themselves:
PAT GRIFFIN is a former college athlete, coach and then professor and now directs the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network’s Changing the Game initiative addressing LGBT issues in K-12 school-based athletic and physical education programs.
BRIAN SIMS led his Division II college football team to the national championship game, and is the president of Equality Pennsylvania and chairman of the Gay and Lesbian Lawyers of Philadelphia.
WILL SHERIDAN came out two weeks ago, three years after a four year starting career on Villanova University’s basketball team as it rose to national prominence.

• Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane can be heard over the airwaves from 10-11 am Eastern time on 90.9 FM in the Delaware Valley, and is rebroadcast from 10-11 pm.
• You can listen live HERE.
• Radio Times is also heard live on the Sirius - XM channel NPR Now 122.
• NPR Talk Sirius 123 airs Radio Times again from 6 pm.
• Find the podcast of the broadcast HERE
  
• Or listen on our player below:

Dan Woog: Changing the game for good

Dan Woog looks a the possibility of change, focusing on "Changing the Games", the GLSEN Sport Project:

Over the past two decades, LGBT educational issues surged into the headlines. Library books, curricula, protection for gay students – all have earned important national attention.

One area, though, still seemed off limits: sports.

Finally the spotlight has shined on that enormous, important area of school. The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network’s “Changing the Game: The GLSEN Sports Project” promises to make teams and physical education class safer and more inclusive for all students, regardless of sexual orientation or gender expression.

The project – which took shape at a two-day planning session in New York in December, and is directed by Pat Griffin, a veteran educator, writer and coach at the University of Massachusetts – was launched in March, on the GLSEN website (www.glsen.org).

“It makes you a smaller person when you can’t bring who you are not only to your sport experience, but to every part of your life,” explains Griffin.

The site hopes to reach several different constituencies – athletes (gay and straight), coaches, administrators and parents. All have an impact on LGBT sports issues, whether they realize it or not.

Keep reading HERE.

Kye Allums news: "Game Changer" video, and departure from his college basketball team

Trans athlete Kye Allums has made a video as a GLSEN Sports Project "Game Changer":

(View more GLSEN Sports Project "Game Changer" videos HERE.
Outsports reports:

Kye Allums, the first transgender Div. 1 college athlete whose story Outsports broke last November, has decided to not play on the women’s basketball team his senior season. While we can’t discuss specifics, we know this decision has been coming for a while. Having known Kye now for over a year, I know there were lots of aspects to this decision, and it wasn’t an easy one for him to make. The school has put a gag order on Kye since last year. While his mother has certainly been helpful in navigating Kye’s story over the last few months, I look forward to some day finally telling Kye’s story of his first season as a guy when college is behind him.

Kye suffered concussions this past season with in part led to this decision. Thankfully Kye is set to be enrolled next year with a hopeful graduation date of December 2011.

This weekend Kye will be in San Francisco to accept the National Center for Lesbian Rights’ Spirit Award at their 2011 Anniversary Celebration. I’ll be in San Francisco for the event, and I can’t wait to finally meet him.

Hudson Taylor and Pat Griffin at NCAA Gender Equity Issues Forum

We wish the best for Athlete Ally's Hudson Taylor and GLSEN Changing the Games' Pat Griffin who are speaking today at the NCAA (US university sport) conference on gender equity.

Expert panelists and presenters on topics ranging from ground floor Title IX concepts and gender equity planning to strategies for dealing with the most complex issues impacting women in intercollegiate sports serve as Forum teachers. The Forum also brings together our affiliate organization leaders and legal advisors. Attendees are engaged by authorities on a broad range of topics and invited to participate in practical-advice exchanges.

Update: Here they are!

GLSEN Game Changer MVPs: Brad Usselman

You know Brad Usselman as the Brad of "Walk the Road". Now he's supporting Changing the Game from GLSEN's Sports Project as a Game Changer:

My name is Brad Usselman. I compete in high school cross country and track. The events I run in track are the 1600 and 3200. I have competed in these sports since the 6th grade, but I have been playing sports since I was 6. One of my sport accomplishments I am most proud of would probably have to be last year when my track team won districts. We beat every team so bad that our score was more than double the second place team’s score.

I came out as a gay athlete during a school-wide video. The video was made to promote equality as well as awareness for many different types of things and being gay was the one I did. My friends have been immensely supportive in every way possible. Also, my parents have been nothing but supportive.

Keep reading HERE.

GLSEN Game Changer MVPs: Emma Delsohn

You will recall Emma Delsohn from a profile on Outsports. Now she's supporting Changing the Game from GLSEN's Sports Project as a Game Changer:

My name is Emma Delsohn, and I am a basketball player. I started playing basketball when I was 5 years old (very competitive play) and have played the game each year ever since.

My proudest accomplishments in basketball can be narrowed down to two specific events: being named captain of our team for my senior year, and hitting 4 three-point shots in the first half of a particularly difficult game. We were the blatant underdogs, but we managed to win by 4 points. It was a fantastic feeling, let me tell you.

Keep reading HERE.

Behind the scenes at the making of the GLSEN-NBA public service announcement

A message from GLSEN:

NEW YORK - The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) and the Ad Council are working with the National Basketball Association (NBA) to unveil a new public service advertisement (PSA) in May in an effort to address the use of anti-gay language among teens. The PSA features Phoenix Suns players Grant Hill and Jared Dudley and is an extension of the award-winning Think Before You Speak campaign and GLSEN's "Changing the Game" initiative.

Grant and Jared were taped on Tuesday in Phoenix and are the first athletes from a professional sports league to appear in the campaign. See the link below for b-roll from the shoot:

The PSAs will debut during the NBA Conference Finals. The Ad Council will distribute the PSAs to 33,000 media outlets nationwide in May. For more information about the campaign, visit www.ThinkB4YouSpeak.com.

Do you want to be a GLSEN Student Ambassador?

Do You Want to Be a GLSEN Student Ambassador?
Do you feel strongly about safe schools for all students?

Are you a high school student with your very own blog? Do you tweet or follow your favorite celebrities on Twitter? Is Facebook your “home away from home?” Are your friends regularly checking your YouTube channel for the latest videos you’ve posted?

If so, you may be the perfect addition to the GLSEN Student Ambassadors Program!

We are searching for ambitious students in grades 8-12 during the 2011-2012 school year who are interested in sharing their stories in all kinds of media – from print, radio and TV to Twitter, Facebook and more. Students chosen will take part in a four-day media and safe schools summit in Los Angeles, July 14-17, 2011.

More info HERE.

Kobe Bryant homophobic slurs prompts early announcement of NBA/GLSEN public service announcement

From ABC News:

The more "gay friendly" NBA has fined star player Kobe Bryant of the playoffs-bound Los Angeles Lakers $100,000 for what it calls "inexcusable" homophobic language used against a referee.

"The comment that I made, even though it was not meant as what it's perceived to be, is nonetheless wrong," Bryant said on ESPN radio. Bryant uttered the anti-gay slur, apparently directed to referee Bennie Adams, after he called a technical foul on Bryant during the third quarter of a Tuesday night game against the San Antonio Spurs. The incident was captured on camera.

The controversy comes at a time when the NBA was already planning a public service announcement campaign with the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) in order to present the league as being more "gay friendly." The announcement is set to air during the NBA Finals and part of the GLSEN's "Think Before You Speak" campaign about anti-gay language. Phoenix Suns player Grant Hill taped it the same day Bryant blasted the referee.

Keep reading HERE:

GLSEN Sports Project launched to promote safe schools

From the website of "Changing the Game", the newly launched GLSEN Sports Project headed by Pat Griffin:

The Sport Project’s mission is to assist [primary and secondary] schools in creating and maintaining an athletic and physical education climate that is based on the core principles of respect, safety and equal access for all students, teachers and coaches regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression and integrating these efforts into overall school plans to ensure a safe, respectful school climate and culture.

Among the members of the GLSEN Advisory Board are familiar names to friends of the Gay Games, including Gay Games Ambassador Brian Sims, Outsports' Cyd Ziegler, photographer Jeff Sheng, and several members of Our Group, including Jenelle Devits and Andrew Langenfeld.

And among the project's "All Stars" you'll find other Gay Games Ambassadors, including Billie Jean King, Billy Bean, and John Amaechi.

Find the "Changing the Game" website HERE.

Report on GLSEN

Cyd Ziegler from Outsports reports on a planning meeting for GLSEN (gay lesbian straight education network) sport project, a resource for LGBT K-12 education in the USA:

Last week I headed to New York City for the first meeting of the advisory board for GLSEN’s new sports project, Changing the Game. The initiative, headed by Pat Griffin, will battle homophobia in sports at the K-12 level. The advisory board meeting included some great people from across the LGBT sports spectrum: Transgender former All-American Keelin Godsey; high school coach Dan Woog; former college athlete Jenelle DeVits; NCLR’s Helen Carroll; we even had a straight guy in the incredible Hudson Taylor; And many other incredible people. The diversity of the group was its strength.

With so many different perspectives, we were able to tackle issues from a bunch of angles, developing strategies that would target coaches, student-athletes, parents and straight allies.

The results of the group will begin to be seen in 2011. The project’s Web site will launch within the first couple months of the new year. Later in the year you’ll see information material to help students and athletes navigate sometimes inhospitable waters. You’ll see broad projects aimed at bringing attention to the issue and support to those who need it.

The energy coming out of the meeting was strong, and I’m extremely hopeful that this project will have a lasting impact. I’ll bring you the latest as it develops.