"Fearless" Kickstarter campaign

We were very pleased and honored to have Jeff Sheng present "Fearless" at the request of the FGG at Pride House in London. He's now aiming to make "Fearless" a book, via a Kickstarter campaign.

Update 8/3/12: The above 10-minute video is being exhibited at Pride House 2012 at the London Olympic Games, Aug 3-12. It is the first time that I have edited "Fearless" into a video slideshow with a voiceover of myself talking about this project, with over 100 photographs in the project so far. I decided to post it online here for those of you who are not able to make it to London. Please enjoy!

Since 2003, I (Jeff Sheng) have been photographing athletes on high school and college sports teams who also happen to self identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ), and are "out" to their predominantly straight teammates, coaches and classmates. Even though I am by training an artist and photographer, this project is highly personal for me -- as I was a former closeted athlete in high school and could not be "out" and play collegiate sports at the same time. As such, I titled the project "Fearless" as it was a reminder to myself and to others the true meaning behind the bravery of what these young people are able to do: be themselves in the face of homophobia in competitive sports -- something rarely ever seen at the professional level.

At first it was very difficult to find willing athletes for the project, but I relied heavily on trust, word of mouth, and social networking to find more and more participants. In the last 9 years, I have been able to photograph over 150 athletes across the United States and Canada for this series. Next year, 2013, will be the 10th year working on this project, and I have decided to commemorate this milestone with a self-published large photography book that details the lives and journey "Fearless" has entailed, including all of the photo shoots from the series. My hope is that this book can serve as further inspiration to countless young people who happen to be LGBTQ and suffer from bullying or harassment and live in fear about being who they are.

My fundraising target of $50,000 will make it possible for me to reach a goal of photographing over 200 athletes and to complete the final self-published book. The entire photo series is shot on medium format film and the travel costs are very high as I often have to fly to many of the athletes who ask to be photographed. Almost everything so far been mostly funded out of my own pocket or through loans/credit cards, and the lack of funding has been a major limitation to the series so far. Many athletes still contact me to be photographed and I sometimes need to limit my photo shoots, as I have never asked these participants for money to cover the costs of their photo shoots, but still need to find ways to cover the costs on my end. This fundraising goal will also make it possible to successfully publish the first run of the photo book next year.

My hope, is that with your help, I can make the decade-long vision I have had for my "Fearless" project -- finally become a reality. Every tiny bit counts, so please consider pledging something now.

Excluded from sport by homophobia when young, reengaging in sport via LGBT groups

From Pink News, a personal tale of reengaging in sport, and on the effect of homophobia in sport on young people:

It’s like a gritty northern drama – but with extra fog. I’m a weedy kid in dripping specs, shivering in the mud, dreading the prospect of the funny shaped ball coming my way. Then: a wet torpedo from the strong arms of Big Phil.

I duck. I probably squeal. And the games teacher’s yelling at me through the mist: “What’s wrong with you, you big girl’s blouse? Would you rather be inside playing tiddlywinks?”

Looking back it’s a funny story. At the time is was hellish. Such experiences, and such comments from teachers, left me humiliated, ashamed and scared of being found out … That kind of experience is bad for your health. Monday morning was double-games. Sunday nights were often sleepless.

Twenty-five years later, though, I’ve found myself re-engaging with sport. Last year I joined a gay-friendly running group. My sense of my own abilities has changed fundamentally. I’m even watching the Olympics.

Read more about re-engaging in sport as an adult via LGBT sport

Jeff Sheng radio interview about "Fearless" exhibition at Pride House and LGBT sport in general

Jeff Sheng was on public radio in Los Angeles yesterday to talk about LGBT sport, homophobia in sport, and his Pride House version of his "Fearless" exhibition.

Listen to Jeff Sheng's interview online or download the MP3 on the KPCC website.

Jeff Sheng's Pride House version of "Fearless" now available online

LONDON OLYMPICS TO FEATURE PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION OF GAY ATHLETES
Nike debuts new t-shirts in support of LGBT sports photo project
LONDON, August 6, 2012 – American artist Jeff Sheng presents his project Fearless, a photography series about openly gay high school and collegiate team athletes, as part of Pride House 2012 at the London Olympic Games. The ten-minute video exhibition includes photographs of over one hundred athletes as a digital slide show with a voiceover narration by the artist. It will be on display at Pride House until the Olympic Closing Ceremonies on August 12, 2012.
 
The video can be watched and directly embedded from Vimeo or Youtube:
https://vimeo.com/46875505
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfe8SxGY7D4&feature=g-upl

Fearless is a nine-year long photography project by celebrated artist Jeff Sheng, who since 2003 has photographed over 150 lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender identified high school and collegiate athletes in the U.S. and Canada. The video exhibition in London is the first time the photo series has been edited and shown as a slideshow, and the first time the project has been exhibited in Great Britain. 
The debut of this work in London coincides with a fundraising drive that features T-shirts with the slogan “Fearless,” printed and donated by Nike to help raise funds for the artist to complete the project next year as a photography book (FearlessPhotobook.com). 

In the voiceover narration from the video exhibition, the artist says, “What I’ve discovered are the stories of all these unknown people. They are high school students and college students, some as young as fifteen years old, who face the really horrible prospect of being bullied, harassed or beaten up by their fellow teammates… and these young people do this incredible thing – they simply say, ‘I’m going to be who I am.'”

Marc Naimark, Pride House coordinator for the Federation of Gay Games, says of the exhibit: “By narrating the history of the project and what it means to him, Jeff Sheng has brought the power of these young lives home to viewers who see their engagement in sport and their courage in being out. It’s a lesson for us all, whatever our age, whatever our athletic pursuits.”

Fearless has been widely exhibited in the United States over the last few years, including at the corporate headquarters of both Nike and ESPN. It has also been at over fifty high school and college campuses, and in Canada at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games. 

The video exhibition is available online to allow those who are not able make it to London and Pride House to see the project. The video and more information about the Nike supported fundraising drive is at FearlessPhotobook.com

PRIDE HOUSE 2012 CONTACT: LOU ENGLEFIELD, lou@pridesports.org, UK Tel: +44 (0)7949 604610, website: pridehouse2012.org
###
ABOUT JEFF SHENG:
Jeff Sheng is an artist based in Los Angeles, and was recently a visiting guest professor of photography at Harvard University in 2011. He is known for his photo series Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell on closeted U.S. military service members affected by the policy of that same name, which forbid openly gay service members in the US armed forces until 2011. During the Congressional repeal of that policy between 2010-2011, Sheng’s photography series was profiled and covered by multiple media outlets including ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News, CNN, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, NPR and the BBC.

ABOUT PRIDE HOUSE 2012:
Pride House 2012 is a project of Pride Sports UK, in collaboration with the Federation of Gay Games, the European Gay and Lesbian Sport Federation (EGLSF), GLISA International, the LGBT Consortium, and Phoenix FC, and aims to offer a welcoming space for all athletes, staff, spectators and friends of London 2012. Pride House 2012 will be open from 3 to 7 August at CA House in Limehouse Basin on the river Thames, with the Pride House 2012 festival continuing in various venues through 12 August, the day of the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games.

Jeff Sheng's "Fearless" exhibition at Pride House 2012

PRESS RELEASE
Contact:
Lou Englefield, Director, Pride Sports UK
lou@pridesports.org.uk
+44 (0)7949 604610

Marc Naimark
mnaimark@gaygames.org

London, 20 July 2012
Exhibition on out student athletes added to programme of Pride House 2012
Expanded electronic version of ‘Fearless’ will make its European debut
The Federation of Gay Games and Pride House 2012 are pleased to announce the addition of a new exhibition to its programme of events for the Olympics. In addition to the already-announced exhibition ‘Against the Rules’, photographer Jeff Sheng will be showing a newly expanded electronic version of his ground-breaking exhibition ‘Fearless’.

Pride House 2012 is a project of Pride Sports UK, in collaboration with the Federation of Gay Games, the European Gay and Lesbian Sport Federation (EGLSF), GLISA International, the LGBT Consortium, and the Pride House Foundation and aims to offer a welcoming space for all athletes, staff, spectators and friends of London 2012. Pride House 2012 will be open from 3 to 7 August at CA House in Limehouse Basin on the river Thames, with the Pride House 2012 festival continuing in various venues through 12 August, the day of the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games.

Lou Englefield, Executive Director of lead partner Pride Sports, presented her pleasure at rounding out the exhibition programme with ‘Fearless’: ‘While “Against the Rules” looks at out sports icons of the past and the present, “Fearless” presents role models for today and tomorrow. We know from experience the power this exhibition can have, both as works of art and as testimony of the courage of young people today. Whatever their future in sports, they are sports heroes.’


‘Fearless’ is a long-term project of noted American photographer Jeff Sheng, who travels to high school and university campuses in the US to capture portraits of young out student athletes. Olympic speed skater and Gay Games Ambassador Blake Skjellerup attributes his own public coming out to his encounter with the exhibition at the 2010 Pride House in Vancouver, taking the courage of these young people as a model to follow.

Jeff Sheng presents the project: ‘In 2003, I began “Fearless,” documenting high school and collegiate athletes who openly self-identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender and are “out” to their predominantly straight teammates and coaches.  Since then, I’ve photographed over 150 athletes across the United States and Canada for this series. In 2006, I began exhibiting the project at various high schools and colleges as part of what I named the “Fearless Campus Tour”. So far, the project has been seen at over fifty college and high school campuses around the United States, as well as ESPN headquarters, the 2009 International LGBT Human Rights conference at GLISA World Outgames in Copenhagen, the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and at Nike World Headquarters. I’m very happy to now bring it in an electronic format to Pride House during the Olympics.’

Les Johnson, co-chair of the Federation of Gay Games’ External Affairs committee, spoke of his own encounter with Jeff Sheng at the recent Nike LGBT Sport Summit: ‘Jeff is both talented and motivated in using his art as a tool for social change. In parallel with “Fearless Campus Tour”, he undertook a new project to portray closeted US military personnel under the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. With regard to athletes, we know the difficulties of young people, and in particular young athletes, in coming out. Those shown in the exhibition are truly “fearless”. I’m very pleased that despite time and budget constraints, Jeff responded to my request to participate in Pride House by offering an electronic version of the exhibition, which we hope will inspire others to come out.’

Sheng added: ‘Beyond the pleasure of being part of the experience of the Olympics, this exhibition coincides with the relaunch of my website in view of my new project to turn “Fearless” into a book, like those I produced for my “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” series.’

More about Pride House 2012 at http://pridehouse2012.org and http://www.facebook.com/pridehouse2012

Learn more about “Fearless” at http://www.fearlessproject.org

"Sports play strong role in gay rights"

From an article with a great headline that lets the reader down, but is still worth reading:

In June, [Pat] Griffin joined about 30 other leading activists at Nike’s headquarters in Oregon for the company’s first-ever summit to combat bullying and anti-gay bias and discrimination in sports.

“Athletes are leaders of a school and are highly visible role models,” Griffin said. “It’s a no-brainer to take a stand against that kind of thing for most people, certainly not all.”

Last week U.S. women’s soccer player Megan Rapinoe publicly acknowledged that she is gay in advance of growing coverage of this month’s London Olympics. The information added Rapinoe to the notable list of active female athletes who have made similar disclosures.

Griffin noted that the relative lack of coverage for women’s sports and existing biases about female athletes remove much of the impact that the same disclosure would have from an active male athlete in a major U.S. team sport. Still, it’s one more step in the right direction.

“I have more hope than I ever have had that we will change the culture of sport to make it a great place for everyone,” Griffin said. “There are so many more people who think this is an important issue and are actively involved in an effort to challenge homophobia in sport. It used to be a few lonely voices in the wilderness, but not anymore. The rate of change is just accelerating.”

Read in full HERE.

Continental Cup International Youth Sports Festival opens in Cleveland

The 7th annual Continental Cup International Youth Sports Festival presented by Cleveland Clinic Sports Health has begun! July 5-8 at various venues. Don't miss the FREE Opening Ceremonies at Cleveland Browns Stadium this evening starting at 6:30pm. All details at www.continental-cup.com

Youth in Sport video on homophobia in sport

We posted an announcement of this session held in conjunction with EuroGames 2012 in Budapest. Here' a product from the young people involved:

ENGSO Youth Study Session Campaign - "The Runner" - Challenge Homophobia In Sport

Young Europeans who participated in the study session Youth Sport speaks out on TabooPhobia - Developing a youth campaign to challenge homophobia.

Check us out at www.facebook.com/equalityinsports

Boston's Northeastern University athletics say "You Can Play"

Northeastern University student-athletes and administrators join together in support of the You Can Play project, in the fight for respect in sports. Watch their You Can Play video below.

Wrestler Akil Patterson and the Patterson Project

Dan Woog has written a great profile of wrestler Akil Patterson, a member of the Equality Coaching Alliance, and his efforts to bring his personal experience as an example to youth, and in particular to young black men:


When University of Nebraska assistant football coach Ron Brown made anti-gay comments recently - among other things, he threatened the Omaha city council with eternal damnation if it passed a bill prohibiting businesses from firing workers because they're gay - many people were outraged.

Akil Patterson was too. But he understood better than many others where Brown was coming from. Patterson is a former Division I football player. Like Brown, he's African American.

But Patterson's life path has been very different. A gay man, Patterson is dedicating his life to making sure that young athletes do not get bullied or harassed for any reason. Particularly for being gay.

[...]

That openness has enabled him to reach out to others, through something he calls The Patterson Project [HERE].

"It's a mission of love," he says. Through it - by blogging, speaking and serving as a role model - Patterson educates whoever will listen, from elementary school youth through college students, about the importance of being true to yourself.

"The Patterson Project offers a different spin on the life of LGBT athletes, because it doesn't just focus on sexuality," he says. He emphasizes the mental, physical, social and psychological aspects of living life with integrity. He learned many of those skills while working in youth detention centers and courts. With his imposing size (he's 6-foot-3-inches) and athletic accomplishments (he's still a highly ranked Greco-Roman grappler), Patterson has vowed to counter the destructive influences of people like Ron Brown.

As a big, strong athlete, he knows he does not fit the stereotype of a gay man. He could easily "pass" as a straight jock - he did for years, all through college. But Patterson says that would not serve anyone well. Not him, and not young athletes who need role models.

Keep reading HERE.

Nike LGBT Sports Summit concludes with call for action for young athletes

Groundbreaking Nike LGBT Sports Summit Takes on Bullying, Homophobia and Transphobia in Sports
Comprehensive Action Plan Aims to Redefine ‘Athletic Champion’

(Beaverton, OR, June 18, 2012)—Many of the nation’s top lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer sports leaders joined Nike representatives at Nike World Headquarters for the first-ever Nike LGBT Sports Summit to combat bullying and anti-LGBTQ bias and discrimination in sports.

Advocates and organizations pooled their expertise and strengths over the last four days—June 14 to June 17—to develop a unified plan to end harassment and discrimination against LGBTQ athletes and coaches in kindergarten through high school, college, recreational sports, and professional sports.

In the next year, this newly formed LGBTQ sports coalition will work to achieve the following goals:

• Each of the major American professional sports leagues will be engaged to work with our member organizations toward inclusion in their league.
• The visibility of out collegiate athletes, coaches, and allies will be increased through a multi-pronged approach.
• The national youth and adult recreational leagues will receive a LGBTQ inclusive model policy, and at least five leagues　will have adopted such a policy.
• Two million young people will have heard a new, inclusive definition of "athletic champion," and their physical education teachers and coaches will have received inclusive training resources.

Outsports co-founder Cyd Zeigler began developing the summit last year after identifying a failure by LGBTQ sports advocates to work together toward a common goal. Zeigler then joined forces with National Center for Lesbian Rights Sports Project Director Helen Carroll and Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network’s Changing the Game Sports Director Pat Griffin. Zeigler approached Nike about hosting the event, and they jumped at the chance.

"As athletes and coaches, we all understand the power of working as a team," said Zeigler. "This summit has given us the unique opportunity to identify our common goals and move forward as a united movement. Working together, we will dismantle bullying and anti-LGBTQ bias and discrimination in sports in the next four years."

Said Carroll: "I am excited to see transgender people, people of color, men, women and allies in sports working together to create a unified movement that captures the power of our different experiences and voices. The strength from this collaboration and these specific plans will make the sports world safer and more inclusive for all."

Organizations involved in the summit included: American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance; Athlete Ally; Br{ache the Silence; Campus Pride; ESPN; Fearless campaign; Federation of Gay Games; Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD); Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN); I Am Enough; It Gets Better project; National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR); National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); Nike; Our Group; Outsports; StandUp Foundation; and You Can Play project.

"This summit happened at the right time," said Griffin. "We are riding the crest of a wave of attitude change about LGBTQ people in sports. We hope that the action plans that were identified at the summit will speed up this change."

Plans for future summits include an open invitation to other organizations and individuals to join these and future action plans to eliminate bullying and LGBTQ bias and discrimination in sports.

The event concluded with summit participants joining the Nike contingency in the Portland Pride Parade.

ESPN names Billie Jean King as one of the top 40 women athletes of the 40 years since Title IX

From ESPN's profile of Gay Games Ambassador Billie Jean King, number 11 in the top 40 women athletes of the last forty years, the period during which Title IX has been in effect, ensuring equality in access to sport for young American athletes:

It was a disparity King wouldn't forget. In 1970, she was one of nine players who broke from the tennis establishment. Accepting symbolic $1 contracts from promoter Gladys Heldman, they boycotted a tournament in which the female winner was set to receive one-eighth the prize money of the male winner. Their rebellion led to the development of the Virginia Slims Tour and, later, the Women's Tennis Association. In 1971, King was the first female athlete to earn $100,000 in a year, justifying the Virginia Slims slogan, "You've come a long way, baby!"

"The '70s were the perfect time for Billie Jean's leadership," says Pam Shriver, a 21-time Grand Slam doubles champ and now an ESPN analyst. "She was a great on-court champion, and the opportunity to dovetail with the feminist movement was perfect. She had the ideal personality; she embraced the challenge of gaining equality for women. Eventually, someone could have done it, but no one else in her era was capable of it."

In 1974, King founded the Women's Sports Foundation to better the lives of women through sports. In 1990, Life magazine named her one of the 100 most important Americans of the 20th century. And she has continued her fight into the 21st century, still very much a visible presence at age 68.

"Billie Jean has been so influential in helping women earn more in terms of respect, prize money and other opportunities," Shriver says. "Think of Maria Sharapova or Li Na in China. Commercial opportunities are huge for women tennis players, but women in all sports can tip a cap to Billie Jean."

Women out of sports, too.

Read in full HERE.

Billie Jean King says a change in attitude can improve US tennis,

Billy Jean King is honored along with the eight other women
who formed the Women's Professional Tour in 1973
during a ceremony at the Family Circle Cup tennis tournament
in Charleston, S.C., last month.
(Mic Smith / Associated Press / April 7, 2012)

An extract from an article in the Los Angeles Times on Gay Games Ambassador Billie Jean King's outlook on tennis in the US, which for her can be improved by imitating team sports for youth:

She's about as corporate as Bubba Watson. When she talks about her World Team Tennis, she isn't selling tickets, she's setting examples and embracing concepts.

"Let's say you talk to kids and they are playing lacrosse and tennis," she says. "They talk about lacrosse, and they talk about team. Tennis? They talk about their lesson. If they have to choose one or the other, they'll choose the team. They get a uniform. They get to be part of something with other kids. Tennis needs to stress teams. Get rid of the word 'lesson.' Call the teachers coaches, not tennis pros."

She was addressing the current sorry state of United States professional tennis.

Read in full HERE.

Cyd Ziegler on Stanford University Campus Pride award

From Stanford alumnus Cyd Ziegler in Outsports:


It was an honor to speak at the Celebration of LGBT Athletes at Stanford University last week, in recognition of the school’s placement on Campus Pride’s Out To Play Project list. Stanford Senior Associate Athletic Director Earl Koberlein was on hand to accept the Campus Pride award.

[...]

I also talked about the work Stanford had left to do in this area. Stanford isn’t about being “one of” the best, it’s about being the best. Athletes told me that while the campus is gay-friendly, it’s virtually a “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” situation with the athletic department. While there isn’t outward homophobia, there isn’t an outward embracing of LGBT athletes either. The athletic department has long shied away from having LGBT sensitivity training for athletes and coaches. This event last week, taking place at Chuck Taylor Grove in the heart of the athletic department, was a beacon of hope for many of the athletes and alumni present.

[...]

While all of the speakers gave really fantastic (and thankfully short) talks, one particular speaker seemed to grab the hearts of the audience. Derek Liecty was a member of the Stanford soccer team. He graduated in 1954. It seemed he was on the verge of tears as he talked about what this event meant to him, almost 60 years after his graduation. The longtime Gay Games supporter used the opportunity to welcome all of the athletes to the Gay Games in Cleveland in 2014.

Read in full HERE.

En français / University of Ottawa athletes say "You Can Play" (version bilingue)

The University of Ottawa's athletes stand for all athletes regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity in this video for You Can Play. The video is the first You Can Play video to feature French language and the first by a Canadian university.

Watch their You Can Play video below.

John Amaechi interview on diversity and inclusion, coming out, the "locker room" myth, and issues for youth

While in Toronto to speak on diversity at he 2015 Pan American Games, John Amaechi did a concise interview wiht a great impact on the John Tory radio show.

FGG Honorary Life Member speaks at Stanford University

Campus Pride is the only national nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization in the USA for student leaders and campus groups working to create a safer college environment for LGBT students.

In conjunction with Compete Media, Campus Pride recently announced awards for ten US universities recognizing their athletic departments for being most supportive of gay and lesbian athletes. Among those is Stanford University.

Derek Liecty, an Honorary Life Member of the Federation of Gay Games and a winner of the Tom Waddell Award, is a graduated of Stanford (class of 1954), where he was the (of course closeted) captain of the varsity soccer team.

Derek Liecty (photo Joanne Sanders)

He was invited to the award ceremony at Stanford on 7 June 2012, where he spoke to the fifty out Stanford athletes who were in attendance. He described how emotional it was to have lived so long and finally see his university embracing gay and lesbian athletes. "This is something that would never have happened sixty years ago," Liecty said.

HERE.

Profile of Anna Aagenes in Philadelphia mag

Young athlete advocate Anna Aagenes, new executive director for Out Group, is profiled in the current issue of Philadelphia magazine:

Anna Aagenes sat down to talk about her experience being out in sports with G Philly for the new summer issue of the magazine. Here’s what she had to say about changing attitudes, coming out and life lessons learned on the field.


How did you first get involved with sports?

All of my life I have been an athlete – I’ve played field hockey, basketball, soccer, snowboarding, track and everything in between. I began running cross-country and track my junior year of high school. I fell in love with the sport.

What was it like coming out to your teammates?

I date both men and women, but it took me a long time to be comfortable enough to tell people I identify as bisexual. The process of coming out began during middle school when I started to question my sexual orientation. I’m now comfortable identifying, but coming out when I meet new groups of people or join a new team is still an ongoing process. When I started dating my first college girlfriend, I confided in a few teammates and had come out to the rest of my friends and the team only a few months into my freshman year. Of course I was anxious about the decision to come out, but the more people who found out and became my allies, the more confidence I gained.

You’ve been a voice for other LGBT athletes over the years, speaking at colleges and universities. What’s the reaction usually like?

Being a visible LGBT athlete brings up the assumption that you can’t be gay, bisexual, lesbian or transgender and an athlete, at least not openly so. I don’t think I necessarily fit the stereotypes for what an LGBT athlete might look like, so people are often surprised. The whole purpose of the advocacy work is to show that these categories aren’t mutually exclusive – not all athletes should be presumed straight, and not all LGBT people should be assumed to be “non-athletes.”

Keep reading HERE.

Greg Louganis on how bullying made him stronger, once he no longer let himself be a victim

Greg Louganis shares his journey to triumph in the Huffington Post:

I almost want to thank all the bullies in my life: the ones who called me "n*gger," "retard," "sissy boy," and "f*ggot"; those who threatened to throw punches at me and took my lunch money at the bus stop; those who actually threw punches at me and rubbed my face in asphalt; my dad, who whipped me with his belt until I did a dive I was too scared to do in my regular practice; the coaches who belittled me and intimidated me into pushing myself beyond what I thought I was capable of; and the man who raped me at knifepoint, whom I then stayed with for another six years. They all helped shape me, and without those experiences I could not be the person I am today. I had to learn to "forgive" myself and then find it in my heart to "forgive" them and even bless the light in them, no matter how dim that light was. But thanking them would be going too far, and it would be inaccurate. In the end it was my inner sense of self, my willpower and determination, that got me through and helped me take those experiences and literally turn them into gold.

In 1988, at the Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea, on my ninth dive in the men's 3-meter springboard preliminaries, I struck my head on the board. Going into that Olympic event I was the favorite to win a gold medal, but in that split-second I became the "underdog." I was scared, having been diagnosed as HIV-positive six months prior, and aware that I was in a country that would have deported me if my status were known. It was what followed that made me realize the strength and power I had within me. I was taken to a room off the pool deck, where my head was sewn up. It wasn't bad, just four or five stitches. When my coach, Ron O'Brien, asked if I wanted to continue, I responded, without thinking, "We worked too long and hard to get there, and I don't want to give up without a fight."

Keep reading HERE.

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Outsports exclusive interview with former NFL player Wade Davis, now an advocate for LGBT youth

Cyd Zeigler of Outsports has written a fantastic profile of a fascinating man, Wade Davis, his career in pro football, his discovery of LGBT sport, and his work with youth at the Hetrick-Martin Institute. And watch the SBNation video interview with Davis:


It’s still dark in his small Upper East Side apartment when the alarm clock introduces Wade Davis to this Thursday morning in late May. His partner, Steven, sleeps while Davis slips into his regalia: A checkered shirt, slick pants and a bright tie. He kisses Steven and says good-bye. He’ll be back in a few days.

He leaves the apartment as the sun rises, headed for Penn Station. It’s a welcome couple days out of the office for Davis, a staff member at the Hetrick-Martin Institute, which serves lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or questioning youth. Ten years ago, Davis had never heard the term “LGBTQ.” While a closeted cornerback struggling to make a roster in the National Football League, he was as far from the gay community as Ryan Leaf is from the Hall of Fame. Now, as assistant director of job readiness at HMI, Davis prepares these youth for the workplace. He wrangles corporations to run workshops and counsels his students on career opportunities. It’s the closest role to “coach” he could find at the Institute.

Keep reading HERE.