Keph Senett looks at the problem of women's participation in LGBT sport events

Keph Senett has published a thought-provoking look at the struggles for women's inclusion in LGBT sport, with the example of football at the Vancouver Outgames. The situation was extreme there, but the challenges are faced by all sports events. And the response has to be at a minimum, recognition that there's a problem.

THE GOALKEEPER rocked on his heels, took two half-skips forward and drove 74 minutes of sweaty frustration into the sweet spot. The ball sailed high over the center line. On the pitch below, a cluster of players jockeyed, looking for the angle that might change the game.

I was at this past summer’s International Gay and Lesbian Football Association (IGLFA) North America Cup, a continental soccer tournament that was part of the Gay and Lesbian International Sport Association (GLISA) Outgames. Matches were being decided at Vancouver’s Thunderbird Park, an athletic complex near the University of British Columbia, and though it was only 11:00 a.m., the sidelines were littered with cast-off cleats and jerseys.

Players were hurting. The Cup is an amateur event — there are no tryouts to compete — yet there was an unsettling uniformity to the players. With a single exception, they were all male.

Just weeks before the Cup kick-off, organizers had cancelled the women’s division. Though the remaining competitions were technically open to players of all genders, the web site showed “Men’s Division I and II”.

“What’s the skinny on women’s participation this year?” I asked, as I joined a group of spectators at the goal-side fence.

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