En français / La FSGL et Foot for Love condament la violence lesbophobe en Afrique du sud

FSGL member FSGL supports this message from Foot for Love, a project of Les Dégommeuses to bring a lesbian football team from South Africa to Paris for a football tournament last weekend. The team is still in Paris, where they will be marching in this weekend's Gay Pride, after a week of encounters with Parisians on the subject of corrective rape and violence against LGBT people in South Africa:

Le 23 juin, à une semaine exacte de la Marche des Fiertés 2012, le township de Nyanga (Cape Town
– Afrique du Sud) a été le théâtre d’un nouveau crime de haine. Une jeune lesbienne de 22 ans,
prénommée Phumeza, a été abattue par balle dans sonpropre domicile à cause de son orientation
sexuelle.

Cet assassinat est le troisième qui frappe la communauté LGBT sud-africaine en moins d’un mois. Le
9 juin dernier, deux inconnus ont assailli et égorgé le défenseur des droits LGBT  Thapelo Makhutle.
Quatre jours plus tôt, un autre homosexuel, Neil Daniels, a également été victime d’une agression
mortelle, après avoir subi des mutilations génitales laissant peu d’espace au doute quant à la nature
du crime.

Des militantes luttant pour les droits des LGBT en Afrique du Sud, dont la photographe Zanele Muholi
et plusieurs femmes qui ont survécu à des viols correctifs, sont présentes actuellement à Paris
dans le cadre de l’opération « Foot For Love ». Elles défileront dans le carré de tête de la Marche des
Fiertés, le samedi 30 juin.

Contacts presse : Cécile Chartrain 06 07 96 18 00
Veronica Noseda 06 793 793 73
lesdegommeuses@gmail.com

University of North Carolina discusses progress in the fight against homophobia in sport

From Inside Higher Ed,  a report on a panel held last weekend in Chapel Hill (h/t Lindsay England):

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- College athletics is gradually becoming more inclusive for gay students. But if athletes are ever able to participate openly without fear of discrimination, it will require coaches and administrators to foster a holistically welcoming environment, from initial meetings with recruits to the halftime pep talks in the locker room.

"If" is the operative word.

On Saturday, here at the annual meeting of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's College Sport Research Institute, a panel of gay athletes, administrators and researchers agreed that this progress is imminent. But they differed on how quickly it can happen.

Keep reading HERE.

ESPN's Glass Wall report on women coaches

ESPN uses the anniversary of Title IX to look at the disturbing lack of women in US college coaching (h/t Outsports):

In the end, though, those hurdles are less daunting than two others, more entrenched and insidious, that women have faced over the past four decades: homophobia and blatant sexism. "When you look at the decline in the percentage of women coaches," says Helen Carroll, of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, "sexual orientation has a lot to do with it."

Homophobia has haunted women's sports throughout the Title IX era, forcing coaches to stay closeted for fear of losing their jobs, or at least recruits. In some quarters, coaches have been known to signal quietly to prospects or their parents that a competing program is run by a lesbian, in an effort to turn the recruit away.
To this day, there is only one out lesbian coach in Division I basketball, Portland State's Sherri Murrell. In a 2009 paper on negative recruiting, Carroll and Pat Griffin, of the Women's Sports Foundation, wrote, "The psychological toll of silence, denial and secrecy results in a climate of fear and hostility that many lesbian, gay and bisexual coaches endure in order to pursue their profession. Others simply choose to leave the profession."

It's not only established coaches who check out. Former players often decide the hassle isn't worth it. Two former collegiate stars, Sue Wicks of Rutgers and Abby Conklin of Tennessee, told ESPN The Magazine in 2011 that homophobia still casts a wide shadow over the sidelines. In the same story, former WNBA star Kate Starbird stressed that she wouldn't consider coaching because she refused to be closeted. "I didn't want to live my life that way," she said.

Read in full HERE.

The Advocate on out lesbian coaches

Sherri Murrel

From the Advocate (h/t Out Athletics):

Since the advent of Title IX, the number of female college athletes has vastly increased, but according to ESPN, the percentage of female coaches has been cut in half since the law passed in 1972.

While several factors play into the diminished number of women coaches on college campuses, homophobia and sexism are chief among them. As a tactic to lure the prospective student athletes away from a rival team, some recruiters signal to the athlete's parents that the coach on the other team is a lesbian.

Portland State's Sherri Murrell is currently the only openly lesbian coach in Division I NCAA basketball. There are several other qualified potential coaches such as former WNBA stars like Sue Wicks and Kate Starbird, who have said they won't go into coaching, in part to avoid dealing with the homophobia.

(Another) lesbian coach fired for her sexual orientation, (another) institution lies about it

From Pat Griffin's blog:

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Why We Need State and Federal Non-Discrimination Laws That Include Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

Sorry for the clunky title, but I couldn’t figure out another way to get the point across in a snappy clever way in fewer words. Nikki Williams has been teaching geography for three years and was an assistant volleyball at a public charter school just outside Dallas, TX for three years. She was about to realize a lifelong dream of coaching basketball this season too. From all accounts she is a popular and successful teacher/coach supported by students and parents. She has received positive performance evaluations and a letter of commendation from the superintendent. It all sounds good so far.

[Read local coverage of the story HERE]

But just before basketball season started in October, Nikki was fired. Nikki filed a grievance with the school claiming that she was fired because she is a lesbian. Apparently school officials became aware of this when Nikki’s partner began attending volleyball games this fall.

Students and parents have rallied to support Nikki pressing school administrators to explain their decision. The parents and students are unconcerned about Nikki’s sexual orientation. They are upset that a popular and successful young teacher/coach is suddenly gone. A petition for her reinstatement has been signed by over 100 parents and 50 students. The total school enrollment is 300.

Keep reading HERE.

Ugandan rugby player a refugee in Germany... learn why

From a delightful publication called Red Pepper. It's the newspaper of the year, so it must be good. Except it's from Uganda, so it must be bad. It's pretty bad.

Former She Cranes rugby player Lillian Ikulumet has been granted asylum in Germany claiming she had been raped, beaten and discriminated against for shafting fellow babes.

She was the captain of the all conquering Kyadondo Rugby Club based Thunderbirds women’s team. “Some guys broke into my house and started raping and beating me,” Lillian was quoted by DW news.

The rugger who carries a scar on the face with short, spiky dreadlocks explained that it was inevitable to quit Uganda. “The men told me: Until you stop being a lesbian, we will continue to do this to you.” The former Daily Monitor sports reporter frequented Europe at the height of her career until she stopped writing for unknown reasons.

She had a brief stint later with The Observer, keeping a very low profile with less visits at Kyadondo Rugby Club. Lillian only shares her secret with close friends in Germany.

At the end of the year she wants to leave the gay hostel where she is hiding and move into an apartment of her own. She said she wants to find a job and apply for a visa for her girlfriend, who she hopes to marry.

We encourage you to read the comments... enlightening and disturbing.

En français / Levez-vous ! Parlez-en ! Une campagne contre l'homophobie dans le sport

L'Association canadienne pour l'avancement des femmes, du sport et de l'activité physique (ACAFS) a lancé une initiative intitulée "Levez-vous ! Parlez-en !" pour lutter contre l'homophobie dans le sport :

Levez-vous! Parlez-en! Ralliez la campagne pour un sport inclusif! consiste en une initiative nationale conjointe menée par des organismes nationaux de sport qui vise à encourager les athlètes, les entraîneurs et entraîneures, les officiels et officielles, les administrateurs et administratrices de sport, les parents, les amateurs et les autres membres de la communauté sportive canadienne à respecter tous les individus qui pratiquent un sport, sans tenir compte de leur orientation sexuelle réelle ou perçue. Elle s’inspire de la campagne Athlete Ally de Hudson Taylor qui bat son plein aux États-Unis avec l’espoir que la communauté sportive canadienne se lèvera et se prononcera elle aussi contre l’homophobie dans le sport.

Au Canada, trop souvent, le sport n’est pas accueillant pour les personnes étant ou perçues comme étant lesbiennes, gaies, bisexuelles, transgenres ou « queer » (LGBTQ). Il existe de nombreux athlètes, entraîneurs et entraîneures et autres leaders sportifs LGBTQ qui sont hésitants à vivre leur vie au grand jour par crainte de rejet ou d’autres formes de discrimination, subtile ou évidente, de la part de leur communauté sportive.

Retrouver plein de ressources sur leur site ICI.

The Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport has launched a great initiative, "Step Up! Speak Out!":

Step Up! Speak Out! Ally Campaign for Inclusive Sport is a partner initiative led by national sport organizations designed to encourage athletes, coaches, officials, sport administrators, parents, fans and other members of the Canadian sport community to respect all individuals involved in sport, regardless of perceived or actual sexual orientation. It is inspired by Hudson Taylor's Athlete Ally™ campaign in the United States in the hopes that the Canadian sport community will also Step Up! and Speak Out! against homophobia in sport.

All too often, sport in Canada is not welcoming to those who are, or are perceived to be, lesbian, gay, bisexual, two-spirited or questioning (LGBTQ). There are many LGBTQ athletes, coaches and other sport leaders who remain hesitant to live their lives out in the open for fear of rejection and other forms of subtle and not so subtle discrimination from the sport community.

You'll find all sorts of resources on their website HERE.

Federation of Gay Games, IGLFA, and AllOut respond to FIFA on Nigerian lesbophobia

As we reported earlier, following the letter of protest of the FGG, IGLFA and AllOut, and AllOut's petition regarding reports of lesbophobia on the Nigerian women's football team, FIFA replied asking us to provide "evidence" of this behavior. We have chosen to take FIFA's request at face value, and have replied to FIFA secretary general Jérôme Valcke as follows: We have received your letter in which you asked us to provide you with evidence about the homophobic statements made by Ms. Uche. Ms. Uche has made such statements several times at Rédigerpress conferences and has been quoted by journalists from several renowned newspapers and press agencies. As you know, the article that prompted the intervention of Ms. Tatjana Haenni was the story appearing in the New York Times (http://gaymes.info/uchenyt). During a phone interview with the journalist, Coach Uche talked about homosexuality as a “dirty issue,” and “spiritually, morally very wrong.” The journalist also relates Ms. Uche's use of religion to “correct” players' homosexuality, combining homophobia with religious discrimination. “The issue of lesbianism is common“ she said to the journalist, “I came to realize it is not a physical battle; we need divine intervention in order to control and curb it. I tell you it worked for us. This is a thing of the past. It is never mentioned.” Should you have any difficulties reaching the reporter of this story, we would be happy to put you directly in contact with her. The New York Times' story refers to statements made by Ms. Uche in a seminar, as reported by Nigerian newpaper the Sun News last March (http://gaymes.info/uchesunnews), five months before Ms. Uche was interviewed by the New York Times. At this event, the 'First Seminar on Women's Football in Nigeria: Challenges and Prospects', she said “It's a worrisome experience that some of our players indulge in lesbianism. Some of them go as far as renting rooms in hotels around the team's campsite where they go to satisfy their orgy:” At the very least, Ms. Uche, with the support of her equally homophobic national federation, seems proud to have made homophobia and hate speech part of the ordinary operation of her team. Because of this, we urge you to include the Nigerian Football Federation in your investigation: as a former technical assistant for the country’s soccer federation, James Peters, was also quoted in the Sun News article, saying that he had removed some players from Nigeria’s women’s team “not because they were not good players, but because they were lesbians.” We are repeating our willingness to continue our collaboration with the FIFA in investigating this case, and would like to know when a decision on holding a disciplinary procedure would take place.

Is FIFA really investigating homophobia?

We have more doubts than our friends at AllOut, cosigners of the letter to FIFA to which Jérôme Valcke has now (more than two months later) replied, with regard to what this really means for any investigation of the lesbophobic behavior of Nigerian women's football club Eucharia Uche.

We quote:

"Thus, in the event the FIFA Disciplinary Committee considers having enough evidence to be in a position to open proceedings, it will not fail to do so with the assistance of the FIFA administration."

The request for evidence is odd, as clearly FIFA was aware of the accusations, since they responded (insufficiently) in the form of a social call by Tatjana Haenni, FIFA's head of women's competition.

We are keen to see what action is taken, and will keep our readers informed as soon as we have news.

Read all our blog posts about FIFA HERE.

Pat Griffin on firing of University of Minnesota golf coach: he said, they all said

From Pat Griffin's blog:


More On UMinnesota Discrimination Lawsuit

Former women’s golf coach Katie Brenny and members of the women’s team have widely different accounts of what transpired in their conversations with former director of golf, John Harris and his son-in-law, Ernie Rose about Katie Brenny and her sexual orientation. The university, so far, is defending Harris and Rose in this lawsuit.

The accounts provided by the athletes back up Brenny’s claim that Harris demoted Brenny to secretarial duties when he learned that he had hired a lesbian and promoted Rose in her place. The athletes also say that, before Brenny filed her lawsuit, they told athletic department administrators that they believed Brenny was being discriminated against based on a conversation they had with Ernie Rose in which they say he told them as much. These administrators now do not recall this meeting with the athletes. Assuming the meeting took place, nothing was done to investigate the athletes’ claims.

This is an ugly situation. Rose is accusing the athletes of lying. He claims it was the athletes who raised concerns about changing clothes with a lesbian coach present. Harris claims that Brenny was “insolent,” and defiant. He claims she is an opportunist who filed the lawsuit merely for the opportunity to make a financial gain. He claims she was not a good coach. Harris has quit his job. Both Harris and Rose stand accused of blatant discrimination against a lesbian coach. The university is accused of not acting on concerns expressed by Brenny and two senior athletes.

The University of Minnesota has a lot at stake here. It will be interesting to see if the university continues to back Harris and Rose and the athletic administrators who are being accused of failure to respond to Brenny’s and the athletes’ complaints about Harris and Rose. If they had investigated the situation and addressed their concerns in a timely way and consistent with their own non-discrimination policy, maybe this mess could have been avoided.

The athletes’ account of what happened supports Brenny’s claims. Their account also indicates some serious administrative indifference to allegations of discrimination based on sexual orientation. Are we to believe that both Brenny and the athletes are lying? You have to ask why two young women golfers would lie about this? By stepping forward, they have absolutely nothing to gain and are inviting a lot of serious blowback from Harris, Rose and the University. At a time when they should be enjoying their recent graduation and looking forward to what’s next in their lives, they are embroiled in an ugly discrimination lawsuit in which their honesty and integrity, along with Katie Brenny’s, are being challenged.

It is truly a shame that the athletic department did not address this situation before it came to this. It is difficult to see how anyone truly wins, no matter what the outcome is.

Keph Senett on lesbophobia, sexism and top-level football

Thanks to Keph Senett for allowing us to publish this essay:

With the Women's World Cup underway, now is a good time to remind FIFA what it should be doing.

Sports fans are an indulgent lot with our obsessive statistics, our gang colors, and our willingness to entertain a well-told fable, like the one about Paul the octopus who could flawlessly forecast game outcomes. With the recent kick-off of the Women’s World Cup, I have another, less fantastic story to tell, and it’s one that just might help you with your match predictions.

The equation of women’s athletics with latent lesbianism is nothing new, and soccer is ground zero for salacious locker room tales. There’s an old joke that asks how to avoid sleeping with everyone on your soccer team. The answer: Join a men’s league.

The truth is that there are lesbian soccer players at every level of the sport. For those of us playing in our queer city leagues it’s a non-issue, and to witness the numerous athletes in various sports who have come out as gay in the past several months it would seem to be a non-issue at almost any level. But this is professional soccer.

ACT NOW: Petition against religious-based homophobia at the FIFA Women's World Cup

For so many young women around the world, playing at the World Cup is a dream come true.
Can you imagine being denied that dream simply because of who you love?

We are asking you to support a petition against religious-based homophobia in the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
[Sign HERE]

This Sunday 26 June, Nigeria will take the field against France in Sinsheim, Germany for the opening game of the World Cup. The players on this team, and the players excluded from this team, are victims of religious-based homophobia, a witch hunt reported this week in the New York Times, aimed as kicking women off the national team, “not because they were bad players, but because they were lesbians.”

This petition, supported by the Federation of Gay Games and the International Gay and Lesbian Football Association, among others, urges FIFA, football's international governing body, to publicly condemn this kind of systematic discrimination and to sanction the Nigerian Football Federation in order to bring an end to this discrimination and abuse.

Tell FIFA that homophobia has no place in the “beautiful game”.

Emy Ritt of Paris, co-president of the Federation of Gay Games stated that the FGG would be wholeheartedly supporting the petition, and asking its member organizations and friends of the Gay Games to sign: The truest values of sport are those of sport for all. This means sport in which everyone is welcome and everyone is safe, whatever their sexual identity and sexual orientation. The actions of the Nigerian team are contrary to our values of participation, inclusion and personal best for all, which should be the values of FIFA and sportspeople everywhere.

Klaus Heusslein of Milan, co-president of IGLFA said: Nelson Mandela said: 'Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. Sport can awaken hope where was previously only despair.'

Sport can be, must be, a power for good. We must make sure that every athlete has the right to be part of sport’s mission for a better world, regardless of sex, race, religion or sexual orientation. The right to participate in sport is a human right, a right for everybody, for all Nigerians, for all women, for all whomever they love.

We therefore fully support this petition and will ask our members to sign in accordance with our shared convictions.
[Sign HERE]

Even before the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup kicks off this Sunday in Germany, FIFA’s rules have already been broken. These are the rules against discrimination and the interference of religion in sport. In the battle against bigotry and discrimination, FIFA, under fire for its own moral lapses, can demonstrate a real commitment to the values of sport, a sport in which the “Laws of the Game” apply, rather than the Bible or the Koran.

Since this damning report, FIFA has remained silent. And yet given FIFA’s history, we would expect the federation to promptly condemn such discrimination. In 1961 FIFA expelled South Africa from the World Cup because of its racist apartheid system, readmitting them only in 1991 after the release of Nelson Mandela. In 2001 FIFA passed the Buenos Aires Resolution against racism, and followed it up with an ambitious “Say No to Racism” campaign, in response to the problem of racist taunts hurled at players around the world.

And just last year the FIFA president responded to international pressure and apologized for a remark offensive to LGBT people, saying, "it was not my intention and never will be my intention to go into any discrimination ... this is exactly what we are against." In the light of FIFA’s choice of countries practicing official and unofficial homophobia as future hosts of the World Cup, it is important for this governing body to show that it is committed to real change: here is a perfect opportunity, with a clear case of lesbophobic discrimination.

While it is rare to see such an obvious case of pride in homophobic discrimination, such discrimination, and beyond discrimination, rape, assault, and murder, remain the fate of lesbian, gay, bi, and trans people throughout the world, and in particular in Africa. As is the case in Nigeria, much of this homophobic hatred is justified and encouraged by Evangelical “Christian” movements.

Sport, which should be a safe place free of religious-based discrimination, too often offers no haven for LGBT athletes. Consider one of the most high-profile recent cases, that of Eudy Simelane, a beloved South African football player who was raped, beaten, stabbed and left to die near her own home last year.

That’s why in Nigeria, where lesbians are sometimes ostracized and physically beaten, the Nigerian national football coach is playing a dangerous game with her homophobic witch hunt. But there’s something you can do about it. Please sign our petition, and make sure those around you know about it too!


[Sign HERE]

IGLFA president Joanie Evans quoted in New York Times article on lesbophobia in Nigerian soccer

Joanie Evans, co-president of FGG member IGLFA, is featured in this article from the New York Times:

Joanie Evans of England, who is a co-president of the International Gay and Lesbian Football Association, said her group was “appalled” by the Nigeria situation.

“Women in sport are seen as a poor relation as it is,” Evans said. “To discriminate against women again because of their sexuality is really damaging.”

Evans criticized FIFA for not being as forceful in fighting against homophobia as it has been trying to counter racism in soccer. FIFA said that gender discrimination was strictly prohibited and that violations could result in suspensions or expulsions, but that it could not comment on the Nigeria case because it had received no official information or complaints.

New York Times: In African Women’s Soccer, Homophobia Remains an Obstacle

A disheartening article from the New York Times:

Shortly before she was hired in 2009 as the first female coach of Nigeria’s powerful women’s national soccer team, Eucharia Uche said at a seminar that she was troubled by the presence of lesbians on the squad, calling it a “worrisome experience.”

Over the past two years, as Nigeria progressed toward the Women’s World Cup, which begins Sunday in Germany, Uche said that she has used religion in an attempt to rid her team of homosexual behavior, which she termed a “dirty issue,” and “spiritually, morally very wrong.”

FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, states as part of its mission a desire to use the game in “overcoming social and cultural obstacles for women with the ultimate aim of improving women’s standing in society.” But the story of Nigeria’s Super Falcons illustrates the cultural obstacles that remain for many African women who play soccer decades after more assertive efforts at inclusivity occurred in places like the United States, Germany, Norway, Sweden and more recently in Brazil.

[...]

Uche said she had never witnessed her own players participating in homosexual activity. Instead, she said that she had relied on rumors, speculation and news media accounts to form her belief that lesbian behavior had been common in the Nigerian team.

Keep reading HERE.