2011 was a watershed year in the fight to end homophobia and transphobia in sports. We have finally reached a tipping point when anti-gay slurs, silence and discrimination are no longer the accepted norms in sports. Increasing numbers of LGBT athletes are coming out, and many more straight allies are speaking up to support them. Joining established athletics-focused groups like NCLR sports project and Outsports.com, LGBT advocacy groups like GLSEN, It Gets Better and GLAAD are widening their focus to include sports. It seems as though more new organizations are also coming forward to fight discrimination in sports every few weeks. Each organization is doing something pivotal in this fight. Many work with high school sports, college althetics or professional sports; Furthermore focus is put on legal advocacy, outreach, and media.

However, homophobia and transphobia are persistent problems in sports that have silenced gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender athletes and coaches for much of the last century. Thanks to pioneers like former NFL player Dave Kopay, tennis great Martina Navartilova, and transgender professional tennis player Renee Richards, the climate for LGBT athletes and coaches began to shift three decades ago, unfortunately only marginally.

The current changes are riveting and reflect a shift in the culture of sports. Once dominated by discrimination and silence, a new climate of support and openness for LGBT athletes is emerging. The increasing numbers of groups focused on making sports a positive environment for everyone who wants to play or coach are catalysts in the pace of this ever-changing problem. However, our effectiveness in ending homophobia in sports has been limited because we are not working together efficiently. Despite being led by athletes and coaches whose success is built on communication and teamwork, most of these advocacy groups are not talking to one another. We all share the same goal, but we have not been playing like a team.

On June 14 in Braverton, Oregon, that will change. Thirty leaders who are actively advocating for LGBT equality in sports will come together at Nike LGBT Sports Summit. The goal of this ground-breaking event is to create a team game plan for ending homophobia and transphobia in sport that takes advantage of the strengths in each organization. The aim is to increase our ability to collaborate on bringing about the change we all are committed to.

To maximize the outcome of our collaborative efforts, we envision this summit as the first of an annual event. Our intention is to include other organizations and individuals who share our goals as we extend our network over the coming year. The 2013 summit will be open to everyone who is dedicated to the end of homophobia and transphobia in sports.

For the better part of three days, summit participants will identify and commit to completing specific action plans toward ending anti-LGBT discrimmination in sports. They will also forge inter-group relationships to carry out these action plans. The organizations involved with this inaugural summit include the American Alliance for Health Physical Education Recreation and Dance, Athlete Ally, Br{ach the Silence, Campus Pride, ESPN, Fearless campaign, Federation of Gay Games, Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), It Gets Better campaign, National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), Nike, Our Group, Outsports, Standup Foundation, and You Can Play project.

Thanks to Nike's commitment to making sports a respectful and inclusive experience for LGBT athletes, we have an opportunity to make the next 12 months an even more amazing year of progress for LGBT athletes and coaches at all levels of sports. We're also blessed to have the support of online sports leader SB Nation and worldwide tech leader Microsoft. The dedication of these companies, along with the organizations involved, opens an opportunity like never before to lake equality in sports a reality for all.

We hope that pioneers of our movement will be proud to see the progress we are forging in the foundation of their courage and determination. Together, we will end homophobia and transphobia in sports. We hope you will join us in the coming year.

Compiled from release

From Cyd Zeigler, Jr., at 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.

The event was organized by some fantastic alumni, students and Stanford staff members including Kathy Levinson, Holly Fetter, Tina Syer and Inge Margrethe Hansen. While the athletic department did send Koberlein as a representative, they did not actively participate in the organizing of the event.

My remarks focused on two aspects of Stanford’s community. First was the change in culture on campus. When I was there from 1991-’95,several varsity athletes brutally defaced a “Gay Liberation” statue on campus. After I came out, fraternity brothers of mine (who were on the varsity wrestling team) refused to even shake my hand. Talking to several out gay students, they said those actions were unfathomable on campus now.

Read Cyd's full report and see more photos at the JockTalk blog...

Campus Pride’s ‘Out to Play Project” in partnership with Compete Magazine presents the top 10 “Best of the Best” athletic programs working to ensure LGBT inclusion on the field

Campus Pride, the nation’s leading educational organization for student leaders and campus groups working to create a safer college environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students, announced today the first resource of its new “Out to Play Project” (www.campuspride.org/outtoplay), which aims to begin the dialogue of LGBT safety and inclusion in college athletics and to provide the necessary research to broaden efforts to combat anti-LGBT conduct, bias and slurs in sports.

In partnership with Compete Magazine, Campus Pride’s “Out to Play List” is a compilation of the 10 “Best of the Best” LGBT-friendly athletics programs at colleges and universities across the country. The list was compiled from nominations received nationwide, with each reviewed for its LGBT-inclusion efforts, practices and policy implementation. The list is published in the magazine’s May 1 print issue and online at www.campuspride.org/outtoplay.

“For far too long, no one has known the score when it comes to LGBT-inclusion and friendliness in collegiate sports programs – that changes today,” said Shane Windmeyer, executive director of Campus Pride. “LGBT students today are more out and vocal than ever before and those who are also athletes deserve to know which schools and which athletics programs will respect them for who they are. All students deserve the assurance of safety and inclusion both in the classroom and on the field.”

The schools included in the Out to Play List include (alphabetically): Bates College, Bowdoin College, Bucknell University, Columbia University, Indiana University, Ithaca College, Kennesaw State University, New York University, Stanford University and Whitman College.

A full breakdown of the schools’ individual programs can be found in the Compete Magazine feature and online at www.campuspride.org/outtoplay.

Eric Carlyle, CEO, Compete Sports Media and Rebound Sports Media, said his company has been proud to partner with the Out to Play List’s release, noting that college sports is an important segment of the larger athletic community.

“With a mission of uniting the gay and straight communities through sports, we know that supporting a positive campus-wide attitude of diversity and inclusion is critical to achieving that mission,” Carlyle said, adding that inclusive collegiate sports programs have a “trickle-down effect” by influencing younger high school athletes, their friends and their families.

The Out to Play Project and its “best of the best” list are also being hailed by nationally-respected figures in the athletic world.

Esera Tuaolo is an openly gay, former NFL football player with the Green Bay Packers (1991–1992), Minnesota Vikings (1992–1996), Jacksonville Jaguars (1997), Atlanta Falcons (1998) and Carolina Panthers (1999). He said his time as a closeted professional athlete negatively affected his performance.

“I am extremely glad to see this effort from Campus Pride to highlight the top 10 athletic LGBT-friendly schools come to life and I strongly support it,” Tuaolo said. “I wish I had played football in an environment that supports gay players like myself, where people can freely be who they are without hiding anything, and teammates respecting that. The sky would have been the limit!”

The top 10 list is the first resource in Campus Pride’s ongoing Out to Play Project. This fall, the organization will release the most comprehensive national collegiate research report sharing the experiences of nearly 500 self-identified LGBT athletes and providing necessary resources for further progress on LGBT issues in college athletics.

More information about the Out to Play List and continuing efforts of the Out to Play Project can be found online at www.campuspride.org/outtoplay. Those interested in supporting the project and these unique national efforts can contribute at www.campuspride.org/donate.asp.

Another year. Another Creating Change. And, as always, the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force never seems to amaze.

I was honored to attend Creating Change in Baltimore for my second time ever last weekend. This year, I went with a new role and new title at a new organization. Working with and meeting some of the brilliantly talented and engaged college student leaders who attended Campus Pride's day-long Queer It Up Young Adult Leadership Institute was definitely the highlight of my experience. I'm pretty sure our executive director, Shane Windmeyer, our board member, Nikita Burks, and phenom volunteer Ted Lewis would say the same.

(Pictured right: Forty students from across the nation attended the Campus Pride day-long Queer It Up Young Adult Leadership Institute at Creating Change, Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012.)

Just about 40 students attended the day-long institute, engaging in conversations on what it meant to be a student leader on campus and a leader in their greater communities. They delved into the types of characteristics that make up for a good leader, among them fairness, honesty, trustworthiness, communicativeness, understanding, approachableness and passion.

"A leader should feel empowered to act when others can't, won't or are uncomfortable," said one student leader.

I couldn't agree more. But being a leader doesn't always mean speaking out. It certainly has nothing to do with "power" or privilege. Leadership comes in all sorts of forms and requires, first and foremost, the about to connect with others, working with others and empowering others. It sounds so cliche, but it is true: Teamwork makes the dreamwork.

Collegiate track and field athlete went from being a closeted and scared freshman to a tireless advocate for LGBT athletes on his Bucknell campus.

FEATURE HIGHLIGHTS

By Sean Coyne
For Outsports.com

I was sitting in a bar near the Bucknell campus this year with a guest speaker who had just spoken as part of an athletic department program for athletes. At the bar, we ran into a bunch of guys on the lacrosse team and I was a bit wary.

The lacrosse guys always made me slightly uncomfortable, because I assumed that being on such a hypermasculine sport would make them very homophobic and possibly dangerous to me, an out member of the track and field team. I soon learned that stereotypes can work both ways.

Over a few beers, the speaker and I got to talking with these guys about the issues faced by LGBT athletes. I could not have been more wrong about their feelings on the subject. The lacrosse captains were two of the nicest guys and were very receptive to what I had to say about issues I've faced on my team, and that some of their teammates have probably also faced.

I talked to them about the Safe Space program for athletic teams (a program I started to create a safe environment for LGBT athletes), and they agreed to happily participate. I couldn't believe it -- here these jocks I had assumed to be homophobic were to become the second men's team at Bucknell to become a Safe Space.

For the FULL FEATURE, please go online to OUTSPORTS:
http://www.outsports.com/os/index.php/component/content/article/54-comin...