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| Helen Carroll, project consultant for the National Center for Lesbian Rights’ Homophobia in Sports Project, addresses the Sept. 18 meeting of the Atlanta Executive Network. (Photo courtesy of NCLR) |
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HOME > COMMUNITY > SPORTS
By: VAN GOWER
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Despite major advances in gay rights over the last three decades, homophobia
remains a persistent problem.
“That is certainly true in the sports world,” says Helen Carroll,
athletic diversity specialist for the National Center for Lesbian Rights and
consultant for its Homophobia in Sports Project.
NCLR, based in San Francisco, began its Homophobia in Sports Project two years
ago with the goal of eradicating anti-gay bias in athletics through education,
outreach and publicity.
Carroll addresses the Atlanta Executive Network’s monthly meeting next
week. She was invited to speak after AEN began an initiative this year to increase
the awareness and participation of women in the gay business group, according
to David Payne, AEN president.
A former basketball coach and college athletic director, NCLR hired Carroll
to lead the project when it was established. But even with public education
in the last two years about the contributions that gays make to sports as equal
players, there is still more work to be done, Carroll says.
“They need to be recognized as such and not discriminated against,” she
says.
Sports is commonly viewed as being one of the last bastions of masculinity
in contemporary society, and despite the growing number of gay and women’s
organizations and teams, the world of sports seems to be resolutely steeped
in traditional masculine codes.
According to Carroll, homophobia can be attributed partly to a combination
of those codes as well as gender codes.
“Look at the top leaders in sports,” Carroll says. “You’re
not going to see too many women coaching pro football or pro men’s basketball.
If you look at athletic directors across the country, it is still male, so
it is kind of a good ol’ boys’ club.”
ALTHOUGH FORMER PRO football player Esera Tualo and former Major League Baseball
player Billy Bean came out as gay after retiring, openly gay professional athletes — especially
men — remain rare.
“Sports culture hasn’t come far enough for other people to come
out,” Carroll says. “With men in sports, there’s still the
component of violence. There’s differences with men and women coming
out in sports. With men, their roommates don’t know, their teammates
don’t know, their coaches don’t know. …They definitely play
the game of having girlfriends. That’s a very stressful job.”
When it comes to lesbian athletes, especially those who are older, there wasn’t
always freedom to be open about their sexual orientation or find allies.
“They learned the way to survive and get anything done for women’s
sports was like ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’” Carroll
says. “We had a group of people we could talk to and knew, and we would
feel maybe not so isolated because people would know. But there’s a big
difference between people knowing and being verbal talking about it.”
As for lesbians’ place in sports today, circumstances aren’t necessarily
better, but they are beginning to score points in the game.
Carroll points to the case of Ashly Massey. The eighth-grade student from
the small California town of Banning made national news when the American Civil
Liberties Union and NCLR filed suit against the Banning Unified School District
on Massey’s behalf last year.
After Massey revealed in gym class that she was a lesbian, she was subsequently
ostracized from class for nearly two weeks, spending the duration in the school
principal’s office.
“We’re still in court with it and getting closer to settling,” Carroll
says.
Massey will likely play sports again, but her case shows how homophobia can
drive young lesbians out of athletics completely, according to Carroll.
More coaches and school officials are actively seeking ways to educate themselves
and their players about acceptance and inclusion of gays, but there are still
people who don’t embrace the notion, Carroll says.
That resistance contributes to many players’ fears, so they remain closeted,
she says.
“They may think that everything is okay as long as nobody knows,” Carroll
says. “But the ability they have once they’re able to feel right
is much better, I think.”
Atlanta Executive Network
Sept. 18
Doors open 5:45 p.m., Program 6:45 p.m.
Sheraton Midtown Atlanta at Colony Square
188 14th St. at Peachtree
$10 members, $20 guests, students - free
404-724-9008
www.aen.org
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