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Defying Stereotypes: The Lives of LGBT Professional Athletes

Are you a professional athlete? Are you a coach, owner, manager, or work with professional sports team? Or do you aspire to be a professional athlete as a high school or collegiate athlete? Or how about being a fan of pro sports? This panel is for you and will focus on your issues. Though the topic will cross over into high school, collegiate, women, the issues that professionals face are very unique and this panel will detail those specific discussions.

This panel will provide a discussion of the struggles and triumphs associated with pursuing athletics on the professional level. Professional athletes will share their stories of what it was/is like to be lesbian or gay in this homophobic environment.

• Dave Pallone, former Major League Baseball umpire and author of Behind the Mask
• Alissa Wykes professional women's football player with the Philadelphia Liberty Bells, and was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated for Women, where she came out of the closet in a controversial article.
• Billy Bean, former Major League Baseball player that played for the Tigers, Dodgers and Padres
• Ryan Miller, professional snowboarder and Olympic hopeful
• Tyler Hoffman, Former Professional Baseball Umpire and Sr. Instructor for The Academy of Professional Umpiring
• Chris Bergland, three-time Triple-Ironman (7.2 miles of swimming, 336 miles of cycling and a 78.6-mile run) winner sponsored by Kiehls
• James Dale (moderator), was an Eagle Scout and volunteer Scoutmaster until 1990 when the Boy Scouts of America expelled him for no longer meeting their standards of morality

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