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2003 Website

2003 Program

February 28th, 2004 written by Ryan Quinn

Note: Registration is now online at http://GLAF.org 

BOSTON, MA - The approach of the 2nd International Gay & Lesbian Athletics Conference, which will be held March 26-28 in Boston, has generated momentum throughout one of America’s most visible social fixtures—college athletics. With the help of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) as a content sponsor, collaboration has begun between athletes, coaches, professors, and trainers to ensure that the conference will produce real change in athletic departments nationwide.

The Gay & Lesbian Athletics Foundation, a non-profit based in Boston, hosts the annual conference. Last year’s inaugural conference gathered a larger-than-expected turnout of college athletes, though the dozen or so present in Boston were an admittedly small fraction of the college athletes nationwide who are gay. Competition schedules and travel expenses limit the opportunity for many student-athletes to attend, but the enthusiasm generated in the last several months may prove to overcome those setbacks. Information about the conference is being dispersed to campuses from New England to the West Coast, and both attendance and audience participation is expected to increase dramatically.

College athletics will find its voice at this year’s conference with the NCAA-sponsored panel entitled: “Gay Issues in Collegiate Athletics: Getting from Here to There! An Audience Participation Session.” Accordingly, the panelists and audience will work together – through dialogue, questions, and challenges – to identify the current climate facing gay college athletes and athletic staff, and recommend policies to be implemented at the campus level. The panel will ultimately produce an outcomes document to assist athletics departments and campuses in raising awareness and understanding, and will provide institutions with recommendations for how to make their athletic environment a safer and more accepting place for gay athletes.

One clear sign of progress that has already been secured is the active participation of the NCAA, which has taken a leadership role in planning the collegiate discussion. Mary Wilfert of the NCAA, who will moderate the panel, stresses the importance of including the powerful organization as well as straight allies from each institution in the implementation of action at the campus level. “The NCAA can get the attention of institutions,” she said, and added that the outcome of this year’s panel will help to define the NCAA’s role in the efforts to make collegiate athletics departments a level playing field for people of any sexual orientation.

Joining Mrs. Wilfert on the panel will be: Pat Griffin, author and UMass, Amherst professor; Lauren Costello, Princeton University team physician; Andrea Zimbardi, former student-athlete at the University of Florida; Pam Bockle, former collegiate athletic trainer; Ryan Quinn, former student-athlete at the University of Utah; and Dan Woog, soccer coach and author of the Jocks books.

The panelists—and countless others who are offering their expertise—have naturally embraced the theme of the conference: “Taking on the Challenge.” If last year’s panel laid a foundation by evaluating the current state of homophobia in college athletics and provided examples of successful coming out stories, then this year the discussion will waste no time plowing ahead to tackle the most important issues in greater depth. A balance is sought between moving ahead while at the same time respecting that different people have different ideas about their role as a gay athlete. “Everyone is at a different stage,” said Jordan Goldwarg, assistant ski coach at Dartmouth College and one of the several people contributing heavily to the panel’s organization efforts. “There will be people at the conference, or who are watching the conference closely, who are still in the closet. And there will be others who have been out for years and have already made an impact back home in their own athletic department.”

Consequently, the panel aims to narrow their objectives to create and suggest actions that each person can take from the conference and bring back with them to their campuses. The outcomes document will be a tangible tool to this effect, though the discussion itself should be provoking enough to help athletes, coaches, or administrators find an area where they can make a lasting difference.

While it can be a straightforward process to outline and mandate top-down actions from the NCAA or institution heads, the panel is also exploring ways to reach beyond the obvious policies and employ actions at a more personal and grassroots level. The individual has had an unusually profound impact in the daily battle for acceptance of LGBT people in athletics. Over the last two years, more and more coming out stories from college athletes and athletic staff have appeared in mainstream magazines such as The Advocate, or on websites such as Outsports.com. The overwhelming majority of these individuals report a very positive experience.

And the spread of these stories has revealed the impact that they can achieve – in gay and straight communities alike. “I am still amazed at the reaction that I received for coming out in high school,” said Dan Bozzuto, a cross-country and track runner whose story inspired thousands of athletes. “I never imagined that two years later people would remember what I did.”

Quinn, one of this year’s panelists, says he received about 180 emails after an article he wrote was posted on several mainstream gay websites last spring. “Responses came from people of all ages—some athletes, some not. Most were people who were still in the closet and wanted to talk about how to come out.” Looking back, he says that these are the people that the conference can reach out to and show that the role of the individual should not be underestimated.

Other out gay athletes have confirmed that they have had similar experiences. Jonathan Goler, a captain of the MIT Swim Team, said during last year’s collegiate panel that an out athlete not only gives other athletes a positive example, but also many non-athletes who experience difficulty identifying with, or finding support in, other LGBT channels. Dan Woog, author of Jocks and Jocks II, who will speak on this year’s panel, explained that the issues are not only about current college athletes, but also concern coaches and upcoming athletes as well. The rate at which high school seniors drop out of a sport before entering college is bad enough for kids of any sexual orientation, but add to that the possibility of homophobia and it’s easy to see why many talented gay athletes lose interest in their sport before they consider competing at the college level.

The collegiate panel at the Gay & Lesbian Athletics Foundation’s Conference will be held on Saturday, March 27 at MIT as part of the three-day conference program. Friday will consist of the Sports Leadership Congress for sport leaders interested in learning about organizing their team or league. Saturday and Sunday will consist of the keynotes, panels, sport trivia game, and fundraising banquet. For more information about the conference, speakers, and how to register, please go to: www.GLAF.org. (There is a lower registration fee for students.)

Email: media@glaf.org