11/19/09

“Training Rules” Addresses Homophobia in College Athletics

If you haven’t heard about the film Training Rules, it’s probably because it hasn’t gotten much publicity—yet. This eye-opening documentary focuses on a variety of Penn State college basketball players who were coached by Renee Portland. Portland served as head coach of the women’s basketball team for 30 years, and she required her player to follow three main rules: no drugs, no alcohol and no lesbians.

According to the documentary, Portland was open with her recruits about her distaste for gay individuals. She let it be know to every player that being a lesbian and associating with lesbians was not allowed under any circumstance. If a player violated this “rule,” she would be dismissed immediately. This is what happened to...

Posted at 12:44 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

11/12/09

Pride House

In the past decade, more and more gay and lesbian athletes have come out of the Olympic closet. It’s wonderful to see, because these athletes make such great role models for LGBT youth. With the 2010 Olympic games quickly approaching, I’ve kept an eye out for any newsworthy stories worth mentioning.

That is why I was more than pleased to come across this story. According to the Vancouver Sun, gay and lesbian Olympic athletes will have a common place to gather and socialize. It’s called Pride House, and will be provided by the Pan Pacific Whistler Village hotel in partnership with Gay Whistler.

I had no idea that such gathering places existed for Olympic athletes. Apparently, Canadian athletes have the Canada house, Russian athletes have the Russian...

Posted at 02:00 AM | Permalink | Comments: 0

11/05/09

The “Magic” of Friendship and Homophobia

Isiah Thomas and Magic Johnson were close throughout their entire NBA careers, so close in fact that Magic actually named a guestroom in his mult-million dollar mansion, “The Isiah Room.”

Then something happened that would alter their friendship forever. In 1991, Magic was diagnosed with HIV. Once the news was made public, everyone reacted. Sponsors dropped him, journalists speculated on how he contracted the disease, and other players avoided him like the plague.  It was so awkward before and after games, that Isiah Thomas took it upon himself to show other players, and the world, that it was “nothing but a chicken wing on a string.” In other words, it didn’t matter much to him. He proved this by kissing Magic on the cheek before a game, as...

Posted at 08:27 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0