• Many girls don't play sports because they are afraid someone will call them a lesbian or they are afraid one of their teammates or a coach might be a lesbian
• Transgender athletes were formerly excluded from sports by sex verification policies
• Lesbian and bisexual women in sport are discriminated against based on stereotypes and homophobia
• Gay boys and men in sport keep their identities secret out of fear of harassment from teammates and coaches
It Takes A Team! is an educational program designed to end homophobia in sport.
Linking LGBT Student-Athletes on the Internet
By Pat Griffin
This year students at the University of Connecticut started a Web site to link LGBT student-athlete campus communities and provide resources for LGBT student-athletes. Find out why they created this Web page and how you can create a similar Web page at your school.
Coach Helps Bring 'New Era' to PSU
By By Andrew Wible Collegian Staff Writer
Originally posted on The Daily Collegian Online.It's been more than one year since the protestors left the Bryce Jordan Center.Fifty-two weeks free of national scrutiny.More than 365 days since rainbow flags and banners reading "Rene's still here, why isn't Jen?" and "Personal foul, Rene Portland!" dotted the arena.Nearly a year after Rene Portland's controversial resignation on March 23 amid allegations of discrimination, a new atmosphere has surrounded the Penn State women's basketball team this season, and it's largely because of one woman: Coquese Washington.The first-year head coach has brought new life and enthusiasm to the program and has taken heat ...
Transgendered Canadian Races Toward Olympic History
By By Mackenzie Grisdale
Originally posted on New Media Journalism.If Kristen Worley, a Canadian track cyclist, qualifies for the 2008 Olympics at time trials this spring, she'll become the first openly transgendered Olympian in history.For Worley, 39, it's not just a personal triumph. Sure, she's made sacrifices, like taking time away from her family to train for hours each week. But each stroke of the pedals is worth it if it helps society respect those, like her, who were born another sex, she said.Transgendered people are born with genitalia that don't match the gender they feel they are in their minds. The American Psychiatric ...
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Director Information
Pat Griffin is Director of It Takes A Team! Education Campaign for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Issues in Sport. Dr. Griffin is a Professor Emerita in the Social Justice Education Program at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She is author of Strong Women, Deep Closets: Lesbian and Homophobia in Sports and co-editor of Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice: A Sourcebook for Teachers and Trainers, Routledge. For the past 25 years Dr. Griffin has led seminars on diversity issues and lesbian and gay issues in athletics at numerous colleges and universities as well as at coaches and athletic administrators’ association meetings around the United States and Canada. Dr. Griffin has discussed homophobia in sports on ESPN’s “Outside the Lines,” HBO’s “Real Sports” and ABC Sports. She played basketball and field hockey and swam at the University of Maryland. She coached high school basketball and field hockey in Silver Spring, Md., and coached swimming at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.