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Resources for Coaches and PE Teachers This page was last updated on 12/28/11. If you know of errors please click here to let us know.

ATHLETE ALLY™ was created by HUDSON TAYLOR as a resource to encourage athletes, coaches, parents, fans and other members of the sports community to respect all individuals involved in sports, regardless of perceived or actual sexual-orientation or gender identity or expression. Listen to Hudson interviewed (below) and from this page:  http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2011/08/27/Hudson_Taylor_Wants_To_Make_It_Better/. Check out his revolutionary web site and sign a pledge to make your team a safe space, go here: www.athleteally.com

Aztecs Players Accepted Gay Hiatt: This newspaper account describes the journey of college tennis player Shawn Hiatt through two rejections at other colleges for his being gay and finally acceptance (grudging, at least at first, but important to him nonetheless) by his coach and teammates at San Diego State: http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/20030901-9999_mz1s1hiatt.html

Changing the Game: The GLSEN Sports Project:  a tremendous resource for all those involved in school athletics and physical education. It assists K-12 schools in creating and maintaining an athletic and physical education climate based on core principles of respect, safety and equal access for all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. The project website includes useful resources for a variety of audiences and purposes. These include: A Physical Education Climate Check List Game Plan for Athletes Game Plan for Athletic Directors and School Principals Game Plan for Coaches Game Plan for Parents Game Plan for Physical Education Teachers On The Team: Including Transgender Students The School Athletic Climate Check List The website also provides opportunities for students, athletes, teams, coaches, teachers, parents, athletic administrators, fans or anyone connected to sports and physical education to get involved such as: Becoming a Game Changer, people who are taking action to make sports and physical education safe and respectful for LGBT students. Game Changers can be students, athletes, coaches, teachers, parents, athletic administrators, fans or anyone connected to sports and physical education. Creating a Safe Sports Space Taking the Team Respect Challenge Participating in training for coaches those who run school athletic programs The website also features Teammates for Respect, partner organizations such as the NBA and WNBA. Meet members of their All-Star Team - current and former professional, Olympic and collegiate athletes, coaches and other sports leaders who are committed to the values of safety, respect and inclusion for all students who participate in school sports. View Game Changer videos from a variety of LGBT athletes as well as allies. The project is guided by an advisory group made up of diverse and experienced advocates for LGBT people in sports and physical education. More information: http://sports.glsen.org

Creating a Safer Climate for LGBT Athletes and Coaches: this 5-page handout by pat Griffin is available on the GLSEN web site in HTML format: http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/news/record/24.html and in PDF format: http://www.glsen.org/binary-data/GLSEN_ATTACHMENTS/file/4-1.pdf (pdf format)

The Gay & Lesbian Athletics Foundation - focuses on the acceptance and visibility of LGBT athletes in the professional, amateur, and recreational athletics. GLAF provides education, mentoring, and training on issues of sexual orientation and sport ~ fosters support networks for athletes and athletic organizations promotes positive role models and healthy lifestyles through athletics ~ and advocates inclusion, recognition, understanding, and respect among all members of the athletics community. http://www.glaf.org 

Is it getting better in sports?" Article by Jamil Smith for the Maddow Blog: http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/06/02/6771659-is-it-getting-better-in-sports

Participation of Intersex Athletes in Women's Sports: This position statement from the Women's Sports Foundation is downloadable here: http://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/en/home/advocate/foundation-positions/lgbt-issues/intersex-athletes

Philosophy of Gender Identity Participation: in the 2011-2012 Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) Handbook: The WIAA allows participation for all students regardless of their gender identity or expression. The purpose of this policy is to designate a set of criteria in which studentathletes are able to compete on a level playing field in a safe, competitive and friendly environment, free of discrimination. Fundamental fairness, as well as most local, state and federal rules and regulations, requires schools to provide intersex and transgender student-athletes with equal opportunities to participate in athletics. This policy creates a framework in which this participation may occur in a safe and healthy manner that is fair to all competitors. See "18.0.0 Student Standards for Interscholastic Eligibility - with Case Questions and Answers" on pages 49 and 50 (pdf pages 49 and 50) and "APPENDIX 6" on pages 94 and 95 (pdf pages 96 and 97). http://www.wiaa.com/ConDocs/Con951/Handbook%20%28Web%29.pdf (pdf file)

The Real Billy Doll: An article about Billy Bean of the San Diego Padres from the Bay Area Reporter: http://homeo.tripod.com/billybean.html

Remembering a role model: 'Anthony made it OK to be gay in Banning,' classmates said of the charismatic football team captain: article about an openly gay, well-respected high school athlete: http://articles.latimes.com/2007/jul/28/sports/sp-gayside28

Sports Project: An initiative of the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), aims to level the playing field for LGBT players and coaches. More than 30 years ago, Title IX changed athletics forever by requiring that women and girls have equal access to sporting and athletic opportunities. Today NCLR's advocacy, public education, and high-profile cases have the potential to equalize the treatment of LGBT athletes in this century. We seek nothing less than a world in which openly LGBT sports figures can be hailed as champions and role models at every level of competition.  Phone: 1-800-528-NCLR; Website: http://www.nclrights.org/site/PageServer?pagename=issue_sports Sports Project Publications & Downloads:

• On the Team: Equal Opportunities for Transgender Student Athletes
  This groundbreaking publication is the first ever to thoroughly address the complete integration of transgender student athletes within high school and collegiate athletic programs. It provides comprehensive model policies and a framework for athletic leaders to ensure equal access to school athletics for transgender students.
  http://www.nclrights.org/site/DocServer/TransgenderStudentAthleteReport.pdf?docID=7901 (pdf file)

• The Positive Approach - Recognizing, Challenging, and Eliminating Negative Recruiting Based on Actual or Perceived Sexual Orientation
  This publication provides a comprehensive analysis of negative recruiting based on actual or perceived sexual orientation, and recommends practices and policies to eliminate it. Negative recruiting refers to the practice of playing on homophobic stereotypes to deter recruits from attending rival athletic programs by alleging or implying that a rival coach or team members are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT). Because sexual orientation is irrelevant to coaching, leadership, or athletic abilities, the actual or perceived sexual orientation of any coach or player should not be part of the recruiting process.
  http://www.nclrights.org/site/DocServer/Final_Negative_Recruiting_FINAL.pdf?docID=5461 (pdf file)

• NCAA News: Panel tackles sexual-orientation issues - 'Think Tank' considers ways to deter negative recruiting
  A group of about 30 NCAA coaches, administrators and student-athletes joined representatives from the National Center for Lesbian Rights in examining issues related to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in intercollegiate athletics during the first National Center for Lesbian Rights Sports Project Think Tank.
  http://www.nclrights.org/site/PageServer?pagename=issue_sports_spncaanewsonline112006_2

• NCAA News: Transgender cases present challenges for policy-makers
  NCAA staff and experts from NCLR and other sport organizations discussed the issue of transgender student-athletes in intercollegiate athletics.
  http://www.nclrights.org/site/PageServer?pagename=issue_sports_spncaanewsonline112006

Sportswriter Comes Out: Boston Herald's Ed Gray Says Time Was Right: by Jim Buzinski, Outsports.com http://www.outsports.com/local/2003/0930edgray.htm

The story of Glenn Burke, the man who invented the high-five ... an African-American, gay Los Angeles Dodgers baseball player: http://www.outsports.com/baseball/2003/0617glennburke.htm

Writer comes out, blasts homophobia: An article about Boston Herald sportswriter Ed Gray addressing the problem of homophobia in sports head-on in his column. http://msnbc.com/news/974340.asp

Women’s’ Sports Foundation: founded in 1974 by tennis legend, Billie Jean King, the Women's Sports Foundation is dedicated to advancing the lives of girls and women through sports and physical activity. http://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/  Women’s’ Sports Foundation's LGBT Issues pages:

• Participation of Intersex Athletes in Women's Sports: As the recent controversy surrounding Caster Semenya’s eligibility for women’s track makes painfully clear, intersex athletes are vulnerable to exclusion from women’s sports, as well as ridicule and invasion of privacy. The Women’s Sports Foundation believes that women with intersex conditions have the same rights to participation in athletics as all women. It is also our position that eligibility standards for women’s sports that require an athlete to demonstrate particular hormone levels promote the policing of gender by medical means, leading to the unwarranted invasions of privacy not only for intersex athletes, but any athlete whose femininity is questioned. Moreover, any policy that singles out women’s sports for eligibility based on hormone levels is discriminatory and sends the harmful message that female athletes are uniquely vulnerable and in need of special protection from the normal, natural variation in size, skill, and athletic ability that exists among members of either sex. http://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/home/advocate/foundation-positions/lgbt-issues/intersex-athletes
  
  

• Participation of Transgender Athletes: Prohibitions against sex discrimination have been interpreted by state and federal courts to encompass discrimination based on gender identity or expression. http://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/home/advocate/title-ix-and-issues/title-ix-positions/participation_of_transgender_athletes
  

• Recruiting - Women's Sports Foundation Response to Negative Recruiting/Slander Based on Sexuality: The Foundation Position: Negative recruiting tactics are increasingly being used as an unethical recruitment strategy within women's collegiate sports, essentially attempting to give their own programs an un-fair advantage based on perpetuating stereotypes, myths, and misconceptions. By implying to a recruit, that a rival college or university's coach is gay, or that an opposing team is “full of lesbians,” school recruiters use this tactic to prey on unsubstantiated fears, one of which is that a gay coach or gay players might negatively influence the sexual orientation of potential recruits. http://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/home/advocate/foundation-positions/lgbt-issues/negative_recruiting
  

• Gender Testing - Gender Verification at Elite Sports Competitions: The Foundation Position: The Foundation supports the abandonment of chromosomal screening for gender verification. The purpose of gender verification should be only to prevent men from masquerading as females at women-only competitions. Athletes and sports governing bodies should be educated as to the nature, both physical and psychological, of sexual differentiation disorders. http://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/home/advocate/foundation-positions/lgbt-issues/gender_verification

• On the Team: Equal Opportunity for Transgender Student Athletes: In October 2009 the National Center for Lesbian Rights and It Takes A Team!, co-sponsored a national think tank entitled, “Equal Opportunities for Transgender student athletes” to develop model policies and identify best practices for athletic programs. http://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/home/research/articles-and-reports/lgbt-issues/transgender-student-athlete-report

• Sexual Orientation Discrimination in Sport: What’s The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) Got To Do With It? http://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/home/research/articles-and-reports/lgbt-issues/sexual-orientation-discrimination-in-sport

• Playing in the Closet: Homophobia in Sports: Both players and coaches have been victims of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation — an issue that not only affects the LGBT community, but all female athletes. http://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/home/research/articles-and-reports/lgbt-issues/playing-in-the-closet

Young gay athletes find a place out on the field - An emerging generation of players is more open about sexual orientation. Often, it's just not a big deal, they say.
by David Wharton, Los Angeles Times, July 28, 2007. http://articles.latimes.com/2007/jul/28/sports/sp-gay28

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