The Current Climate for LBGT Athletes

I attended a panel the other night of LGBT student-athletes and other athletic department personnel. Here’s what I came away with: things are not good but people think they are getting better.

And I guess they are if you look at from a certain point of view. And before I go any further let me say that my point of view is not one of current intercollegiate athlete. But the fact that people can come out without getting beat up these days is not really progress in my opinion. (Also note that people do indeed still get beat up for being gay.)
The two female student-athletes on the panel (there were no out male athletes–a point well-noted and discussed and certainly indicative of the climate in athletics) talked about how their coming out was, basically, no big deal in terms of acceptance by their athletic peers. This was not especially surprising to me. But, after listening to them talk more, I realized it also was not completely true. Both of them talked about altering their behavior–especially in the locker room–so as not to make others uncomfortable. They took showers separately from other team mates, avoided eye contact in that space so no one would get “the wrong idea.”

Read more at: After Atalanta!