*Professor Withycombe has given me permission to post late due to extenuating circumstances regarding health
While sport is becoming more and more tolerant of the LGBT lifestyle and community, I think it is an absolute disgrace to sport and human life in general that it has taken this long. Personally, I believe it is an absolute tragedy that athletes have had to hide their true feelings in the past. While this does not only pertain to athletes, I believe that athletes are especially victimized. The film “Training Rules” examines Penn States former women’s basketball coach Rene Portland. Her three “training rules”, you ask? 1. No drinking, 2. No drugs, and last but not least 3. No lesbians. In 1986, Coach Portland finally came out to publicly state to the Chicago Sun-Times “I will not have lesbians on my team”. This discrimination over a thirty-year coaching period (particularly from the 1980’s and 1990’s) has brought to attention a number of underlying issues. Student-athletes who are part of the LGBT community are coming out more and more, and I think that it is about time that we as a people, rather it be coach, fan, etc. accept it. Professional athletes such as Jason Collins, Michael Sam, Mark Leduc, etc. have come out of the ‘closet’ in recent years, and I personally believe that their courage will inspire others in the future to not be afraid of showing their true colors.
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