When I got a call in the autumn of 2008 from Out magazine editor Aaron Hicklin looking for out gay athletes to profile in their Out 100, I immediately connected him with two Ivy League runners: Jamal Brown and Cory Benton. While Jamal wrote his story for us in at the time, after 18 months, [...]
Posts under ‘Campus’
BC wins Frozen Four; Miami falls short
The Miami (Ohio) hockey team was hoping to pull off the feel-good story of the year in the Frozen Four by winning the national championship in memory of Brendan Burke. In the end, it was Boston College beating Wisconsin, 5-0, in the finals; Miami lost to BC, 7-1, in the semifinals. Unfortunately, the Maple Leafs [...]
Virus delays NCCA swimming championship
The NCAA men’s swimming and diving championship was supposed to start Thursday, but a nasty virus affectin at least three teams forced the event to be postponed until Friday. Apparently as many as 18 swimmers and divers from Arizona, Stanford and Texas contracted the nasty and highly contagious Norovirus and were instructed not to go [...]
NCAA.com pulls Focus on the Family ads
That was fast. Within 24 hours of Pat Griffin sounding the alarm that the NCAA had accepted and blessed TV and internet ads from the hate group Focus on the Family, she’s gotten word that NCAA.com has pulled the group’s ads. More from Pat Griffin: I just received a copy of the NCAA’s Advertising and [...]
NCAA gives blessing to Focus on the Family ads
As if watching Focus on the Family pimp their perspective on life during the Super Bowl wasn’t bad enough, word has it that NCAA.com is running banners for the group, and that CBS plans to run their commercials during the NCAA basketball tournament with the NCAA’s blessing. Pat Griffin writes: Ok, we endured the Focus [...]
How ADs can support trans athletes
Helen Carroll and Pat Griffin have penned a thoughtful piece on “The Transgender Athlete” for Inside Higher Ed. Many of these young people want to play on their schools’ or colleges’ sports teams. As a result, athletic directors and coaches increasingly find themselves unprepared to make decisions about what team a transgender student is eligible [...]
NCAA panel on gay athletes this week
The NCAA National Convention is underway in Atlanta. On Thursday morning they’ll host an educational session from 9:30-11am called “Cross-Campus Engagement in Ensuring the Fair Treatment of LGBT Student-Athletes: Issues and Resources.” Panelists include It Takes a Team’s Pat Griffin; NCLR’s Helen Carroll; GLAAD’s Ted Rybka; Mt. Holyoke College’s Laurie Priest; and Rutgers’ Mark Schuster. [...]
Changing Lanes (2010 Edition)
UPDATE: There are reports of riots on the University of Tennessee campus. If you are in the area, please be extremely careful. The earthquake who’s epicenter was the Seattle Seahawks firing Jim Mora Jr. has now plowed into Knoxville. The sudden hire of USC’s head coach Pete Carroll (enjoy that one Seattle fans), left a [...]
Activist: Bring more minority voices to Outsports
Editor’s note: After a dialogue with Our Group treasurer Jenelle DeVits, I invited her to express her concerns about the gay-sports community on our blog. Her entries will appear from time to time. Coming across Outsports early in my collegiate career opened my eyes to gay media. Dominated by white masculinity I was bothered by [...]
Westboro Baptist Church targets hockey
Thanks to Brendan Burke, it seems the folks at Westboro Baptist Church now have the sport of hockey in their crosshairs. The “God Hates Fags” clan is infamous for protesting anything or anyone they believe has any connection to homosexuality. Now that the NHL has a general manager with a gay son, they have another [...]
Rutgers gay-sports panel discussion
Rutgers University hosted a gays-in-sports panel discussion last week. The event was put together in part by Sean Smith (right), whom Outsports introduced a couple years ago. He’s a former swimmer and swim coach at Rutgers. One of the interesting observations came from Matthew Pletcher, an assistant wrestling coach at the University, a former wrestler [...]
Anti-Gay Bullying Leads To 6th Grader’s Suicide
Sixth-grader Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover (at right) had been playing football and basketball at the New Leadership Charter School in Springfield, Massachusetts trying to make friends. But the new kid had become the target for bullies. According to his mother, Carl had been harassed and bullied for months on end for his clothing and was called [...]
How special is 30-0 in women’s basketball?
The UConn women’s basketball team completed a perfect regular season at 30-0. How special is it? It’s better than losing a game, I suppose. Though some may argue that losing a game in the regular season helps a team focus, given they’ve won two by winning them all already, I don’t think that applies. But [...]
Homoeroticism to fight homophobia?
There was a fun column in the University of Arizona student newspaper last Friday about homoeroticism in sports. All-male sports teams create a unique fraternal bond between participants. These types of bonds create the strongest friendships. Combine that fraternal bond with constant body contact and huddles so close that you could kiss your teammates if [...]
Stanford swimming: Still the hottest
The men’s swimming and diving team of Leland Stanford Junior University has been a favorite of Outsports for years. From the photo, you could probably guess 33 reasons why that’s the case. They dominated men’s swimming in the 1990s, winning four titles in seven years, but they’ve played second fiddle to Auburn and Texas since; [...]
Memphis uniform PR disaster averted
The Memphis Tigers quite nearly became the targets of some jovial ribbing and some nasty, targeted attacks when they pushed to wear uniforms of FedEx’s colors (orange, purple and white) in their upcoming game this Wednesday night, instead of their usual blue and white. The NCAA actually gave them permission to do so, but officials [...]
Bi college athlete talks sexuality in sports
A reporter for the University of Western Ontario has done a nice job on an article exploring the issues surrounding homophobia in sports and the culture that keeps athletes in the closet. Ravi Amarnath really did his homework for this one, talking to at least a half-dozen sources (including myself), most notably an openly bisexual [...]
Going Bowling – Week 3
We all love our college football and will be sad to see it go. But it’s the 3rd week of exhibition match ups and we’ve still got a couple of (lol) meaningful games to go, including the biggest one of all: The Gators National Championship Coronation Game. So, one more time… while Cyd is worrying [...]
Going Bowling – Week 2
Well, now the bowl season is well underway and we’re starting to get into the good games. I went 4-4 last week, so let’s see what is on the docket this week and if I can improve. Once again… Cyd is traveling the countryside with his friends, so this is Week 2 of Kelvin’s Krazy [...]
College rugby champs strip down for sales
It’s been a while since Atlanta could claim a winner. But thanks to the jocks of Life University’s rugby team, we’ve now got quite a trophy to grab ahold off. The team captured the USA Rugby Men’s Division I National Championship earlier this year and now wants to cash in on their notoriety — and [...]