Golf, 2010. When trans golfer Lana Lawless won the 2009 Long Drivers of America title, it was too much for the organization to handle. They quickly changed their rules stating that female participants must have been born biologically female to compete, matching the LPGA’s rule. When Lawless was barred from competing in the event and on the LPGA she brought a lawsuit against both entities in the autumn of 2010.

The lawsuit again brought to national attention the fallacies about perceived “unfair advantages” that male-to-female trans people have. Even the International Olympic Committee and Ladies European Tour have opened their policies to allow trans people how have had gender reassignment surgery and have taken corrective hormones to compete as women.

On Nov. 30, 2010, members of the LPGA voted to remove the “female at birth” requirement for players, opening the LPGA to trans golfers for the first time. What was powerful about this moment was that the players themselves said they would welcome trans golfers; It didn’t take a judge to force them to do so.

In May, 2011, Lawless officially dropped her lawsuit against he LPGA and Long Drive contest. The LPGA released a statement praising Lawson:

The Ladies Professional Golf Association (“LPGA”) expresses its appreciation to Lana Lawless for raising the issue of transgender participation in its tournaments and other professional activities. Both Ms. Lawless and the LPGA are pleased that the litigation initiated by Ms. Lawless has been resolved in a satisfactory way, and applaud the LPGA members who voted overwhelmingly to remove the “female at birth” provision from its by-laws.

For more information:

• Lawless sues for right to play
• LPGA players vote to include trans golfers
• Video: Trans woman thinks trans people shouldn’t play women’s sports

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The men posed with the head of their golf club covering their private parts. The picture was then posted on facebook with the title Men’s Bethany Golf Team. The coach says the boys were inspired by pictures of the UCLA men’s players who posed with a bucket of golf balls in front of their private parts. Those pictures were published in the magazine Golf Digest and Sports Illustrated.

Bethany is a Lutheran college and the players are appealing the suspension. The punishment is absurd and the players did nothing wrong. These shots are fairly common and ESPN The Magazine’s body issue specializes in them.  It was heartening to see many of the comments on the KAKE saw this properly as much ado about nothing:

• My husband and I are related to one of these boys and when we saw the photo, before the controversy, we laughed at their antics and were glad they chose to do such a harmless and funny prank, which is why we were truly surprised at the severity of the punishment. You see more than they showed on tv and at the beach, and this was a silly and funny way to bond the team members together. We are in our 50′s and 60′s in age and part of the corporate and legal world, and attend church regularly and we still cannot figure out why there was an over reaction to such a prank. Well, good luck boys, you brought a smile to our faces and bonded your team together!

• I see nothing wrong with these boys having a little fun,that was not illegal or hurt anyone. It was probably meant to bond the team together with something funny. How can you not laugh when you see it? Why was the movie “Full Monty” so popular?

• It wasn’t so bad but they all used the “putter” to cover their parts. Isn’t the “putter” the smallest club?????

Here is the offending photo (hat tip to Deadspin):

Hat tip to Jim Allen for the item.

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Last year was another record year for  CCV’s Golf Classic.  CCV netted over $17,000!  Since then, those gifts have gone toward the work that CCV has done faithfully since 1983 – that is, upholding and defending Judeo-Christian family values throughout Ohio and across the nation.

Among those values – again, from their site:

We know that homosexual behavior is destructive to the individual and sincerely reach out to assist those individuals caught up in this behavior.

Well at least they do it sincerely.

Hat tip to Will K.

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Golf, 1996. Few out lesbian athletes have experienced more professional success than Muffin Spencer-Devlin. She was a three-time tournament winner on the LPGA Tour in the mid-to-late ’80s. She is in the top 100 on the Tour’s all-time money list (at just over $1 million in winnings). Her career spanned from 1979-2000, and she has five top-25 finishes at Major championships on the Tour.

The Sports Illustrated article that defined her coming out, dated March 18, 1996, was a revelation. LPGA commissioner Jim Ritts spoke about embracing a lesbian on the Tour like you’d expect someone now, 15  years later, to do so:

I don’t think I’m naive, but I don’t have any concerns about this. I know there are still individuals who have problems with diversity, but we’ve come so far as a society that I don’t see this as a topic that really moves people.

Spencer-Devlin told SI she was coming out for personal reasons, not to become the “mouthpiece” for lesbian athletes. She has since lived openly, proudly, but quietly as a ground-breaking lesbian in the world of sports.

She has retired from golf and now lives in Laguna, Calif., where she has taken up glass-blowing. Her two passions came together when she was asked to design the Kia Classic Trophy; You can watch a fascinating video of Spencer-Devlin producing the trophy below.

For more information:

• Powerful Sports Illustrated article in which she came out
• Muffin Spencer-Devlin’s Web site
• Her full LPGA bio
• More about Spencer-Devlin’s art

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As we’ve mentioned here for the last couple weeks, we are putting together our own “history of gay sports” project that we will begin unveiling next week. The list covers 1970 to the present day, so Babe won’t be in it – so it was nice to see her legacy get some coverage from the Times (and on New York’s gay pride day, no less).

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The golf featured one of the most exciting Sundays at the Masters in memory, a virtual no-name from South Africa, Charl Schwartzel, took home the green jacket by two strokes over Adam Scott, posting a strong -14 score for the four rounds. Schwartzel just joined the PGA in January, and this was his first win on the Tour.

The storylines were quite intriguing heading into the back 9. Tiger Woods again played the role of “making it interesting” on Sunday, but he missed two puts within 5 feet and he was doomed. Rory McIlroy, who led from the first tee on Friday, collapsed in extraordinary fashion. Leading by one shot heading to the 10th hole, he hit a terrible drive and triple-bogeyed that hole, bogeyed the 11th, double-bogeyed the 12th, and when it was done he was done. Plus, at least a half-dozen golfers had the lead at one point on Sunday from all around the world (as the announcers reminded us over and over and over…).

Seven of the last nine Major Championships have been won by a man who’d never won a Major before, Schwartzel being the latest. It’s telling the power of popular champions like Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson: When they’re in the hunt, people tune in (the last two years have seen the highest-rated Masters of the last decade).

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If they considered pre-1957 athletes, I wonder if Bill Tilden might have made the list. Or if they considered women, I have to believe Billie Jean King would be on there. Instead, the list is 25 straight guys from the last half-century. Whom do you think they left off?

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Woods is talking about changing his swing again and that’s why he finished so poorly in Dubai. We’ll see. I just don’t understand why his swing has had to change so much given he’s already a great champion, but maybe changing his swing takes his mind off of other distractions. His window to catch Jack Nicklaus’ Majors titles record is closing; Frankly, I think it’s nailed shut.

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“The atmosphere that was created became more and more hostile, to the point where it made it intolerable for me to even perform the limited administrative duties that had been reassigned to me,” Brenny said. “While I was never given an explanation for why I was treated this way, I later learned that I was discriminated against because of my gender and sexual preference.”

Interesting that she would use the term “sexual preference,” but many people new to the role of advocate, gay and straight, aren’t aware of the negative connotation associated with that term.

She is suing for “in excess of $50,000.”

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This year five people or groups of people stood out from the crowd as particularly heroic. You can vote on the winner below, and be sure to leave a comment on why you voted the way you did – or someone you think we forgot. Also: Be sure to vote for our Jerk of the Year as well.

Kye Allums
When we first spoke with Kye in April of 2010, he was scared to tell his basketball coach he is transgender. Six months later he decided to tell the world, opening discussions about transgender athletes where those discussions had never happened before.

Brian & Patrick Burke
With the death of Brendan Burke, his father and brother decided they would build Brendan’s legacy with their own fight against homophobia in sports. They have leant their voices to the cause, penning opinion pieces, appearing in gay pride parades, and helping to build a Brendan Burke scholarship with USA hockey.

Gay-Straight athlete alliance organizers
We’ve said for years that the real change isn’t happening at the professional level, but rather the collegiate and high school level. And much of that change is coming from gay-straight athlete alliances like the ones at Eastern Michigan, Yale, Michigan, and various other colleges and high schools.

Lana Lawless
When the LPGA told transgender golfer Lana Lawless that neither she nor any other trans people could participate on the tour, she took them to court. That resulted in an about-face from the LPGA and a change in rules. In 2011, Lana and other golfers like her will be welcomed onto the tour.

Hudson Taylor
He didn’t do it for attention, but when the straight University of Maryland wrestler put an HRC sticker on his headgear, we noticed and wrote a story about the pro-gay athlete. Hudson used the new-found fame to preach his message of tolerance and start a new Web site, athleteally.com.

Honorable Mention: Jim Tressel (for talking to a gay publication and saying gay-positive things), Scott Fujita (for taking a stand for marriage equality), Gareth Thomas (for pushing for equality in European sports), and the athletes who came out of the closet publicly and did good with their new public personae (Andrew McIntosh, Blake Skjellerup, Maggie Manville, Austin Hendrix, etc…).

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