Nebraska assistant football coach Ron Brown will not testify when the Lincoln City Council holds its hearing on an ordinance to ban anti-LGBT discrimination. For this one moment, Brown has caved to pressure from fair-minded people who believe someone in his position should not be vocally advocating for discrimination. Still, he says he is just [...]
Posts under ‘Law’
More anti-gay discrimination coming soon from Ron Brown as Lincoln considers LGBT protection
In March, Nebraska assistant football coach Ron Brown drove 60 miles to another city to pressure their city council against protecting gay people from discrimination in the workplace. He failed. Now his own city of Lincoln is considering a similar ordinance that would make it illegal to fire someone from being gay. Batten down the [...]
NCLR celebrates 10 years of their sports project
In the 10 years the National Center for Lesbian Rights has had their sports project, they have accomplished a hell of a lot. In fact, their work is all over our 100 most important moments in LGBT sports history. Project director Helen Carroll talks about many of the ways they have opened doors for LGBT [...]
Carl Pavano of Minnesota Twins target of extortion alleging gay relationship
Minnesota Twins pitcher Carl Pavano was the target of an extortion attempt by a former high school classmate. According to the Meriden (Conn.) Record-Journal, Christian Bedard, 36, contacted Pavano’s sister, Michelle DeGennaro, claiming he had a three-year “emotional and physical relationship” with the big league pitcher while the two where in high school. From the Record-Journal: [...]
Omaha City Council rejects Ron Brown’s bigotry, protects gays from discrimination
Despite attempts by Nebraska Cornhuskers assistant football coach Ron Brown to keep anti-LGBT discrimination legal in Omaha, the city council there has voted, 4-3, to protect everyone in the LGBT community from discrimination. According to the Omaha World-Herald, Brown stuck to his position that gay people should be discriminated against: “The Lord is on the [...]
University of Nebraska distances itself from coach Ron Brown’s anti-gay comments
Earlier this week, Nebraska running backs coach Ron Brown testified before the Omaha City Council that the Bible should be law. The testimony was in regards to the City Council’s consideration of a bill that would outlaw discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people. Aksarbent.com has gotten hold of a letter from Nebraska athletic [...]
Ron Brown, Nebraska football coach, testifies homosexuality is sin, wants God to dictate law
Nebraska running backs coach Ron Brown testified before the Omaha City Council against a bill that would protect gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people from discrimination (video below). Brown, a devout Christian, bases his opposition exclusively on the Bible and says the Bible should be the law of the land. Some of the highlights from [...]
State Liquor Authority taking up fight over gay sports bar Boxers in New York City
At first, residents of Manhattan neighborhood Hell’s Kitchen fought the opening of gay sports bar Boxers because the entrance was withing 200 feet (the legal minimum) of a school. Now that the bar owners have moved the entrance to just over 200 feet away from the school, neighbors are screaming because they just “don’t want [...]
Transgender athlete bill pulled from California legislature
Updated Jan. 13, 10:55amPT After digging a little, it seems there’s more to the story than was originally released about the pulled California bill that would ensure access to K-12 sports for transgender students. The bill was pulled by lead sponsor Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (right). We had previously reported the reasoning, given by Sacramento based advocate [...]
Vote: Who is Outsports’ Jerk of the Year?
Last day to vote! Every year we crown our annual ‘Jerk of the Year,’ honoring those in sports who were, well, jerks. Last year’s ‘Jerk of the Year’ was the Belmont University administration, who fired soccer coach Lisa Howe after she came out of the closet. This year we have many worthy candidates from football, [...]
Gareth Thomas has new business partner, with whom he founded legal recruiting firm
Note: The story from wharf.co.uk originally said Smith and Thomas were romantic partners, but Thomas said that was a confusion of the word “partner.” They are partners in business only. Sean Smith is Thomas’ business partner, as the two have co-founded Sean Smith & Associates, a legal recruitment firm. From the company’s site: Co-founded by [...]
Jerry Sandusky vows ‘fight to the death’
The Jerry Sandusky saga continues to build intrigue. Week after the former Penn State assistant football coach was publicly accused of sexually assaulting young boys, he has opted to forgo a preliminary hearing that would have brought him face-to-face with his accusers. Instead, his lawyer Joseph Amendola was defiant on the courthouse steps, saying, “There [...]
Gay softball settles lawsuit. Court upholds straight limit, dismisses discrimination claims.
Updated: Nov. 28, 2011, 1:15pmPT The North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance has settled a lawsuit brought by the National Center for Lesbian Rights on behalf of three players who were disqualified from the 2008 Gay Softball World Series in Seattle. In the settlement the players have been reinstated and their second-place finish is now [...]
Same-sex pedophilia scandal rocks Penn State football, involving Jerry Sandusky
Penn State athletic director Tim Curley has been charged with perjury in connection with allegations that former football team defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky (right) sexually abused eight young men. According to the Associated Press: The attorney general’s office said Sandusky, 67, of State College, was arrested Saturday. Curley, 57, and Penn State vice president for [...]
Moment #12: Renee Richards wins right to play in women’s U.S. Open
Part of Outsports’ series on our 100 most important moments in gay sports history. Tennis, 1977. In 1976 the United States Tennis Association barred female transgender tennis player Renee Richards from playing as a woman in the U.S. Open. The issue at hand was a born-female rule, and the USTA said Richards would have to submit [...]
Moment #20: NCLR initiates Sports project
Part of Outsports’ series on our 100 most important moments in gay sports history. Sports, 2001. The National Center for Lesbian Rights became the first national gay-rights organization to seriously tackle homophobia in sports with the creation of their sports project in 2001. They quickly tapped Helen Carroll, former NCAA national champion basketball coach and [...]
Moment #42: Lana Lawless wins right to play on LPGA Tour
Part of Outsports’ series on our 100 most important moments in gay sports history. 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, [...]
Moment #56: Supreme Court rules against Gay Games in use of ‘Olympics’
Part of Outsports’ series on our 100 most important moments in gay sports history. Sports, 1987: When former Olympic decathlete Tom Waddell wanted to start a multisport competition for gay and lesbian athletes, his original name was the Gay Olympics. But that did not sit well with the U.S. Olympic Committee, which sued to stop [...]
Report: Cleveland to pay $475k to Synergy Foundation in Gay Games settlement
The Gay Games cleared a hurdle in settling out-of-court a lawsuit filed against them by the Cleveland Synergy Foundation. The CSF had originally won the bid to host the 2014 Gay Games in Cleveland, but the Federation of Gay Games has since stripped them of organizing duties and handed the reins to another group led [...]
Federal judge rules that gay softball association can limit number of straight players
A federal judge in Washington state ruled that NAGAAA, the national gay softball association that runs the annual Gay Softball World Series, can keep its rule that limits the number of straight players per team. However, he allowed a lawsuit against NAGAAA by three men to go to trial. US District Judge John Coughenour wrote [...]