The UCLA athletic department has established itself as one of the most inclusive places for LGBT athletes to participate in NCAA sports after a wildly successful Athlete Ally day on Monday. The event was part of UCLA’s Ally Week and was the brainchild of UCLA undergrad Cyrus Sinai. He praised the athletic department for their cooperation, even making the event mandatory for all freshman and transfer student-athletes. Sinai said every varsity team was represented, including football and men’s basketball.

After Hudson Taylor spoke in the morning with UCLA coaches, the cornerstone of the day was a late-afternoon symposium by Taylor in which he talked about the importance of straight allies for LGBT athletes. The talk was attended by 200 of UCLA’s varsity athletes, in addition to other club-sport athletes.

One of those varsity athletes was freshman middle-distance runner Jacob Bartholomew.

LGBT issues are important in my life because recently a couple of my friends who have been involved in sports came out in high school. I have a whole lot of friends who are gay. When they came out I wasn’t totally shocked, but at the same time I realized there are a lot of people who are gay and lesbian. They’re no different than who they were before.

UCLA power lifter Kyle Ransom said his eyes were opened to the power of casual homophobia in the locker room:

This issue is important because a lot of times we as athletes in the locker room, we’re giving each other crap and we dont’ realize the deeper meanings behind a lot of what we’re saying. We do it a lot of times in jest, but to a gay or closeted teammate it may be more than that. I know I’ll be making more of an effort to watch what I say in the future.

Power lifting is a club sport at UCLA.

Sinai, who was a closeted athlete in high school, talked about the reality for athletes who remain in the closet at UCLA:

There are still so many closeted people here at UCLA, especially athletes, who don’t feel comfortable coming out to their friends and teammates.  Hudson really drove that point home yesterday – in part of his speech to the athletes yesterday he talked about how even though there might not be any out people on a certain team yet, the closeted people on those teams are without a doubt looking for those safe-space stickers and vocal allies that they can turn to.  This is what this day was all about – developing allies, and providing these closeted team members with people that they can turn to, who will accept them with open arms.

Kudos to everyone who contributed to this fantastic event. This is how change is made, and you can see the wheels of change spinning in Ransom’s comment.

UCLA Athlete Ally photos by Joe Lipper.

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Mitch Stein (Patch.com photo)

Mitch Stein, an openly gay man, was fired as the junior varsity boys water polo coach at Charter Oaks High School in Covina, Calif., after pictures surfaced of him with people dressed in drag. Stein is a graduate of the school and his daughter is a freshman at the school. Stein alleges that he was fired because he is gay. Parents have rallied to his cause, demanding he be reinstated. From the Glendora Patch:

Stein, who previously coached water polo from 1995 to 1998, was fired after coming back to the high school to coach only four months prior to his termination.

One photo shows Stein suggestively holding a corndog to his face and another has Stein posing with men in drag. Stein was never wearing anything sexually suggestive in the pictures nor were any students linked to the photos.

“The only thing these pictures prove is that I’m gay,” Stein said.

The photos, one of which were at least a decade old, were sent to school administrators by a vindictive parent angry at punishment imposed by some athletes by the school’s swim coach, Stein said.  (I have not seen the photos and Stein’s profile on social medis sites is now private). Soon after, Stein was fired.

Stein said he asked the administrator point-blank if there would there be an issue if he (Stein) had been photographed with cheerleaders wearing skimpy outfits. According to Stein, the administrator said “No, because that’s their uniform.” Stein replied “These are drag queens. This is their uniform.”

Stein believes that he was fired because of his sexual orientation, a claim officials deny.

Brad Kane, a local attorney, read about Stein’s case on Wipeout Homophobia on Facebook and is helping Stein pursue possible legal action. California has job protection for LGBT people, so of Stein can prove he was fired because he was gay, the school is in trouble. “I can say, and so can any other superintendent, that there are laws that protect – that ensure – that we do not discriminate against any individual,” Superintendent Mike Hendricks  said.

I was heartened to hear that parents have rallied to Stein. Outsports received an email from a person who says he is a gay athlete and wrote this about the Stein case: “I think it sucks…he is a cool guy.”

One coach told Patch that “what he was fired over was not offensive at all.” Kim Cory, a water polo parent, wants Stein back and told the Whittier Daily News that while the photos in question were “dumb,” they weren’t ground for dismissal. “I think he’s a fabulous coach,” she said.

Stein has raised money for the school’s aquatic program and is a proud alum. He is most worried about how his daughter Devynn will cope. She has already been harassed by students calling her dad a transvestite and cross-dresser.

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One in a series of first-person articles from athletes competing in the 2010 Gay Games in Cologne.

I never liked sports. Living in Mexico City, the son of a gymnastics coach and a physical education teacher, I grew up surrounded by athletic masculinity.  I never felt I was masculine or aggressive enough to practice anything, but I was forced to try everything: swimming, volleyball, karate, basketball, tennis and so on – anything that would, in opinion of my parents, make me more athletic, and I guess also more “straightish.”

The result was always the same: I ended up quitting the physical activity, whatever it was, and trying to seek refuge from my feelings of inadequacy, gender issues, fear of my parents not loving me enough for my lack of sports skills, and deep down, from my fear of knowing that I was gay in a highly homophobic environment.
It was that same environment that pushed me years later to leave Mexico and seek a more understanding and free milieu, in Canada.  I came out in Canada. I found a great place where I could be myself and have an openly gay life, albeit with the inconvenience of being an immigrant and outsider to the white dominant group. But I guess I was always an immigrant – I had never really belonged to my homophobic culture.

One day in Toronto, I discovered Triggerfish, a LGBTQ water polo team. It was July 2007, and I decided to attend the first session. I was so scared. Years of physical inactivity and smoking left me with an almost crippled body. I swam the first length and I was exhausted. But at the same time I was amazed by the fact that openly gay people were swimming in the facilities of the university, right out there, before the gaze of everybody, and it was totally fine.

For the first time in my life I was not scared. It was fine to be gay. Actually, it was amazing. I had found water polo and Triggerfish, a team where I started making amazing friends and got my first interaction with the gay community in Toronto. My teammates have been very supportive of me, and being part of the team has made me feel at home in Canada, and that I have membership in this great society.

Triggerfish healed me in many ways, from my years of fears and internalized homophobia, from my insecurities and issues of growing up “different.” Today, both my parents are proud of me practicing a sport. I quit smoking and I have considered taking water polo more seriously. That is part of the reason why I wanted to attend the Gay Games in Cologne.

When I was asked to write about my experience I had second thoughts about actually doing it. I thought my travelling to the Games was nothing special, other than the fact that I had the means to do it. It is not like I had to go through provincial selections or nationals; I did not have to beat any other players or teams to get the chance to attend the Games.  But I guess I had to beat more important things, such as recognizing my sense of personal value, and accepting that my body could increase its capacity, and after each practice be better than before. More important than any of that, though, is the opportunity to be part of a network such as Triggerfish, where a bunch of people from different walks of life get together a couple of times per week to celebrate life, sport, diversity and being proud of who we are. My teammates are my family in Canada. I can’t wait to go to the Games, where people from all the world get together to celebrate diversity.

This article was written by the athlete and sent to Outsports by Gay Games 2010. If you want to tell your story, send us an article and photo to: mail@outsports.com.

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Here are some more pictures from Brent of the LMU-UCLA match:
Click on image for larger view, then click again for an even larger view.

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Click on an image for a larger view, then on that image for an even larger view:

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More pics after the jump.

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Thanks to the guys at OhLaLa for highlighting the beautiful work of German photographer Rasmus Kaessmann. His water polo series is striking and revealing. Few people ever see the battle that goes on below the surface in a water polo match; While the match he captured was staged, the grabbing, tugging, pushing and near drowning depicted are very true-to-life. They’re stunning photos; I’d love to know his technique. Also check out soccer shots he took for Nike.

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→ The Oxford Swim Club gets down in a charity video for Oxfam

→ Charles Barkley on “fake Christians” and supporting gay marriage

→ Dan Carter: “The hottest rugby player”

→ One guy’s amazing abs

→ Billy Bean: Ex-gay sports therapy is ludicrous

→ Water polo’s Wolf Wigo in a Mikasa ad

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