Part of Outsports’ series on our 100 most important moments in gay sports history. Softball, 2004. When Andrea Zimbardi, an SEC honor roll student and a senior captain on the team, was kicked off of the University of Florida softball team in the midst of their march to the NCAA tournament, Zimbardi suspected it was [...]
Posts under ‘Women’
Are you watching the women’s World Cup?
While many complain about the doldrums of summer sports that have set in (especially now that Wimbledon is behind us), we are in the midst of a major worldwide sporting event: the women’s World Cup in Germany. But on the front page of ESPN.com, the only mention is a question for their Streak for the [...]
Babe Didrikson Zaharias gets some love from the New York Times
The New York Times ran a full-page Sunday story on Babe Didrikson Zaharias, who is regarded as one of the greatest athletes, male or female, of the 20th Century. The piece focused on her athletic triumphs in various sports (track & field and golf, in particular), her fading public recognition and how she changed women’s [...]
‘Lesbian panic’ in women’s soccer
This is reprinted from In Bed With Maradona with permission of the author. By Keph Senett Sports fans are an indulgent lot with our obsessive statistics, our gang colors, and our willingness to entertain a well-told fable, like the one about Paul the octopus who could flawlessly forecast game outcomes. With the recent kick-off of [...]
Seminar to explore why female athletes are MIA in the gay marriage debate
The Association for Women in Sports Media is hosting a free online seminar Monday called the “Rainbow Ceiling,” exploring why female athletes have been largely silent on the issue of gay marriage and on homosexuality in sports in general (the group’s news release is below). It’s a great topic and one that did not strike [...]
Diana Nyad, now 61, attempting to swim from Cuba to Key West this summer
As we continue our search to find the 100 most important moments in gay-sports history, one of the intriguing figures to arise has been swimmer Diana Nyad. What makes her so different from so many other openly gay and lesbian athletes is that she never had a big “coming out” moment; Even her Web site [...]
Lesbian couple claims anti-gay discrimination by Minnesota Twins security guard
Two lesbians claim they were the victims of discrimination when a security guard for the Minesota Twins told them they couldn’t kiss one another at a Twins game. Taylor Campione and Kelsi Culpepper claim the guard said they couldn’t play “grab ass” and that they must adhere to the Ten Commandments while in the stadium. If [...]
Kye Allums, Lisa Howe recognized by the National Center for Lesbian Rights
It was a real honor to be at the National Center for Lesbian Rights‘ annual celebration in San Francisco last Saturday. Outsports has been a big supporter of NCLR for years because of their dedication to sports and the measurable results fighting for gay rights that put them in a class all their own. Kye [...]
Track & field could soon ban women with high testosterone levels
The International Association of Athletics Federations, track & field’s governing body, is changing some hormone-based rules to determine whether women can compete against other women. According to the new guidelines (in very basic terms), women with hyperandrogenism whose testosterone levels approach those of men would not be allowed to compete as a woman. There are other [...]
Masters bars female reporter from the locker room on thrilling Sunday
The Masters Tournament is apologizing today for what they call a “misunderstanding” that kept a female reporter out of the locker room on the final day of the tournament. Bergen Record reporter Tara Sullivan was barred by security guards from pursuing locker room interviews of Rory McIlroy and others, allegedly because she is a woman. [...]
Women outscore men for championship
While Jim wrote Monday about the dreadful UConn-Butler men’s national championship game, the women took center stage last night and put up 52 more points than the men could muster as Texas A&M won its first women’s basketball national title, 76-70, over Notre Dame. Could this be a turning point for women’s basketball? One complaint [...]
Video: ESPN profiles Kye Allums
ESPN’s ‘Outside the Lines’ Sunday featured a story on transgender basketball player Kye Allums hours before the start of the Women’s Final Four. The piece covered a lot of territory from Kye’s relationship with his mother, Rolanda DelaMartinez, to his high school basketball career, to the acceptance of his team at George Washington. Two videos [...]
Sheryl Swoopes returning to the WNBA
Out WNBA star Sheryl Swoopes is returning to the WNBA after a 2-year hiatus. The 40-year-old last played for the Seattle Storm, but she has now signed with the Tulsa Shock. During her hiatus she played professionally in Greece and coached the girls basketball team at Mercer Island High School in Washington. She said she’s [...]
Open lesbian Hawaiian Supreme Court judge Sabrina Shizue McKenna was basketball player
Ross Forman at the Windy City Times has a recent piece about newly appointed Hawaiian Supreme Court judge Sabrina Shizue McKenna. In addition to being one of the first openly gay person to serve on the state’s highest court. McKenna’s also familiar with another kind of court, having played for the University of Hawaii women’s [...]
Nancy Locke and Meredith Baxter appearing on Oprah today to discuss revealing new book
While many people know Meredith Baxter from her long-running stint on Family Ties, not many know much about her partner, Nancy Locke. Nancy happens to be the contractor on our home (no, she’s not giving me a discount for saying wonderful things about her). And I know she’s an avid sports fan (while Meredith couldn’t [...]