It’s been really cool to watch the college-based LGBTQ organization Campus Pride embrace sports and push for a leading role in the movement to build inclusion in the world of college athletics.
Led by Shane Windmeyer, Campus Pride has both created and enhanced resources to educate non-LGBTQ people in sports — and inspire LGBT athletes and coaches — to ensure that one of the most high-profile elements of college life is welcoming for all.
Plus, based in Charlotte, Windmeyer and Campus Pride have been at ground zero from moment one of the fight against North Carolina’s HB2 and the negative repercussions the bill has brought to the entire state.
In 2016, Campus Pride continued its work toward inclusion in sports, highlighting five key initiatives the organization prioritized in the sports world:
- Campus Pride planned and implemented three HBCU LGBTQ Sports Inclusion Summits in the South, hosted on the campuses of Virginia State University, Alabama A&M University and North Carolina Central University. This was funded in part by Nike’s BeTrue campaign.
- Campus Pride expanded outreach and support with the Campus Pride Sports Index; Public listing now has 24 campuses who have come out as LGBTQ-inclusive sports spaces wanting to improve for future
- Campus Pride in partnership with Soulforce worked to bring attention to the negative harms of Title IX religious exemptions, targeting the NCAA member institutions with these anti-LGBTQ policies and the harm to student athletes; Campus Pride wrote open letter asking NCAA to divest against discriminatory NCAA member institutions and had a protest event at NCAA Track & Field event
- Living and operating from inside North Carolina, Campus Pride served as an active visible voice for LGBTQ students and the movement in relation to HB2, specifically in regard to sporting events choosing to boycott the state
- Campus Pride attended NCAA Common Ground Conference, opening communication and breaking down barriers on LGBTQ and faith within athletics
Here’s hoping Campus Pride’s initiatives continue to get a huge boost in 2017.
