Issues

By Jim Buzinski and Cyd Zeigler Jr. Outsports.com

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Observations from the Gay and Lesbian Athletics Foundation Conference held March 28-30 at MIT in Cambridge, Mass., attended by close to 300 people. Since the two of us could not be at every panel or hear every speech, we’re aware we may have missed some things.

If you attended the conference and have an anecdote or observation to share please e-mail us and we will publish it below.

An emotional moment came on the conference’s final days when former Olympic rower Holly Metcalf gave her first public speech about being a lesbian. While competing, Metcalf was unaware of the gay and lesbian sports movement and was surprised and impressed by the community she saw at the conference. Hers is one of the truly wonderful stories to come out of the event – a woman who knew little about what was going on with gay and lesbian sports whom, after this conference, will be making a more concerted effort to be involved.

JB/CZ

Another person in that position was former professional umpire Tyler Hoffman: a wonderful guy who seems incredibly eager to learn more about what’s going on with gay sports, and his role in it. His drink of choice: Vanilla Stoli & Coke. Cyd and NYC/Boston hockey player Kevin Battistelli did manage to drag Tyler, along with another former professional umpire, Dave Pallone, onto the dance floor at Vapor the last night of the conference. You Canadians can be proud.

CZ

Speaking of Canadians, we had heard that Mark Tewksbury was VERY out and proud - we had no idea just how out he was. He’s a ball of fire with lots of enthusiasm that spread quickly to anyone who would grab his ear (not literally). During his keynote address to close the conference, he even did an encore performance of the “Beavers” cheer he performed for his Olympic swimming team years ago. I spent 20 minutes walking to the convention hall in the rain with Mark just before that speech and found him to be overwhelmingly interested in building his role in the world of gay sports and positively affecting the Gay Games; Mark was a member of the bid team that won the 2006 Gay Games for Montreal.

CZ

Aside to Mike German—When are you going to get Mark Welsh into the Olympic Club?

JB

One of the neatest things about the conference was the number of collegiate athletes there: we counted between eight and 10. While Jon Goler, a captain of the MIT swim team, expressed some disappointment that there weren’t more, it would have been none, or maybe one, if this conference had been held five years ago. We’ll be featuring some of their stories, told by them, in the coming weeks.

JB/CZ

Had a long chat with ex-big leaguer Billy Bean, who is very excited about the publication this month of his book “Going the Other Way.” I’ve read it and was very impressed by its honesty and emotion. It will be very popular with anyone who has wrestled with their sexuality.

JB

One of the workshops on Friday was a meeting of some of the men and women who head up local and national gay sports organizations. From rowing in Washington DC to the Federation of Gay Games, many perspectives were represented as a list of challenges facing these organizations, and successes achieved by them, was developed. The greatest challenge discussed at length was how to get more women involved in the groups. From women’s groups to international organizations, each group that spoke expressed a concern that, despite their best efforts, lesbians weren’t interested in participating.

This was a concern that Cyd addressed with several of the women at the conference, most notably Pat Griffin (author and professor at UMass Amherst). It’s something that the dynamic Helen Carroll has expressed concern about to us. Pat was surprised to hear about Outsports’ concerted efforts to attract female writers and develop more content for women and the cold shoulder we have received from most women we’ve approached. Pat has agreed to help us with this issue – help we are more than happy to receive.

CZ

Anyone who stayed in the host hotel looked awfully haggard Saturday morning. This was because of a fire alarm that rousted us all out of bed at 4:15 a.m. Even the normally ebullient Helen Carroll wasn’t smiling. Another alarm occurred after midnight the next night causing more consternation.

JB

How coincidental that MIT should be hosting their conference’s men’s gymnastics championships in the building directly next to the one in which the gay sports conference was being held. We know a few people made it to the events. For the rest of us, we had to settle for watching them run out of the hotel in their boxer shorts during the fire alarm Saturday morning.

CZ

Had a great time chatting with Skidmore (NY) women's basketball coach Lisa Pleban and her partner while watching the end of the Georgia-Duke NCAA women's game on the tube. Pleban couldn't help but coach the players from 1,000 miles away and it was amusing to see a guy try and chat up her partner; no sale.

JB

Probably the most talked about session was the one featuring keynote addressed by Eric “Coach Gumby” Anderson and former Major League umpire Dave Pallone. Gumby opened the session with a lecture about men’s lack of involvement in helping women overcome the barriers of sexism in sport. He finished his talk by declaring that football must be abolished – which drove women’s pro football player Alissa Wykes to nearly tackle Gumby as he approached her to say hello. Pallone gave a thoughtful speech – featuring a quote from Robert Kennedy with Pallone’s Boston accent – that sent the crowd to its feet in ovation. The speech sent conference content manager Rob Jagnow to tears as he forced his way through a list of thank-yous.

CZ

Alissa Wykes, the fullback for the Philadelphia Liberty Belles football team is a total treat. She inadvertently had the audience in stitches during a panel on pro athletes. In detailing the resistance of some to her public coming out, Wykes went over a long list of reasons why she is a good person and solid citizen. “… I’m a foster parent for cats …” had everyone turn to their neighbor and whisper, “Did she say cats?” Panelist Dave Pallone turned to her and asked the same question. A wave of laughter then spread over the room.

JB

A media member to watch is L.Z. Granderson of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He’s that rarest of breeds—an unapologetic, openly gay sportswriter. The fact that he’s also a well-built jock doesn’t hurt his image. He told a funny story about being in a bar with members of the NHL’s Atlanta Thrashers. Players kept pointing to various women and asking Z if he was interested. After he declined a half-dozen times, one of the players asked if he was gay. When Z answered in the affirmative, they reacted with shock and mock horror and he said they have been cool with it since. These kinds of interaction are more effective than a dozen columns about homophobia.

JB

Kudos to Luke Cyphers from ESPN the Magazine and ESPN producer Craig Lazarus for appearing on the sports media panel. It is always good to get the non-gay perspective from people in the mainstream media. From their comments, it’s clear that the media are interested in telling stories of gay and lesbian athletes.

JB

The sacrifice award goes to Paul Farber, a journalist and former runner at the University of Pennsylvania. He told me how he literally counted change from a jar to come up with enough money to take two buses from Philadelphia to Boston. That’s dedication. Paul has penned a terrific piece on coming out at Penn.

JB

Bet Mac Chinsomboon is glad to have his walkie-talkie earpiece out. And he and his staff and volunteers must have enjoyed finally getting some sleep after all their hard work.

Participant comments:

Over 10 years ago, I attended the first-ever conference of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association, in San Francisco. The energy was spectacular -- but at the same time there was an undercurrent of anxiety. Most people spent a great deal of time looking over their shoulders -- wondering who they might spot from a former or current job (or, more importantly, who might spot them).

This first-ever sports conference had a similar amount of pent-up energy -- but without the fears. Sure, there was interest in knowing who else was there; however, everyone understands that there are many more gay athletes "out there" than most people realize, and furthermore we have every right to participate in any activity we want, from running and swimming to rugby and triathlons.

The world has come a long way in 10 years -- far more than a decade's worth of progress has been made. And, oh yeah, jocks are a lot cuter than journalists.

Dan Woog
Connecticut

For me the weekend was outstanding – I made connections with other people, shared life stories, felt validated and most of all, inspired.  I arrived home feeling like I made a whole bunch of new friends!
 
As a doctorate student in Social Justice at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, this conference really hit home.  For the past two years, I have been floundering back and forth on a dissertation topic.  Meeting, listening and interacting with people who have inspired me (Dan Woog, Billy Bean, Pat Griffin, Robert Dover, and Tyler Hoffman – plus many of the conference attendees) has helped me narrow down my research topic.  For the first time in a long while, I finally feel like I can see my path in life.
 
I am looking forward to being actively involved with the Gay and Lesbian Athletics Foundation.

Jeff Waugh
Hadley, Mass.

We are not alone, and we are no longer isolated. I have not had such a positive experience in so long a time. The GLAF conference was indeed overdue, I am glad I was a part of this inaugural event.

In the cold region that is Minnesota, we often feel so isolated from the rest of the country, the coastal cities and much of the GBLT community. I didn't know what to expect when I attended the conference but any and all of those expectations were indeed achieved and exceeded.

In my niche of gay hockey, I've been fortunate enough to find a fraternity of supportive and diverse individuals. The GLAF conference allowed me to branch out off of the "ice" and network with amateur, semi, and pro athletes alike. Indeed many of the issues we face as gay sports leaders are prevalent in all types of organizations. I found that many of the obstacles we face are the same. All who attended should be of what we've had to endure and overcome to grace the "finish line" with our colleagues.

Indeed this is just the beginning of something remarkable. We are an established group that now have a voice and our agenda, so aptly put during the opening remarks, "We're here, we're queer, and we're coming to a sports team near you!"

Chuck Hagel
Minneapolis

April 1, 2003