As San Francisco Giants fans celebrate their team’s World Series win, the City and County of San Francisco and the Board of Supervisors are announcing their support for LGBT professional athletes. At a press conference Tuesday, they will throw their support behind The Last Closet, a campaign to end homophobia in men’s professional sports, and one of the campaign’s specific efforts. The Supervisors and The Last Closet will hold their joint press conference Tuesday, Oct. 30, at 11:30am in City Hall in Room 416, including speakers from the City, NCLR and former NFL player David Kopay.
If you'll be in San Francisco on Tuesday, please do come on out for the big announcement. Outsports will be there covering the event.
As San Francisco Giants fans celebrate their team’s World Series win, the City and County of San Francisco and the Board of Supervisors are announcing their support for LGBT professional athletes. At a press conference Tuesday, they will throw their support behind The Last Closet, a campaign to end homophobia in men’s professional sports, and one of the campaign’s specific efforts. The Supervisors and The Last Closet will hold their joint press conference Tuesday, Oct. 30, at 11:30am in City Hall in Room 416, including speakers from the City, NCLR and former NFL player David Kopay.
If you'll be in San Francisco on Tuesday, please do come on out for the big announcement. Outsports will be there covering the event.
Press AdvisoryContact: Stephanie Tucker Office of Supervisor Olague, 415-554-6758Fawn Yacker, The Last Closet, 415- 334-1200Erik Olvera, National Center for Lesbian Rights, 415-365-1324
San Francisco Supervisors Olague & Campos to Announce the Introduction of a Groundbreaking Resolution, and Kick Off “The Last Closet” National Campaign.
What: The Last Closet Campaign Press Conference
When: October 30, 2012 11:30 AM
Where: City Hall, Hearing Room 416
Who: Supervisors Olague & Campos, The Last Closet Team: Fawn Yacker – Project Director, Jennifer Kelley – Project Co-Director, Cyd Zeigler – Project Co-Producer and Helen Carroll – Director of NCLR’s Sports Project with special guests.
As our City shines with team spirit and in light of our beloved SF Giant’s amazing World Series victory, the LGBT community and the City Hall Family would like to alert you to a San Francisco sports first.
Please join LGBT members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisor's Christina Olague and David Campos, The Last Closet Campaign and the National Center of Lesbian Rights (NCLR) for a Press Conference to mark the launch of a national campaign that paves the way for the first professional athlete in US sports history to come out publicly while actively playing.
Supervisors Christina Olague and David Campos will introduce a groundbreaking resolution encouraging the commissioners of the five major sports – Major League Baseball, National Football League, National Basketball Association, National Hockey League, Major League Soccer – to state, on camera, that they support their LGBT players and invite them to come out. In addition, ask them to promise attention to the safety of these players once they do come out.This resolution provides a model for cities and counties across the nation, helping to open the closet doors of professional sports. Our youth need LGBT sports heroes. Bias based harassment is complicit in the disturbing statistics related to LGBT youth taking their own lives. It is fitting that San Francisco take the lead on this important issue.
The Last Closet is a grassroots movement and campaign to end the prevailing silence around homophobia in pro sports and to encourage professional athletes, commissioners, team owners and other members of the sports world to consent to in-depth interviews about this subject. These interviews reveal what the current climate would be for a publicly out pro athlete (and what kind of support systems could/should be put in place). The goal of The Last Closet is to establish the connection between positive LGBT role models and the reduction of LGBT youth suicide and bullying incidents.
The Last Closet is a production of Woman Vision.
Visit The Last Closet at: www.thelastcloset.org
PHOTO: Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images
