Two lesbian women’s volleyball coaches have won a first-round court battle in their discrimination lawsuit against the Univ. of Delaware.
Bonnie Kenny and Cindy Gregory, who were married and coaching the Blue Hens women’s volleyball team, “‘sufficiently’ demonstrated they were discriminated against by virtue of age, sexual orientation and marital status in their lawsuit against UD, a U.S. District Court judge has ruled,” according to Delaware Online.
Kenny was named CAA coach of the year four times during her tenure, according to the school that fired her.
While she had seven straight winning seasons coaching the Univ. of Delaware, she was 44-62 in the three-plus seasons before she was fired.
It will be interesting to watch as this lawsuit continues to unfold. Lesbian coaches have faced discrimination by athletic departments for decades, and lesbians have won various lawsuits against college athletic departments. It will be interesting to see if their .300 conference win percentage in their final seasons plays a role.
This year, in their first full season without Kenny, the team went 5-21, by far worse than any record Kenny ever posted with the team.
If the first legal victory is any indication, there’s more at play here than just some wins and losses.
We’ll be following this case as it moves through the courts.
