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Homosexuality in college sports

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Although gay athletes and coaches are increasingly accepted in college sports, they continue to be controversial among some people.

Athletes

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A study published in the Journal of Sex Research in February of 1977 found that around 25% of all male college athletes have had gay experiences.[1]

American college basketball

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The case of Jennifer Harris against Penn State, more specifically their women's basketball coach Rene Portland, was about homosexuality.[2] In 2006, a gay rights advocacy group, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, accused Rene Portland of forcing player Jennifer Harris to transfer because of bias against lesbians. The advocacy group claimed that Portland was biased against lesbians for decades and cited a 1986 interview in which she claimed she talked to recruits and parents of recruits about lesbians stating, "I will not have it in my program."[3] There were also claims of Portland telling key recruits—to discourage them from attending another school—that the other team was "full of lesbians." The lawsuit was eventually settled out of court and Penn State found Portland in violation of policy. She was fined $10,000 by the university in lieu of a one-game suspension and warned that another infraction would result in the termination of her employment.[4] Rene Portland eventually resigned from her position as women's head basketball coach.[5]

In 2014, shortly after the end of the season, sophomore starting guard Derrick Gordon of the University of Massachusetts Amherst came out as gay, making him the first Division I men's basketball player to do so while still playing in college.[6] Later that year, still playing for the University of Massachusetts Amherst, he became the first openly gay player in Division I to play in a men's basketball game.[7] In 2016, as a player for Seton Hall University, he became the first openly gay man to play in the March Madness tournament.[8]

Jesse Taylor, a basketball player at Dakota Wesleyan University, came out as gay in 2015, making him South Dakota's first openly gay college athlete.[9]

American college football

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Division II college football player Brian Sims came out as gay to his team in 2000 while playing for Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania,[10] and publicly told his story in 2009.[11] Alan Gendreau was openly gay to his Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders football team from 2008 through 2011, but the team made no mention of it to the media.[12] Otherwise, he could have been the first publicly out gay active player in Division I college football.[13] Outsports, a website specializing in LGBTQ people in sports, released his story about being a gay football player on April 23, 2013.[12][13]

Division III player Conner Mertens came out as bisexual in January 2014, becoming the first active college football player at any level to publicly come out as bisexual or gay.[14][15] In August 2014, Arizona State player Chip Sarafin became the first publicly out active Division I player when he came out as gay.[16] The following season, in 2015, another Division I offensive lineman, Mason Darrow of Princeton University, also came out as gay publicly.[17] In 2017, Scott Frantz publicly came out as gay, joining My-King Johnson as two of the first openly gay players in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision.[18] Later that same year, Frantz became the first openly gay college football player to play in a game for an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision school.[19] In 2018, Bradley Kim of the United States Air Force Academy came out as gay, thus becoming the first openly gay football player to play for any military academy in the United States; open homosexuality was forbidden in the U.S. Armed Forces until 2011.[20] Also in 2018, Division II Wyatt Pertuset of Capital University became the first openly gay college player to score a touchdown.[21][22] In 2022, Byron Perkins of Hampton University came out as gay, making him the first openly gay football player at any historically black college or university.[23][24]

American college swimming

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In 2018, Abrahm DeVine, a swimmer for Stanford University, came out as gay, making him one of "very few openly gay swimmers competing on the elite level."[25][26][27] In September 2019, DeVine said he was dropped from the Stanford team due to homophobia, which team coaches denied in a statement which did not include why they took the action.[28][29][30]

Coaches

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The case of Jennifer Harris against Penn State, more specifically their women's basketball coach Rene Portland, was about homosexuality.[2] In 2006, a gay rights advocacy group, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, accused Rene Portland of forcing player Jennifer Harris to transfer because of bias against lesbians. The advocacy group claimed that Portland was biased against lesbians for decades and cited a 1986 interview in which she claimed she talked to recruits and parents of recruits about lesbians stating, "I will not have it in my program."[3] There were also claims of Portland telling key recruits—to discourage them from attending another school—that the other team was "full of lesbians." The lawsuit was eventually settled out of court and Penn State found Portland in violation of policy. She was fined $10,000 by the university in lieu of a one-game suspension and warned that another infraction would result in the termination of her employment.[4] Rene Portland eventually resigned from her position as women's head basketball coach.[5]

In 2015, Bryant University assistant basketball coach Chris Burns came out as gay, making him the first openly gay coach in Division I men's basketball.[31]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Garner, Brian; Smith, Richard W. (1977). "Are There Really Any Gay Male Athletes? An Empirical Survey". The Journal of Sex Research. 13 (1): 22–34. doi:10.1080/00224497709550957. ISSN 0022-4499. JSTOR 3811966.
  2. ^ a b "Group says Penn State coach biased - Women's College Basketball - ESPN". ESPN. 2005-10-11. Retrieved 2012-10-09.
  3. ^ a b "Group accuses Penn State coach with anti-lesbian bias". ESPN.com. 2005-10-11. Retrieved 2016-11-12.
  4. ^ a b [1] Archived September 3, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ a b "Penn State coach Portland resigns". ESPN.com. 22 March 2007. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
  6. ^ Fagan, Kate (April 9, 2014). "UMass' Derrick Gordon says he's gay". ESPN.com. Retrieved April 9, 2014.
  7. ^ "Moment Resonates, Quietly, at UMass". The New York Times. November 15, 2014.
  8. ^ "WATCH: The First Openly Gay Athlete to Play in March Madness". March 18, 2016.
  9. ^ Taylor, Jesse. "South Dakota's first out gay college athlete plays basketball for Dakota Wesleyan University". SB Nation Outsports. Vox Media. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  10. ^ Zeigler, Cyd (April 27, 2009). "Former college football captain was openly gay". Outsports.com. Archived from the original on January 15, 2013.
  11. ^ Zeigler, Cyd (August 24, 2011). "Moment #43: Brian Sims tells his story nine years later". outsports.com. Archived from the original on December 17, 2013.
  12. ^ a b Watson, Graham (April 23, 2013). "Former Middle Tennessee kicker was openly gay with teammates, coaches". yahoo.com. Retrieved April 23, 2013.
  13. ^ a b Branch, John (April 23, 2013). "A Potential Pioneer, Just Looking for a Job". The New York Times. Retrieved April 24, 2013.
  14. ^ Corcoran, Tully (January 28, 2014). "'I'm bisexual': Kicker becomes first CFB player to publicly come out publicly". FoxSports.com. Archived from the original on March 2, 2014. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
  15. ^ "College football player Conner Mertens comes out". Outsports. Retrieved 2018-06-15.
  16. ^ Zeigler, Cyd (August 13, 2014). "Arizona State football offensive lineman Chip Sarafin comes out as gay". Outsports. Retrieved August 18, 2014.
  17. ^ Zeigler, Cyd (September 15, 2015). "One of the Guys". Outsports. Archived from the original on September 15, 2015. Retrieved June 8, 2023.
  18. ^ "Scott Frantz of Kansas State Wildcats details telling teammates he is gay". Espn.com. 2017-07-13. Retrieved 2017-08-22.
  19. ^ Zeigler, Cyd (2017-09-04). "Big XII football team with openly gay player wins by 36 points. So much for distractions". Outsports. Retrieved 2017-09-08.
  20. ^ "Air Force defensive back Bradley Kim is first openly gay service academy player". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. 28 July 2018. Retrieved 2018-07-29.
  21. ^ Buzinski, Jim (September 27, 2018). "Gay college football player now an Ohio high school coach". MSN.com.
  22. ^ Buzinski, Jim (August 29, 2019). "There are 7 openly gay or bi college football players this season". Outsports. Retrieved March 25, 2021.
  23. ^ Selbe, Nick. "Hampton DB Becomes First HBCU Football Player to Come Out as Gay". Sports Illustrated.
  24. ^ "Byron Perkins Makes History As First Out Football Player at HBCU". www.advocate.com. October 20, 2022.
  25. ^ "NCAA champion swimmer Abrahm DeVine comes out as gay". Outsports. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
  26. ^ Reider, David (September 16, 2018). "Abrahm DeVine Stepping Out as Elite IMer and Gay Swimmer". Swimming World News. Archived from the original on September 17, 2018. Retrieved October 3, 2019.
  27. ^ "U.S. swimmer Abrahm DeVine comes out as gay". GAY TIMES. 2018-09-22. Retrieved 2023-08-09.
  28. ^ Villarreal, Daniel (September 30, 2019). "NCAA swimmer says homophobic coaches ousted him". Outsports. Archived from the original on October 1, 2019. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
  29. ^ "Stanford Swimmer Abrahm DeVine Claims He Was Kicked Off Team Because He's Gay". YourTango. October 9, 2019. Retrieved February 18, 2020.
  30. ^ "Former Stanford swimmer accuses team of homophobia". NBC News. 2019-10-02. Retrieved 2023-08-09.
  31. ^ Wire, S. I. (October 8, 2015). "Bryant hoops coach Chris Burns comes out as gay". Sports Illustrated.
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