Necessary Roughness

Time to Change the Game in Our Schools

Last month I attended a very important meeting. Our local GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network) held its first team meeting for Changing the Game: The GLSEN Sports Project. This is an initiative the organization has taken on in recent months, as they have realized that in our schools—like in the rest of society—homophobia is most prevalent and accepted in our locker rooms, on our sports fields, and in the gym. Groups like GLSEN have made tremendous inroads in our schools nationwide, changing the culture for gay and lesbian students, and creating environments where they are comfortable, accepted and (most important) protected. Now, if we can just do the same thing for kids in sports.

In my work I’ve heard from and about so many people who neglected to pursue their love of sports in school. They found the locker room atmosphere to be hostile, or they were teased for being effeminate boys or butch girls. Some feared that sports would exacerbate their, how shall we say, uniqueness, and force them to come out long before they were ready. For many who did play sports, they weren’t able to excel as they might have because they weren’t able to bring their entire selves to the game.

GLSEN wants to change all that, and I am happy to be serving on the Phoenix Sports Team Project.

Why is all this necessary?

• Athletics and physical education provide students with confidence and discipline. Students who are involved in sports often do better in the classroom, volunteer in the community, and devote time to other extra-curricular activities that will be beneficial in their lives.
• Physical education is important in the development of K-12 students; however, a student is unable to take advantage of such if P.E. classes are not safe places where everyone is treated with respect.
• Sports can provide gay and lesbian students with a sense of belonging. Many such students experience isolation during their junior high and high school years, in particular, since those are years in which they are beginning to understand their sexuality.
• The improvements that have been made in many of our schools are laudable, but they can’t be considered entirely successful until every corner of those schools is part of that safe, respectful environment.

What are the consequences when gay and lesbian students are not welcomed in sports and physical education?

• They withdraw. They ditch that class. The get into trouble.
• They are forced to endure harassment by their peers and sometimes even by coaches/teachers.
• They end up not pursuing their love of a particular sport, one in which they might be a star!

I’m proud to be a “game-changer” with this Phoenix Team. If you think you have what it takes to be a game-changer in your city, contact your local GLSEN chapter by visiting www.glsen.org. There are many ways you can change the game for today’s K-12 student-athletes. As Jack McFarland would say, you can “gay it forward.”