NCLR’s Sports Project aims to level the playing field for LGBT players and coaches. More than 30 years ago, Title IX changed athletics forever by requiring that women and girls have equal access to sporting and athletic opportunities. Today NCLR's advocacy, public education, and high-profile cases have the potential to equalize the treatment of LGBT athletes in this century. We seek nothing less than a world in which openly LGBT sports figures can be hailed as champions and role models at every level of competition.
news & opinion
In the News
The Transgender Athlete
Inside Higher Ed
01.25.10—Colleges and athletic departments need new policies to promote opportunity for everyone to participate in sports programs, write Pat Griffin and NCLR Sports Project Director Helen Carroll.
Press Release
National Center for Lesbian Rights Wins Landmark
Title IX Retaliation Lawsuit on Behalf of Former Head Basketball Coach
Jury Finds Title IX Retaliation at San Diego Mesa College
12.03.09—Today, the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) secured a favorable jury verdict on behalf of Lorri Sulpizio, the former head coach of the women’s basketball team at San Diego Mesa College (Mesa), a college within the San Diego Community College District (District). The California State Court jury awarded $28,000, the equivalent of one year’s salary, in damages, finding that the District had retaliated against Sulpizio when she complained that Mesa engaged in gender inequities in violation of Title IX, a federal statute that prohibits discrimination based on sex in any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance in the United States.
Press Release
Top Sports Leaders, Researchers, Medical & Legal Experts Address Equal Opportunity for Transgender Student-Athletes
10.27.09—In a groundbreaking think tank sponsored by the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) in partnership with the Women’s Sports Foundation Initiative: It Takes a Team! Education Campaign for LGBT Issues in Sport, top sports leaders, legal experts, policymakers and student-athletes gathered to address equal opportunity for transgender student-athletes. The two-day session provided an opportunity to identify best practices and develop model policies for high school and collegiate athletic leaders to ensure the full inclusion of transgender student-athletes.
from the docket
Victory! (California)
Sulpizio v. Mesa Community College
Lorri Sulpizio was the Head Women’s Basketball Coach at San Diego Mesa College, and her domestic partner, Cathy Bass, assisted the team and served as the team’s Director of Basketball Operations for over eight years. Despite Sulpizio’s and Bass’s dedication and demonstrated track record of success leading the women’s basketball program at the community college, Mesa officials discharged both coaches at the end of the 2007 academic year after Coach Sulpizio repeatedly advocated for equal treatment of female student-athletes and female faculty, and following publication in a local paper of an article identifying Sulpizio and Bass as domestic partners.
Victory! (California)
Lessik and Manzon-Santos v. East Bay Iceland, Inc.
John Manzon-Santos and Alan Lessik, award-winning amateur figure skaters, filed a lawsuit in Alameda County Superior Court seeking redress for sexual orientation discrimination under the Berkeley Municipal Code and the Unruh Civil Rights Act. Manzon-Santos and Lessik alleged that, while training for the pairs competition at Berkeley, California's Iceland, they were harassed, discriminated against, and kicked out of their home rink for skating together, hampering their ability to practice their routines and properly train for the Gay Games.
Victory! (Pennsylvania)
Jennifer Harris v. Maureen Portland, Penn State University, and Timothy Curley
NCLR client Jennifer Harris reached a settlement with Penn State and its women's basketball coach Rene Portland and athletic director Tim Curley in a groundbreaking lawsuit. Harris had alleged discrimination based on race, gender, sexual orientation, and invasion of privacy.
program highlights
Athletes Are Athletes blog
The Athletes Are Athletes blog was designed as a follow-up resource for the January 14, 2010 panel for the 2010 NCAA National Convention in Atlanta on Cross Campus Engagement Ensuring Fair Treatment of LGBT Student-Athletes: Issues and Resources. The moderator was Liane Summerfield, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs at Marymount University and the panelists were Pat Griffin, Director of It Takes A Team! Education Campaign for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Issues in Sport, Laurie Priest, Chair of Physical Education and Director of Athletics at Mount Holyoke College in, Helen Carroll, Director of NCLR's Sports Project, Ted Rypka, Director of Sports Media for the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), and Mark Schuster, Senior Dean of Students at Rutgers-New Brunswick-Piscataway.
National Association of Collegiate Women Athletic Administrators 2009
On October 12th, 2009 in Denver, Colorado at the NACWAA National Conference, with 250 top women leaders in the athletic world in attendance, Helen Carroll, Director of the NCLR Sports Project, and Pat Griffin, Director of It Takes a Team! Education Campaign for LGBT Issues in Sport (ITAT), presented best practices and model policies from the NCLR-ITAT joint publication, "The Positive Approach: Eliminating Negative Recruiting Based on Actual or Perceived Sexual Orientation" in a two hour session. Negative recruiting refers to the practice of playing on homophobic stereotypes to deter recruits from attending rival athletic programs by alleging or implying that a rival coach or team members are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT). Many conference commissioners were present and interested in further using this tool to help eliminate this destructive practice.
The presentation was conducted in a roundtable format with several rotations. Lively discussion focused around how to use this report to make the most effective change for people in sport. The athletic directors received a copy of the report, who promised to discuss the report with at least one person that can assist in moving to the next step of having conference offices adopt and/or integrate the model policy into their existing policies on negative recruiting.
Title IX: 37 Years Later, We Still Have a Way to Go
On Oct. 5, 2009, in a talk organized by the National Women's Political Caucus Helen Carroll, NCLR's Sports Project Director, and Diane Milutinovich addressed an audience of men and women in a program titled: Title IX. 37 Years Later, We Still Have a Way to Go. Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 is the landmark legislation that bans sex discrimination in schools, whether it be in academics or athletics.
Milutinovich is the athletic administrator who brought a gender discrimination suit against California State University-Fresno and after a 5 year battle, settled that suit for 3.5 million dollars. Two of her colleagues, Coaches Stacy Johnson-Klein and Linda Vivas, also brought Title IX discrimination/retaliation suits against California State University-Fresno and were awarded 9 million and 6 million, respectively.
Helen and Diane spoke of the history of Title IX, the need to teach young women about Title IX and how the struggle continues. Milutinovich gave an account of the experiences she and her colleagues had to endure to stand up to the university, while Carroll gave a background lesson in how retaliation based on gender and actual or perceived sexual orientation effects all athletes and the entire athletic department.
A discussion followed and topics covered included how to teach young women to not be intimidated by the word 'lesbian' and how to become more active in the fight for achieving equality with Title IX.
publications & downloads
This publication provides a comprehensive analysis of negative recruiting based on actual or perceived sexual orientation, and recommends practices and policies to eliminate it. Negative recruiting refers to the practice of playing on homophobic stereotypes to deter recruits from attending rival athletic programs by alleging or implying that a rival coach or team members are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT). Because sexual orientation is irrelevant to coaching, leadership, or athletic abilities, the actual or perceived sexual orientation of any coach or player should not be part of the recruiting process.
read the report here (pdf)
NCAA News: Panel tackles sexual-orientation issues
'Think Tank' considers ways to deter negative recruiting A group of about 30 NCAA coaches, administrators and student-athletes joined representatives from the National Center for Lesbian Rights in examining issues related to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in intercollegiate athletics during the first National Center for Lesbian Rights Sports Project Think Tank.