Helen Carroll joined NCLR in August 2001 to lead the Sports Project. She is well known in the sports world as an acclaimed national Championship Basketball Coach from the University of North Carolina-Asheville. Helen was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Athletic Director for 12 years, and now devotes all her efforts to fighting homophobia and transphobia in sports. She works closely with major national sports organizations including the Women’s Sports Foundation and the NCAA. She has been a speaker on panels with the NCAA, Nike, the U.S. Tennis Association, The New York Times and many others. She was featured in Dee Mosbacher's award-winning film, Out For A Change: Addressing Homophobia in Women's Sports, and author Pat Griffin's book,
Strong Women, Deep Closets.

NCLR’s Sports Project was founded in 2001 as the first project of its kind to prioritize, through litigation and policy work, rampant anti-LGBT discrimination and forced invisibility of LGBT athletes, coaches, and sports professionals. Since then, NCLR has teamed with national organizations such as the Women's Sports Foundation, the United States Golf Association, the Ladies Pro Golf Association, and the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletic Administrators to make changes that have long been due. More than 30 years ago, Title IX changed athletics forever by requiring equal treatment of women and girls in sports. Today NCLR’s high-profile work is aimed at assuring equal treatment of LGBT athletes. We seek nothing less than a world in which openly LGBT sports figures can be hailed as champions and role models in all aspects of competition.

It Takes a Team, Women's Sports Foundation

NCLR Project Director Helen Carroll has been working closely with the Women's Sports Foundation It Takes a Team educational program. It Takes A Team, an initiative of the Women's Sports Foundation and directed by Dr. Pat Griffin, provides comprehensive education and information resources to address LGBT issues in high school and collegiate athletics. It Takes A Team's education resources united with the NCLR Sports Project's legal and policy expertise form a strong alliance in the battle against homophobia in sport.

National Football League(NFL) San Francisco 49ers Community Advisory Panel

After conducting a diversity workshop for owners, coaches, and all front office staff of the San Francisco 49ers, Sports Project Director Helen Carroll was invited to help initiate the community Advisory Panel for the organization.

The purpose of CAP is to provide advice and guidance to the 49ers on how to make the team a more integral part of the community, with NCLR representing the LGBT community.

Joining Helen Carroll (2006-2010 as a CAP member) is Olga Talamante, Co-chair of the Board of NCLR and Executive Director of the Chicana/Latina Foundation. Olgal joins CAP in 2008 and will serve until 2010.

No team can achieve success without a game plan and guiding principles. The Sports Project envisions an arena of competition that focuses on fairness and equality for all; strengthening the sport experience through diversity; recognition and respect of all gender identities and sexual orientations; and direct and effective confrontation of homophobia and transphobia in sport. Our plan of action includes impact litigation, public policy and advocacy, free legal assistance, and overall public education.

Litigation:
NCLR’s Sports Project works in the courts as well as on the playing field to ensure that LGBT athletes and coaches receive fair and equal treatment, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, or gender identity. This year alone, we’ve made groundbreaking progress in our settlement of Jennifer Harris’ case against her former coach and Penn State University. Bringing these stories into the national spotlight is an important part of NCLR’s work in the sporting world.

Advocacy:
Our Sports Project is an outspoken participant in many local, state, and national conversations about the evolving world of athletics. Representing the principle of true sportsmanship and fairness in sports, we bring to these discussions the concerns of LGBT players and coaches and ensure that they are heard, acknowledged, and understood. Ways in which the Sports Project advocates on behalf of LGBT athletes include:

• Advising the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) on the positive benefits to their members as they adopted domestic partner benefits
• Working with the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA), Professional Golf Association (PGA), U.S. Track and Field, NCAA, and Women's Sports Foundation to discuss ways to permit the full and fair participation of transgender athletes in sports
• Supporting anti-discrimination policies in organizations such as the San Francisco 49ers and the Women's Professional Football team, the Delaware Griffins. The Griffins adopted anti-discrimination policies based on the NCLR case with the Philadelphia team in 2002. Several teams in that league are now using policy wording established in that settlement

Outreach:
The Sports Project travels extensively to reach coaches and athletic directors directly, and share with them the importance of inclusivity in sports. Organizations we work with in our Sports Project include:

• National Soccer Coaches
• Black Coaches Association
• Women's Basketball Coaches Association
• United States Olympic Committee
• Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network (GLSEN)
• National Volleyball Coaches Association
• National Football Summit
• National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)
• Sexual Minorities Conference
• Black Women in Sports Foundation
• Lavender Law
• National Fastpitch Coaches Association
• National Association of Collegiate Women Administrators
• Gay Games
• Montreal OutGames
• New York Times Speaker series
• Gay Lesbian Athletic Association
• Women's Sports Foundation
• Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA)
• Gay Lesbian International Association
• Gay Lesbian Athletic Association

The Sports Project also collaborates directly with the nation’s top colleges and universities in forming non-discrimination policy and guidelines:

• University of Florida: Non-discrimination/anti-homophobia training for athletic department and women's softball team
• Tufts University: Worked with student body panel for LGBT issues
• University of California Berkeley: Advised student advisory board of the NCAA to see how best to incorporate education on homophobia in sports into their program
• University of North Carolina Asheville: Advised out athlete on working with media
• Stanford University: Collaborated on gay and lesbian organization programming on Title IX and homophobia in sports
• University of Minnesota: Consulted with National Association of Academic Advisors for Athletics
• University of New Hampshire: Consulted with student affairs office to develop programming
• Middle Tennessee State University: Consulted with athletic department
• Springfield College: Consulted with athletic department
• Ithaca College: Participated in panel discussion on sports programs
• Northeastern University: Consulted with Sport in Society program

Additionally, NCLR has been joined by more than a dozen high-profile athletes to participate in our conference presentations, including John Amaechi, Billy Bean, Pat Griffin, Rosie Jones, Billie Jean King, Holly Metcalf, Martina Navratilova, Dave Pallone, and Esera Tuaolo, among others.

Please contact Helen Carroll if you have any questions or need help.