Ohio State coach Urban Meyer apologized to the school’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender alumni group for a practice in the football building which was deemed offensive.
Meyer was contacted by Tim Valentine, president of the Ohio State’s Scarlet & Gay, after it was learned that coaches make players who aren’t quite performing to their maximum effort wear lavender shirts.
“Hidden under the guise of being a competitive motivator or ‘the only color left,’ the choice of lavender reinforces homophobia and promotes bullying amongst students. The color lavender is associated with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community,” Valentine said.
Meyer responded with a letter of apology, dated March 1, which read, in part: “The use of purple was never intended to be used to offend anyone but since it has, we have taken steps to change the color. … Bias has absolutely no role in how we think or operate.”
The color of the shirts was first reported by the school’s newspaper.
