For the first time ever, leaders from 30 groups will come together to discuss equality in sports at an LGBT Sports Summit. The landmark event will be held at the Nike World Headquarters June 14.
According to a press release, the goal of the ground-breaking gathering is to create a team game plan for ending homophobia and transphobia in sports. The planning summit will take advantage of the best thinking and strengths of each organization involved.
The three-day event includes representatives from OutSports, National Collegiate Athetic Association (NCAA) American Alliance for Health, Physical Education Recreation and Dance, Athlete Ally, ESPN, Campus Pride and the Federation of Gay Games. Other groups involved are the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and the It Gets Better Campaign.
“The aim,” a post on Outsports read, “is to increase our ability to collaborate on bringing about the change we all are committed to.”
While combating homophobia on the athletic field has become more mainstream in recent years and more former athletes have come out, there are still very few out sports stars today.
A former All-Ivy 800-meter runner and team captain”2010 Penn graduate Anna Aagenes”will represent Our Group at the Summit.
“Being a visible LGBT athlete brings up the assumption that you can't be gay, bisexual, lesbian or transgender and an athlete, at least not openly so,” Aagenes said in a May interview with Philadelphia Magazine. “I don't think I necessarily fit the stereotypes for what an LGBT athlete might look like, so people are often surprised. The whole purpose of the advocacy work is to show that these categories aren't mutually exclusive”not all athletes should be presumed straight, and not all LGBT people should be assumed to be “non-athletes.'”
Aagenes said that the lack of out, professional sports role models is a challenge for young LGBT athletes, but that she expects things to change in the near future.
“I think younger generations have sonw that the old notions of sexuality as an issue are outdated,” she said. “Young people especially are disproportionately supportive of the LGBT community, and this will continue to impact the rest of the culture.”
Organizers of the Nike LGBT Sports Summit hope this year's event is the first of an annual series of similar summits. Already, those involved are inviting other businesses and groups to join in the 2013 effort. Along with Nike, SB Nation and Microsoft are corporate sponsors of the inaugural summit.
