By Dan Woog
“It Takes a Team” is the apt name of a national educational and advocacy institute addressing LGBT issues in sport.
All too often, however, the “T” has been missing from teams–sports teams and It Takes a Team.
That’s starting to change.
Trans athletes are raising their voices–and demanding to be heard–on sports teams across the country. As is true with many things LGBT, the young are leading this call for change.
“We’re seeing a definite increase in trans students in general,” says Pat Griffin, a writer, professor emerita in the social justice education program at the University of Massachusetts, and director of the It Takes a Team campaign (part of the Women’s Sports Foundation).
“A lot more people are identifying as trans or gender queer, and they’re doing it earlier. Schools are struggling to address that issue. It makes sense that some of those students want to play sports–and are.”
Recently, It Takes a Team initiated a Think Talk. The goal is to make policy recommendations to schools, administrators and coaches. “We want to be proactive around trans issues–not reactive,” Griffin says.
Sport, she notes, is one of the most gendered segments of society.
“We have men’s teams, and we have women’s teams. It’s a binary system. But that doesn’t represent everyone’s experiences. There’s a dilemma when a student does not identify as one gender or the other.”
A few sports organizations have developed policies. The International Olympic Committee was one of the first; groups like the United States Golf Association and USA Track and Field adopted similar guidelines. The Federation of Gay Games and the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network followed suit.
One problem, Griffin says, is that groups like the IOC require reassignment surgery before allowing an athlete to compete as another gender. “That’s not an option for high school kids,” she notes. “And it’s not a good idea at that age.”
Surgery is less an indicator of gender than testosterone level, she says. Testosterone affects performance. But, she adds, it’s not the only indicator. “We already have a huge range of performances among girls and women, and among boys and men.”
Another problem: The IOC mandates a two-year waiting period before competing as another gender. “That’s a long time–especially in high school and college,” says Griffin.
Take the example of Keelin Godsey, an high-level hammer thrower. “Keelin is a female-bodied man who has chosen not to transition,” says Griffin. Keelin–who identifies as a man, but has not transitioned–competed on the women’s team at Bates College.
That required accommodations, and educating teammates, coaches and opponents about trans issues. “Teammates and coaches were great,” Griffin said. “But there’s been discrimination at the sports’ elite levels.”
Though all the examples Griffin knows are female-to-male, she knows there are MTF trans athletes in high schools and colleges. Her message is simple: Schools need to prepare.
The It Takes a Team initiative began a few years ago, with a conference call involving Griffin; Helen Carroll, sports project director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and representatives of the NCAA, USGA and USA Track and Field.
“Neither Helen nor I are experts on trans issues,” Griffin admits. “They’re different from LGB issues, although there are overlaps that come from misunderstandings. But we wanted to involve legal, medical and child development experts, along with people from the NCAA, the National Federation of State High School Association, and trans athletes themselves, so we could start thinking about the best way to move forward.
“The guiding principles are that participation in athletics is valuable for all students–and that trans athletes should not be denied that opportunity.”
Any rules regarding participation should be based on “sound evidence,” Griffin says–not “misunderstandings, misconceptions or myths.
Over two days in October, three dozen people met in Indianapolis. Griffin and Carroll are evaluating their insights. This spring, the two women will report back to the NCLR and Women’s Sports Foundation, and seek comments on their recommendations.
Going into this fall’s meeting, Griffin says, “The biggest fear was that it would be too hard to agree–that trans issues are too complicated. But we’re really excited. We made a lot of progress, and had a lot of consensus.
“There was great energy, and a lot of knowledge and passion in the room. We got a good sense of what could happen. And each person made a commitment to do what they could, individually and within their organization.”
For more information on It Takes a Team and its advocacy for trans issues, visit www.ittakesateam.org.

A New Decade for GLBT Sports
As one decade ends and another begins, The OutField pauses to survey the GLBT sports world. We’ve come a long way, baby, from the days when the term “gay athlete” was regarded as an oxymoron at best, repulsive at worst.
Life is still not peachy-keen, of course. Players and coaches remain closeted. Anti-gay rhetoric still flows. But a tipping point seems nearer than ever.
Take this story–one of several reported by Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation intern Emily Witko in a roundup titled “Media Paying Attention to LGBT Sport Issues.” When Outsports.com reported that Dallas Mavericks basketball player Drew Gooden referred to two Los Angeles Clippers fans as “faggots,” one of the men e-mailed Mavs’ coach Mark Cuban from his BlackBerry. Cuban quickly responded: “I appreciate you telling me. I will deal w Drew.”
Similarly, when Kansas City Chiefs running back Larry Johnson used anti-gay slurs, the football team docked him a week’s pay–about $315,000–and suspended him for a game. His agent said, “Larry apologized. He learned from it, and hopefully other people learned from it. My hope is that people learn that something positive can come out of this, and that there are words that should not be used because they demean people.”
Homophobic slurs are not confined to the U.S. Witko reports that Danish soccer team FC Midtjylland fired star goalkeeper Arek Onyszko for writing in his book, Fucking Polak: “I hate gays, I really do. I think it’s fucking disgusting to hear them talk to each other as if they are girls. I can’t be in the same room as someone who’s gay. Look at them kissing each other–it’s sickening.” Onyszko is no stranger to controversy. In 2008 he was fired from another squad, after a conviction of assault on his ex-wife. He served three months in prison.
Back in the U.S., Major League Baseball welcomed its first openly gay owner in October. Laura Ricketts–who serves on the board of Lambda Legal–joined her family in purchasing the Chicago Cubs, for $845 million. The earth did not stop revolving–and the Cubs, a non-World Series contender since 1908, did not immediately become competitive–but Ricketts’ ascension to the highest level of the baseball world may be significant simply because no one cared.
The gay sports world heard a voice for equality from a straight source, too, when former pro Justin Bourne wrote a column in USA Today headlined: “It’s Time to End the Use of Gay Slurs in Hockey.”
Bourne–who, Witko says, used anti-gay slurs “many times himself” during his career–recognized that the atmosphere in homophobic locker rooms may keep talented gay players out of the game.
“It’s time to acknowledge we’ve been unfair to the gay community,” Bourne said. “The culture of our sport can be misogynistic, homophobic and cruel. More important, it’s time to make a stand that we want it to change.”
One hockey player who may benefit from Bourne’s stand–if it is heeded, and adopted, by the sport–is a 17-year-old named “Mikey.” He lives in a suburb of Minneapolis, is captain of his high school team, and blogs regularly
Writing in blog-speak, Mikey says: “im gay and not out and spend my whole life with jocks who are mostly anti gay. it usually sucks, but its cool i get to play hockey.” He writes about the usual: practices and games, shoveling snow and worrying about waking up in a hotel on a road trip where teammates sleep two to a bed, spooning with a teammate and–well, this is a family column. Check out http://hockeykidmn.blogspot.com for a look into what it’s like to be a gay high school athlete these days–and, in many ways, just a normal teenager.
Finally, a shout out to an entire hockey team. This one is the girls squad from Woodstock, New Brunswick. The Lady Thunder team won a Canadian provincial human rights award for standing up for two teammates who came out.
According to CBC News, Alyssa McLean and Sierra Paul were supported by Lady Thunder players–but taunted by rivals. The opposing team refused to shake the two girls’ hands. The same girls were then treated rudely at a fast-food restaurant.
Their Woodstock teammates devised a plan. They created rainbow-colored buttons, with the word “homophobia” crossed out. The girls wore the buttons to games.
A team in Edmundston, Canada asked what the buttons were about. The Woodstock players gave them some–and their opponents immediately put them on.
The Woodstock girls were “a model for the promotion of human rights among youth,” said New Brunswick Human Rights Commission chair Gordon Porter, in making the award.
Happily, they are not the only ones speaking out–and standing up–for GLBT athletes everywhere.

Dan Woog is a journalist, educator, soccer coach, gay activist, and author of the “Jocks” series of books on gay male athletes. Visit his Web site at www.danwoog.com. He can be reached care of this publication