Sexism, homophobia pervasive in pro sports

Opinion

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This article was published 26/06/2015 (3225 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In a world that reveres men’s athletics and accomplishments, the first few weeks of the 2015 International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) Women’s World Cup have taken us all by storm. And for the first time, the month-long event features the largest number of out lesbian athletes at an event of this magnitude — 15 of them.

These young women are breaking the visibility barrier. After decades of institutionalized homophobia at every level of professional sports, they are showing tremendous courage simply by being their true selves. But in the larger world of professional sports, we have a long way to go to create a level playing field for all female athletes.

Let’s start with the obvious and often overlooked issue: the enormous disparities between how men and women get treated in the sports world.

Sexism and homophobia are pervasive in sports. From high school to professional sports, female athletes are disadvantaged by a power structure dominated by men. The hierarchy of sports organizations, from state-level associations all the way up to worldwide organizations such as FIFA and the International Olympic Committee, consistently prioritizes the experience and needs of male athletes and the visibility of men’s events.

FIFA is a prime example, as many leading female sports advocates have pointed out. For example, FIFA has ignored female players’ preference and safety by ruling World Cup venues for women’s teams must use artificial turf instead of a grass playing field.

Meanwhile, grass is mandatory in all venues in the men’s tournament. And while more than 30 million women play organized soccer around the world, only a single woman — just one — has ever been elected to a full term on world soccer’s all-powerful executive committee. And FIFA is by no means the only culprit.

This type of blatant sexism is endemic in sports, and we need to start there to understand why more lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender athletes do not come out. Though the gender barrier has been crumbling since the 1960s, it’s alive and well in today’s sports world. These entrenched sexist attitudes define femininity as a weakness and masculinity as a symbol of strength, and they are at the root of homophobia.

And because of a power structure that treats — and often mistreats — athletes differently based on gender and sexual orientation, coming out often results in athletes facing harassment and bullying by their own coaches and teammates.

Homophobia in U.S. women’s sports is particularly blatant. Just in the past few months, the coaching contracts of many successful female college coaches have been terminated or not renewed, including Shannon Miller and Jennifer Banford from the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD). Earlier this year, Miller, a five-time NCAA national championship winner in hockey, raised public concerns about homophobia in UMD’s athletic department. Shortly thereafter, her contract wasn’t renewed because her salary was allegedly “too high.” Banford, a successful softball coach at UMD, also lost her contract with the school.

In 2014 University of Iowa women’s field coach Tracy Griesbaum was fired even after being cleared of allegations of any wrongdoing. And three years ago, associate athletic trainer Jenny Moshak, Debbie Jennings of the Sports Information Department of Strength, and conditioning coach, Heather Mason, sued the University of Tennessee for sex discrimination and retaliation after being repeatedly passed over for promotion and demoted. The one thing all these women have in common? They were discriminated against because of their gender and sexual orientation.

Additional evidence of sexual-orientation disparities surfaced in the treatment of former NBA player Jason Collins and Southeastern Conference football star Michael Sams, who were unable to pursue their careers after coming out as gay. Collins was the first professional basketball player in that league to come out as gay and garnered accolades from all over the world, including thousands of positive press stories, dozens of magazine covers and even a congratulatory call from U.S. President Barack Obama.

Despite the applause, the NBA played hot potato with him for a few weeks and then dropped him. He later settled for a short stint with the Brooklyn Nets before retiring. Despite being defensive player of the year, Sams wasn’t even given a chance to play in the NFL.

As more young LGBT athletes are finding their voices and speaking out on their journeys, we should be encouraged that progress is happening, but also realize that there’s still so much to be done. By dispelling false stereotypes about LGBT athletes and addressing sexism and homophobia, we can better celebrate all athletes, men and women alike.

Helen J. Carroll is the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) sports project director. She is a former college championship basketball coach and athletic director at University of North Carolina, Asheville and Mills College of Oakland, Calif.