After Atalanta

Yesterday's NYT had an article about whether gay people were planning on "boycotting" the Sochi Olympics by not watching the games when they begin next week. Some of those interviewed, who noted that they were indeed fans of the Olympics, said they didn't feel right watching feeling that doing so would be a sign of support for Russia's anti-gay policies and sentiments. But, as Hilary Rosen of CNN and others have noted, not watching the Olympics will not have a direct effect on Russia. Russia will feel the effects, however, if fewer people attend the events and spend money in the country, as has been predicted . Russia has the games. Despite calls from different sectors to take the games away from Russia (rather unrealistic but at least someone said it), they will occur in the country. The goal, going forward, should be to make sure that such a problematic choice does not happen again. How to go about this? Well if we boycott Olympic sponsors like McDonalds an...

This week Colorado State University announced it was suspending assistant football coach Greg Lupfer for a gay slur he used during the team's bowl game against Washington State. Lupfer used the term, which he paired with a curse word for emphasis, against Washington State's quarterback after the latter made a touchdown pass. Unclear why Lupfer was so upset so early in the game. It was only the first of six the quarterback, Connor Halliday, would make and CSU ended up winning the game anyway. Not that any circumstance would warrant such behavior. But it might explain why, as part of Lupfer's punishment, he is being required to undergo anger management. He also has to do the requisite "diversity training." He must pay for both interventions himself. (Are there random diversity classes out there? Ones not part of company or university training? I would invite him east to take my diversity course, but I'm not teaching it next semester.) And he has be...

Russia don't care. Russia just keeps on planning its Olympics. It don't care that more and more heads of state are opting not to come to the opening ceremonies in Sochi in February.  Taking a cue from the infamous honey badger, Russian officials are claiming indifference regarding the news the leaders from the US, France, and England, among others, will not be coming to the Olympics as a form of protest against Russia's human rights record, namely (but not entirely) its anti-gay "propaganda" laws. (The US has some other issues with the country as well. I think the controversy over gay people in and coming to Russia has provided an easy out for US leaders and diplomats.) So instead the US is sending a delegation that includes three out gay people! Cunning? Passive aggressive? Brilliant? Don't matter. Honey badger...I mean Russia don't care. Unless they are a little less honey badger-esque than they are letting on.

Sh*t's getting real in Russia. Every day I see a new set of news articles, blog posts, and various other forms of commentary and updates about how Russia's anti-gay propaganda laws will affect the upcoming Olympic Games. As I wrote about already, the IOC isn't exerting a whole lot of pressure. And, at the time of my last post about this issue, I was leaning toward boycott--or at least bringing it up as a possibility to encourage some more meaningful discussion. But I read a very thoughtful article about how a boycott would serve, in part, to closet some openly gay athletes who would not be given a chance to compete in Sochi. I was compelled by New Zealand speed skater Blake Skjellerup's comments in particular. Skjellerup asserted last week that he would go to Sochi and "speak out rather than sit out."  The IOC had said that no one visiting Sochi for the games in February (athlete, coach, fan, media, etc.) would be subject to the laws. But the Russian sport...

The writing has been on the wall for a long time now in terms of the geopolitical direction Russia is headed in. I mean, they were not exactly a model of cooperation at the most recent G8 when it came to Syria. But what is on everyone's radar screen right now, of course, is whether Vladimir Putin will let American leaker Edward Snowden stay in his country. (Apparently residence in an aiport is fine.) I am sure the behind-the-scenes wrangling must be quite charged by now. Is Russia just going to do what Russia wants to do? Or will the United States and its (reluctant?) allies exert enough pressure on Russia to get Snowden back where they would like him? As much as I probably should, I don't really care about the Snowden thing. I do care, however, about all the political capital the US and other nations might be using in negotiating Snowden's extradition. Why? Because I think more attention--and more capital--needs to be put toward dealing with the legal institutionalizati...

It was a pretty gay-focused week in sports. Here's what happened:  Rutgers fired head men's basketball coach, Tim Rice, after ESPN got hold of a video--which then went viral--of Coach Rice engaged in conduct unbecoming of a coach, and that was according to New Jersey governor Chris Christie. In addition to physical abuse, Rice dished out a heavy dose of emotional abuse in the form of homonegative and misogynistic slurs. The Outside the Lines story can be found here . Glad this made news but a few ahem moments that were the topic of discussion in boot camp this morning in between pop squats, long-strider jumping jacks and rainbow deadlifts. First, Rutgers knew about this behavior last fall when they fined and gave Rice a three-game suspension. The power of a viral video...We tell young people--especially intercollegiate athletes to be careful about social media; maybe college athletics administrators should take their own advice. Oh my, I just learned that Rutgers AD is no...

A few weeks ago, I neglected, among other things, to post about this amazing column by wrestling coach Hudson Taylor that was posted at HuffPo. Hudson, since he was a student-athlete, has been an ally of LGBT athletes and works to end homophobia in sport. Taylor demonstrates a very keen awareness of the way in which homophobia and sexism are intertwined. It is not a coincidence the sport has a history of sexism and homophobia. They reinforce each other. How different is it really when a male athlete is referred to as a "girl" or as a "fag"? Both are meant to question his masculinity and inspire a man-up moment. What about the ways that the lesbian stigma in women's sports is connected to its inferior status? So, good job Hudson Taylor. And much awe and respect to Pat Griffin for her column this week posted at Opposing Views. The day I read it I was teaching in my class two articles: a piece called "Patriarchy" by sociologist Allan Johnson and Pe...

I had heard that Chick-Fil-A was not exactly pro-gay, but it didn't much matter to me since I hadn't eaten there since I was a teenager, have no franchise near me, and don't eat fast food anyway. In other words, I had no occasion nor desire to frequent them--an unintentional boycott. I had not made the connection, however, between the company and its sponsorship of a college bowl game. Now that the president of the company has come out and explicitly stated his position as anti-gay marriage (because he worries that god's wrath will be brought down upon us for defying Jesus's will) what will the NCAA do? Will Chick-Fil-A be prevented from sponsorship of NCAA events? We shall see...

Sadly, I just watched Sam Stosur lose in the semifinals of Roland Garros to Sara Errani. Errani played very well and I kind of like her style. I hadn't paid too much attention to her prior to this run at the French. But I liked her glasses and bandana look from the quarters the other day. She looked tough. Stosur always looks tough because the woman is ripped. But she is not a man. In case you were wondering. Dominika Cibulkova, Stosur's opponent from the quarters seemed to be wondering that after being defeated by Stosur fairly handily . I actually didn't hear the post-match comments or the comments on the post-match comments. Thankfully I have friends who keep me informed while I sit in the library endlessly coding data. This is nothing new, of course. Just a different set of characters. Cibulkova who could not handle Stosur's heavy topspin serve and was put on the defensive by Stosur's amazing forehand, thought this meant that Stosur was man-like in her style....

A couple of weeks ago the Columbus Dispatch ran what I am sure they thought was a cute story about a new motivational system being employed the coaching staff at Ohio State.  The coaching staff as you will recall is new and is using the colored shirt system as a way to reward and/or punish/stigmatize players during their off-season workouts. Lavender--the exact word used by the coach to describe the color--was the "leftover" color and assigned to players who were loafers, i.e. the weakest link.  The jersey allegedly was to be worn at practices, in the weight room, classroom. OSU's version of the Scarlet Letter.  The weakest links wear lavender. An OSU law student blogged about it--quite astutely. First, and the focus of my concern, while being masked as a tool to build a competitive team environment, forcing a player to wear a lavender jersey as punishment is patently homophobic, sexist, misogynistic, etc.  It takes a color that is feminine—and regularly a...

Joe Paterno to retire . At the end of the season.  Scandal= "retirement" Scandal = resignation (hmm...) I may actually watch the game this weekend to see what the atmosphere is like. 

Finally got to watch the Brazil v. US match this morning. I knew the general outcome because the second I got back across the border (from Canada) and had my data plan back, I checked Facebook. I also got the hint that it was a dramatic game, though I refused to check for a score or details. Even knowing the outcome, it was a pretty enthralling game. So here are my thoughts (in case you were wondering): 1. When you watch a recorded soccer match and fast forward through some of it in the interest of time and getting on with your work day, the ball looks like a ping-pong ball, which just makes you appreciate the distance it travels and the abilities of the players to control it. 2. Abby Wambach: still super cute and now with some goals under her cleats. (Because those uniforms don't have belts--thankfully. Though I'm not sure it would make them any worse.) 3. And speaking of Wambach...the Girlfriend noted this morning "that those short-haired girls are making things really i...

I've been accumulating thoughts about the WWC as I watch--just haven't gotten a chance to get it down. So I saw--last week--Equatorial Guinea's first game of the tournament. Kudos to the commentators on ESPN for actually mentioning the allegations that several players for the team are men. I have heard other media outlets (NPR's Only a Game, for example) also talk about it. So that's good. Alas one of the ESPN guys, after noting in the pre-game commentary that two of the three accused players were not playing this tournament, urged us all to put that all aside to think about the soccer. There were other interesting moments in that pre-game; and they seem to involve Brandi Chastain. First, on the shallower and more catty side of things, what's up with the hair? Someone needs to start a blog that deconstructs all of the Chastain's hair-dos this tournament. During this pre-game: several French braids ending in a long ponytail. She looked like a high school soft...

I have been somewhat lax in my posting recently, and I know I promised three tales of gender identity and discrimination a while back. My first tale was related to the Women's World Cup and the accusations against Equatorial Guinea based on--apparently--too much skill and "too much" masculinity in some of their players. Second tale is one that was recounted to me. Thus, technically, it is hearsay. But I also do not think it is that unusual of a situation. Thus it could be completely hypothetical--which it isn't--and still a valuable thought exercise. So here it is. I changed details, just in case, though I don't believe many know about this specific situation. An intercollegiate women's field hockey player has decided to use male pronouns and change his name to something more conducive to his identification as a non-woman. The player attends a DIII school in the west. He approaches his coach to ask that his new name be used on the roster, announced at games, a...

The NYT's Jere Longman has a very good article today about homophobia in women's soccer in Africa. He focuses on Nigeria, which was one of the teams that accused Equatorial Guinea of using male players. When I first read the headline, "In African Women's Soccer, Homophobia Remains an Obstacle," I thought to myself "we shouldn't be hierarchizing homophobia in women's soccer." And we shouldn't conclude that everything is exponentially worse in Africa. After all, homophobia remains a problem internationally. As I recall, I posted something last week about members of the U-22 German women's team posing for Playboy in an attempt to counter the butch image of female footballers. That is also homophobia, folks. But things are pretty bad in Africa--maybe not all of Africa--but definitely in Nigeria. When I read about Nigerian coach Eucharia Uche's actions and statements, I thought "wow, she's worse than Rene Portland." Uche, li...

Inside Higher Ed ran a piece last week about the experiences of gay intercollegiate football players based on a preliminary research study. I have been meaning to post about it but things in Title IX land last week kept me pretty busy. (Not to mention those piles of papers in need of grading.) But it's still worth noting, even a week later. I am, as many know, generally skeptical of progress narratives. (For a related skeptic's take see Diane's recent experience at Starbucks .) And this study illustrates that things are not necessarily getting better, even as we hear more people come out and talk about positive experiences playing sports. I had the pleasure of hearing former Bloomsburg University football captain Brian Sims speak positively of his experience coming out to his team. But it seems, based on this study, that for every Sims-like experience there are many more troubling ones. Like a player who "mangled" his own legs so he could no longer play and thus ...

The news you most likely know: Kobe Bryant called a ref a f&^%ot last week. He got fined $100,000. (Which some thought was too much--including Bryant who is appealing the fine.) He offered the standard not-apology, and talked about how the word isn't really discriminatory because it isn't connected to homosexuals anymore. Yep, f*&^$t has nothing to do with gay people anymore. I guess bitch has nothing to do with women either. Geesh. The (as far as I know) only openly gay man (now, not when he was a player) to ever play in the NBA, John Amaechi, wrote a piece in the NYT about the incident: "...he is telling boys, men and anyone watching that when you are frustrated, when you are as angry as can be, the best way to demean and denigrate a person, even one in a position of power, is to make it clear that you think he is not a real man, but something less." And that, of course, is very connected to the stereotypes of gay men. As for the apology, Amaechi said: ...

The current issue of ESPN Magazine, which appeared on stands this week, features a very good article on homophobia in college recruiting. The story originally was published online at the end of January and thus has been well-covered in the blogosphere. But I would be remiss not to mention it--especially since several people have emailed me the link to the story thus making me think that it's kind of my bloggerly duty. "On homophobia and recruiting" co-written by Luke Cyphers and Kate Fagan acknowledges, actually focuses on the subtly of homophobia in recruiting. It's a major point that needs to be highlighted in this way. Homophobia is not dead just because fewer people shout dyke or fag to your face (or to your back as you walk down the street). And every coach knows overt homophobia will not be accepted by most administrators and recruits these days. The language cues center mostly on a family values and morals rhetoric. Not news to many of us. But again, glad to ha...

Perhaps not upsetting news to some of you. But seriously, sitting in the XL Center last night *, I cringed every time I heard the announcer boldly exclaim Lady Bears. Lady Bears? Sounds like a bad children's book. And yet I rooted for them. Well I clapped whenever they scored and raised my arm up whenever Brittney Griner sank one of her free throws (note that my arms are not tired this morning. Never forget: Free throws win ball games!). I avoided the glares, as best as possible, from the nearly rabid UConn fans surrounding me. (I mean, yea! that women's basketball is popular in Connecticut, but seriously, little scary down there. The woman next to me did not come back to her seat after halftime. And I was being very good.) I rooted for them knowing that Baylor is a Baptist school and their anti-homosexuality policy. Knowing that it has driven at least one successful player from the team, and wondering the circumstances under which star senior guard Kelli Griffin left right bef...

Given the homophobia that has--historically--swirled around sport, as well as the recent spate of high-profile anti-gay bullying incidents around the country, this article was very welcome. At University of Michigan student-athletes have stepped up to support their student body president, Chris Armstrong . Armstrong has been targeted by Andrew Shirvell, an assistant district attorney in Michigan, for his allegedly radical homosexual agenda. Shirvell has followed Armstrong around protesting his politics and--seemingly--his sexual identity. Armstrong is currently seeking a restraining order against Shirvell. Shirvell has been making his feelings about Armstrong's politics known since Armstrong, the first openly gay SBP at Michigan, ran for the position last spring. Shirvell has also used his blog, Chris Armstrong Watch, to attack Armstrong. One post contained a swastika . I won't get into a discussion of free speech versus threatening speech, but I will note that it's kind ...