Changing the Game: The GLSEN Sports Project is an education and advocacy initiative focused on addressing LGBT issues in K-12 school-based athletic and physical education programs. The Sport Project’s mission is to assist K-12 schools in creating and maintaining an athletic and physical education climate that is based on the core principles of respect, safety and equal access for all students, teachers and coaches regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression and integrating these efforts into overall school plans to ensure a safe, respectful school climate and culture.
To accomplish our mission, the GLSEN Sports Project has several objectives:
To develop and disseminate high quality, practical, up-to-date and accessible educational resources that:
- Identify how homophobia and transphobia in school-based athletics and physical education classes affect individual students, coaches, teachers as well as sports teams and physical education classes;
- Integrate LGBT concerns with other social justice issues such as race, sex, religion, disability and class and their interaction with homophobia and transphobia in athletics and physical education;
- Provide practical and effective strategies for addressing homophobia and transphobia in school-based athletic and physical education programs;
- Provide sample policies for schools and sports teams toward the goal of creating and maintaining a respectful and safe athletic and physical education climate for LGBT students, teachers and coaches;
To serve as a clearinghouse for parents, students, teachers, coaches, school administrators and community-based advocacy groups seeking assistance in addressing LGBT issues in school-based sport and physical education programs by:
- Identifying speakers, trainers and educational programming that address LGBT issues in athletics and physical education to K-12 schools, state and national athletic, physical education, parent, coaches’ and school administrators’ associations.
To build collaborative relationships with other organizations that share the core values of safety, respect and equal access for all students in athletics and physical education.
Why Does GLSEN Have a Sports Project?
- Athletics and physical education provide students with opportunities to excel in a learning context that is different from the classroom setting and requires specific attention and resources developed for that setting.
- Health, physical fitness and well-being are important goals for all students, including LGBT students. Participation in physical education and athletics is the primary route to achieving these goals in schools.
- Athletics and physical education are integral components of K-12 schools. As such they should reflect overall school values of respect, safety and equal access for all students by providing a sound educational climate in which all students can participate successfully.
- Participation in physical education and athletics provides students with opportunities for collaborative and competitive activities with peers that promote fair play, teamwork and appreciation for diverse student experiences and identities.
- Participation on school athletic teams provides students with a sense of personal accomplishment, identification with teammates and belonging to the school community that can counter the isolation and loneliness sometimes experienced by LGBT youth.
- Physical education classes and athletic teams are sometimes identified as specific sites for LGBT harassment and discrimination from fans, classmates, opponents, coaches or teachers in which name-calling or other acts of anti-LGBT prejudice are tolerated or ignored.
If you would like a consultation about how to make your school athletic or physical education program more inclusive, if you would like the sports project to develop a new resource or if you’d like to talk about scheduling a Changing the Game workshop in your school, contact Pat Griffin at sportsproject@glsen.org
