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Female coaches face double threat of sexism, homophobia

Only 40 percent of women’s teams coached by women

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female coaches, gay news, Washington Blade
female coaches, gay news, Washington Blade

Some have questioned whether Shannon Miller’s outspokenness as a lesbian factored into the University of Minnesota Duluth not renewing her contract as ice hockey coach. (UMD staff photo)

Seemingly, 2014 was a banner and historic year for female coaches.

For the first time ever, four women coaches met in the conference finals of the WNBA; Becky Hammon became the NBA’s first full-time female assistant coach as a member of the San Antonio Spurs’ staff; and Rachel Balkovec cracked the Major League Baseball locker room, becoming MLB’s first-ever female strength and conditioning coach (for the St. Louis Cardinals).

But the news for women coaches isn’t as good as it appears. According to research conducted by the NCAA, only 40 percent of women’s sports teams are coached by women (down from 90 percent when Title IX was introduced in 1972), and there are fewer than 300 total women coaches leading men’s teams — a miniscule 2 percent.

Add to that the recent news of Iowa’s prominent field hockey coach Tracey Greisbaum being fired or the decision to not renew the contract of Minnesota Duluth’s ice hockey coach Shannon Miller, despite her leading the team to five NCAA championships and developing 28 Olympians in her time, and there’s clearly a problem.

Some have questioned whether Miller’s outspokenness as an out lesbian had anything to do with her dismissal, and it’s definitely a worry that has to be on the mind of any female coach when discussing her sexual orientation. It’s why many female coaches who are gay stay closeted for fear of losing their jobs.

“The thinking has always been — for both straight and lesbian coaches — keep your head down, do your job, win, and you’ll succeed. These two coaches have shown that that truism doesn’t hold up,” says Nancy Hogshead-Makar, CEO of Champion Women, which advocates equality, accountability and transparency in sports. “Particularly in Shannon Miller’s case, I believe she was fired because she was so successful. Her success gave her a power base that the male coaches and (athletic directors) wouldn’t ever have.”

Roger Brigham, who in 1982 became one of the first sports reporters to come out as gay, has long championed equality for all in sports. He feels female coaches have been under attack for decades and only recently are people becoming aware of the institutional and cultural discrimination they face.

“They are routinely underpaid when their salaries are compared with male peers and they are held to a double standard on conduct that essentially infantilizes female athletes with its implication that the female athletes are not as emotionally tough as males and therefore need to be protected,” he says. “Female coaches also have to deal with the presence of the male-monopoly in the massive sacred cow that is known as football. In short, women coaches, heterosexual or gay, are faced with a system that is stacked against them.”

Brigham says that the cases of Greisbaum and Miller will have a general chilling effect and may make more coaches reluctant to leave the closet, but also hopes both expose the built-in homophobia and sexism in the institutions and will activate people to fight those things harder.

“I would also hope that the cases would make closeted coaches realize the sense of security a closet provides is false and the greatest control they can have over their lives and careers is by being as open and honest about who they are as they can possibly be,” he says. “Look at the support the athletes of both coaches expressed when their coaches came under attack. Clearly the athletes knew the sexual orientation of their coaches and it was a non-issue for them.”

Hogshead-Makar, who is also a civil rights lawyer, said Greisbaum’s case makes it clear that lesbian coaches will be evaluated differently, based on gender stereotypes. It’s something she is fighting to change and she wants to start with Mark Emmert’s leadership at the NCAA.

“Mark Emmert is not friendly to women; I cannot think of a single decision that has benefitted women. In my four years with the Women’s Sports Foundation, and almost a year at Champion Women, our efforts to get the NCAA to adopt female-friendly policies were regularly ignored,” she says. “It was a completely different story under his predecessor, Myles Brand.”

The first step in improving the disparity, Hogshead-Makar notes, is recognizing the male bias in sports.

“If hiring committees receive training on bias, they’re more likely to hire diverse candidates,” she says. “I view male bias in sports as harming both women and particularly women of color, and the LGBT community, equally. I don’t think there can be success in one of these areas without the other.”

Brigham feels the best thing to do would be to erase the incredible imbalance created by football, requiring every school that has a football team to spend an equal amount on women’s football and have one female coach for every male coach.

“That kind of financial burden might be enough to make athletics directors and university presidents realize that way too much is spent in one sport and steps should be taken to reduce costs through smaller rosters, smaller coaching staffs and rule changes,” he says. “Of course, none of that is likely to happen. The number of women coaches will increase the day we eliminate sexism in all aspects of society and schools take proactive steps to adopt equal opportunity employment practices.”

Rick Leddy, senior director of communications for the National Association of Basketball Coaches, understands the problem but says not every school should be lumped into the bias.

“I have worked at a Division II school for more than three decades with many openly gay coaches, athletic administrators and athletes who were extremely successful and highly respected by me and our campus community in general,” he says. “It’s my hope that our society in general will become more accepting of all people, regardless of gender, ethnicity, religion or sexual preference and that everyone will have greater opportunities overall, including in sports and the coaching profession.”

According to Hogshead-Makar, there’s still a long way to go. She says homophobia is still a driving force in the decisions made in intercollegiate athletics and until something changes, the number of women coaches will continue to be small.

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Caitlyn Jenner backs NY county transgender athletes ban

‘Let’s stop it now while we can’

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Caitlyn Jenner endorses Nassau County's transgender athlete ban during a press conference. (YouTube screenshot)

Caitlyn Jenner flew from Malibu to New York this week to join her fellow Republicans in their nationwide quest to keep transgender girls and women from competing in sports with other women. 

“Let’s stop it now while we can,” said the Olympic gold medalist, at a news conference carried live by Fox News Channel. 

Republican Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman organized the event so that Jenner could speak in support of his February executive order banning trans athletes at more than 100 county-owned facilities. 

“Trans women are competing against women, taking valuable opportunities for the long-protected class under Title IX and causing physical harm,” said Jenner without providing supportive evidence of her claim. Jenner said the ban would defeat “the woke agenda.” 

Her comments drew praise from former NCAA swimmer and paid shill Riley Gaines, who represents the Independent Women’s Forum and has also worked with the failed presidential campaign of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida on his anti-trans athlete platform.

“If the left wants to fight this battle on this hill, it’s a losing battle,” said Jenner. “We will win the battle.” She claimed she spoke on behalf of women and girls, contradicting her past statements in support of trans girls competing according to their gender identity and despite the fact she herself still competes in women’s sports.

Shortly after the ban was announced last month, New York State Attorney General Letitia James and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, both Democrats, denounced it and accused Blakeman of “bullying trans kids.” 

James called the order “transphobic and deeply dangerous,” and argued that it violates the state’s anti-discrimination laws. The state attorney general challenged it in court March 1 with a “cease and desist letter,” demanding that Blakeman rescind the order, saying it subjects women’s and girls’ sports teams to “invasive questioning.”

As the Los Angeles Blade reported, Blakeman’s legal team countered with its own lawsuit on March 5, claiming her cease and desist letter violates the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause.

“Not only was the executive order legal, but we had an obligation to defend it,” Blakeman said Monday. 

The order has also been challenged by the New York Civil Liberties Union, which filed suit last week on behalf of a women’s roller derby league based in Nassau County that welcomes trans women and would be barred from using the county’s facilities by Blakeman’s executive order.

Just days before the Long Island news conference, Jenner joined Olympian Sharron Davies, who also campaigns against trans inclusion in sports, for an conversation with a British newspaper, the Telegraph, which has been outspoken against trans inclusion. 

They recalled that in their day, tests to determine sex were mandatory in order to compete, and Jenner said she has been “pushing” for sex tests to return to sports, decades after sports organizations around the world abandoned the practice because they were unreliable. “If they continue down this road, it will be pretty much the end of women’s sport as we know it.”

“I can still hit a golf ball 280 yards,” Jenner continued, not mentioning she plays from the ladies’ tee. She did however opine about not being “a real woman,” acknowledging that many trans women disagree with her view. 

“They keep saying, ‘Oh, I’m a real woman, I’m a real woman,’ and I’m going, ‘No, you’re not,’” said Jenner. “I will use your preferred pronouns, I will treat you as a female, you can run and dress and do whatever you want, I have nothing against that, it’s fine, but biologically you’re still male.”

She added: “​Let me explain — I am biologically male, OK? I’m XY. There’s nothing I can do to change that. If you believe in gender dysphoria, and I think most people do realize it’s not a disease, it’s a mental condition, just like some people are left-handed and some people are right-handed, it’s kind of the way you’re born and I’ve dealt with it my entire life.“

“I consider myself a trans person, I am still genetically male, I changed all of my ID right down to my birth certificate so technically yes, I am female, but on the other hand I know I’m not.”

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Former UMD basketball player Abby Meyers discusses lesbians in sports, March Madness

Potomac native signed with the London Lions last August

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Abby Meyers (Photo courtesy of Abby Meyers)

Star basketball player Abby Meyers signed with the London Lions last August, but she called Maryland home before calling the shots in London.

Meyers, a lesbian shooting guard, grew up in Potomac and graduated from Walt Whitman High School in 2017. She played for Princeton in her undergraduate years and played for the University of Maryland during graduate school.

She began playing basketball in elementary school, and she was already showing an abundance of potential by the time she was in high school.

In her freshman year of high school, the school’s basketball coach sat down with Meyers and her family and showed them a list of universities with Division I basketball teams. Meyers circled the names of the schools that she was interested in attending. From there, the doors leading to a collegiate basketball career began to open. She began working towards her dream and ended up playing for Princeton.

“It was kind of like a mutual understanding between the two of us, me and basketball,” Meyers told the Washington Blade. “I took more individual lessons, and I just realized that the potential was sky high.”

She came back to her home state to attend the University of Maryland not only for its business program but also for its celebrated basketball team.

“I grew up watching Alyssa Thomas, Shatori Walker-Kimbrough and so many other legends that passed through that program,” Meyers said. “So for me, I knew that basketball-wise, it was the best decision I could make. … They definitely had all of the qualities to make me the best player I could be.”

Before shipping off to London, Meyers briefly played in the WNBA for the Washington Mystics in the summer of 2023. In fact, the aforementioned UMD alum Shatori Walker-Kimbrough was one of her teammates.

She described her time with the WNBA and in London so far as a “learning experience.” 

“I got to relearn what it meant to be a rookie again,” Meyers said. “All of a sudden you enter a new team, a new level and you’re at the bottom, and you just have to let your actions speak louder than your words.”

Meyers publicly came out around 2019, and since then she has been a role model for many other lesbian women in sports.

“By coming out I’m actually being my authentic self, but I was scared that people were going to judge me and look at me differently when in fact, I was met with open arms, love, and appreciation,” Meyers said.

Meyers believes the journey one takes to coming out is an individual process that looks different for everyone.

“At the end of the day, it’s your own race; run it at your own pace,” Meyers said.  “Never be apologetic for who you are. When you have to start compromising yourself and your values for other people like though that’s not the community you want to be a part of.”

She has not experienced much anti-LGBTQ stigma since coming out, but that does not mean that it does not exist in other sports communities. However, in this modern social climate, Meyers pointed out, people are much more accepting of gay women in sports.

Nina Hazra, a University of Maryland medical student, grew up playing basketball with Meyers. The two were on the same team in middle school, but they went to different high schools and would often play against each other. 

Hazra did not play much past high school, but she remained close friends with her former teammate and rival to this day. She went to most of the home games during Meyers’ stint at UMD.

Though Hazra does not identify with the LGBTQ community, she noticed a tension in the sports world that affects all women, regardless of sexuality. However, with today’s shifting climate, it has become easier for female athletes to express their identities

“Women who express strong emotions in sports are often treated differently than men who do the exact same thing,” Hazra said in an interview. “I feel like as we’ve gotten older, there’s been a lot more celebration of womanhood in whatever form in sports, and I think that’s one of the places where you can then kind of go outside those societal norms.”

But Hazra still noticed the impact Meyers had on younger generations in sports who may be struggling with their identities.

“It doesn’t matter your sexuality, your gender identity, all that stuff. That doesn’t matter when you’re playing a sport,” Hazra said. “A lot of us didn’t have role models in those years growing up and just to get to see her being that for so many girls is so amazing.”

Elisa Pinzan, also a former Terrapin, is good friends with Meyers. 

Originally from Italy, Pinzan played for the University of South Florida for four years before entering the transfer portal and landing at UMD. She now plays for Keflavik IF in Iceland.

Pinzan and Meyers formed a strong bond while playing for the Terrapins together. 

“She was the first person I got close to; she is very open, smiley and friendly, and I felt comfortable around her from the first day,” Pinzan described. “I am glad to have met someone like Abby, with such a kind soul.”

Pinzan thought that fans should keep their eyes peeled for the Terrapins this upcoming March Madness season. 

“They are a very young team with energy, enthusiasm and grit on the floor, and I think they are a lot better than the record they have,” Pinzan wrote about the Terrapins in an interview. “Despite being young though, they are learning a lot every game and I am sure they will be able to transfer these lessons for the best time of the year coming up.”

Meyers agreed that there is a lot to look forward to this March Madness. She said that with Coach Brenda Frese’s game plans and strong assistant staff, the Terrapins have a strong chance of advancing throughout the competition.

According to Meyers, March Madness will be different for women’s basketball this year, pointing out that it’s more popular right now than men’s games, as women’s basketball is selling out arenas.

“I only think it’s gonna get better and it’s going to grow even more,” Meyers said. “Just the marketing, the social media, the overall awareness of the women’s game. Fans are growing by the number.”

Meyers believes that female basketball players have to rely more on their skill than their athleticism, which she believes makes women’s games just as — if not more — exciting than men’s games. She said that over the past few years, there has been a strong shift in women’s viewership that has shrunk the gap between men’s and women’s basketball, including from a technical standpoint, given that men and women play with the same level of equipment.

Regardless of where UMD ends up this March Madness, Meyers will be cheering the Terrapins on from across the pond — especially the women.

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Banned trans golfer Hailey Davidson: ‘Hate and bigotry will never win’

NXXT mandates players must be ‘biological female at birth’

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Hailey Davidson on Good Morning Britain. (Good Morning Britain YouTube screenshot)

Transgender pro golfer Hailey Davidson is pushing back against a policy change announced Friday by the Florida-based mini-tour, NXXT. From now on, competitors must be “a biological female at birth” in order to participate. 

“Effective immediately, I have been removed (banned) from the next three NXXT tournaments that I had already signed up for and been approved to play,” said Davidson in a post on Instagram. “They changed their policy mid season, after signing me up already and being 2nd in the Player of the Year race.” 

The three-time winner from Scotland has played nine times on the tour this season.

According to a statement by the tour’s CEO, Stuart McKinnon, the change underscores the organization’s commitment to “maintaining the integrity of women’s professional golf and ensuring fair competition.” NXXT Golf issued that statement on International Women’s Day.

“As we navigate through the evolving landscape of sports, it is crucial to uphold the competitive integrity that is the cornerstone of women’s sports,” said McKinnon in the statement. “Our revised policy is a reflection of our unwavering commitment to celebrating and protecting the achievements and opportunities of female athletes. Protected categories are a fundamental aspect of sports at all levels and it is essential for our Tour to uphold these categories for biological females, ensuring a level playing field.”

Davidson said the policy change in her social media post was discrimination, adding that the decision denigrates cisgender female athletes as well as trans athletes. 

“You know what really bugs me is that people think I win just by showing up,” she wrote. “This is such a slap in the face to ALL female athletes being told that any male can transition and beat them regardless of the life of hard work those women put in.

“You think you’re attacking me, but you’re actually attacking and putting down ALL other female athletes.”

She concluded with a vow: “You can scream at me, threaten me, throw insults at me, and even ban me BUT I will ALWAYS get back up and keep fighting to the very end. Hate and bigotry will never win.”

Davidson also posted a message for the women she had planned to compete against: “I hope those NXXT players who are now in the top five are still able to earn those Epson Tour exemptions they were promised and continue to be reminded of in the previous couple of tournaments.” 

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