Athletes were initially wary of competing in North Carolina at the U.S. Masters Swimming championships, but decided to go and make a statement with these T-shirts. (Photo by Josh Gaddy)

In response to North Carolina House Bill 2, governing bodies in multiple sports have issued positions as to the future of their sports events being held in states that don’t have anti-discrimination policies in place.

The NCAA and the World Triathlon Corporation, which runs Ironman events, have recently issued guidelines for current sports events and the selection process for future events. The debate continues for athletes set to compete in these states in regard to whether they should go or stay home and boycott.

That debate was going on with both straight and LGBT competitive masters swimmers as they prepared to compete at the United States Masters Swimming national championships that were held April 28-May 1 in Greensboro, N.C. The event draws roughly 1,800 swimmers from across the country.

A pair of swimmers from New York, Louis Tharp and Chester Doles, wrote an open letter about their HB2 concerns to U.S. Masters Swimming’s CEO, Dawson Hughes, and received no response.

At the same time, swimmers on the straight-based New York Athletic Club and the LGBT-based Team New York Aquatics were conflicted about attending the championships.

“I really grappled with whether I wanted to attend nationals,” says David Hildebrand, president of Team N.Y. Aquatics. “I had trained hard but didn’t want to support their economy or even be in their state.”

Concurrently, straight swimmers at the N.Y. Athletic Club were having an open dialogue as to their participation at the swimming championships. Both teams decided to engage rather than disengage.

Kristin Gary from N.Y. Athletic reached out to Hildebrand at Team N.Y. Aquatics while she began the process of creating T-shirts to take to nationals.

“No one in North Carolina was going to know whether I was at the meet or not,” Gary says. “It made more sense to compete and introduce a thought-provoking T-shirt with proceeds going to Lambda Legal.”

For his part, Hildebrand reached out to the International Gay & Lesbian Aquatics board asking members for involvement from U.S. Masters Swimming. The board moved swiftly and penned a letter regarding HB2 to U.S. Masters Swimming asking them not allow future events in states that do not have anti-discrimination polices.

The response from U.S. Masters Swimming reiterated its position as an inclusive, nondiscriminatory organization but did not directly address future aquatics events being held in the states in question.

The International Gay & Lesbian Aquatics board took action and allocated funds for the T-shirts that Gary was planning on creating and several swim teams also donated money for the cause.

“I thought it turned out great that through the efforts of volunteers located all over the world, we were able to get this done,” says IGLA co-president Kris Pritchard. “Our board continues to work behind the scenes at every level for our members and the LGBT community.”

When the pieces came together for all the parties involved, they found renewed enthusiasm about going to North Carolina. After arriving at the Greensboro Aquatic Center, they put the T-shirts on and walked around the natatorium greeting swimmers they knew from prior meets. Within an hour of offering the T-shirts, a line had formed down the stands and eventually 110 T-shirts were handed out. Most people offered donations and they were able to raise $1,000 for Lambda Legal.

“Getting this done transformed the experience from feeling unwanted to feeling like we had some ability to change the reality and change the experience for others,” Hildebrand says. “So many people were sharing stories about their gay brother or sister or their transgender child. It was incredible.”