Gay Football Player’s Story Highlights the Importance of Straight Allies
By Ken Reed
We’ve read quite a bit the last year about Jason Collins becoming the first openly gay basketball player on an NBA roster and Michael Sam being the first openly gay football player drafted by an NFL team. Those were both inspiring stories of courage and the desire to be true to one’s self.
A less well-known — but just as inspiring — story is that of former Nebraska kicker Eric Lueshen. Lueshen was an openly gay kicker for the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers a decade ago. He was bullied and harassed by more than a few teammates.
But fortunately, he was able to become good friends with a couple teammates early on during his stay on the Lincoln campus. Gradually, he was able to win over more and more teammates, who grew to appreciate his courage and authenticity.
It’s a great read and I encourage you to take the time to go through Lueshen’s full account of his years with a major college football program in a very conservative state. It was, of course, a much less open-minded era.
As an advocate for civil rights, social justice, and equal opportunity in sports, I think the biggest takeaway from Lueshen’s story was the importance he placed on straight allies.
“The more straight allies we have standing up for us, the stronger our movement for equal rights becomes,” writes Lueshen.
That’s why organizations like You Can Play and Athlete Ally are so important. Both organizations place a strong emphasis on the importance of straight allies in the march toward a SportsWorld of equality.
For more, see League of Fans’ piece LGBT Athletes Still Facing Harassment and Discrimination.
— Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans
Sports Forum Podcast
Episode #30 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: The State of College Athletics with Dr. David Ridpath: Problems and Potential Solutions – Ridpath is a sports administration professor at Ohio University and a long-time member of The Drake Group, a college sports reform think tank.
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Episode #29 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: The Honorable Tom McMillen Visits League of Fans’ Sports Forum – McMillen is a former All-American basketball player, Olympian, Rhodes Scholar and U.S. Congressman. We discuss the state of college athletics today.
Episode #28 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: A Chat With Mano Watsa, a Leading Basketball and Life Educator – Watsa is President of PGC Basketball, the largest education basketball camp in the world. We discuss problems in youth sports today.
Episode #27 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Kids’ Sports: How We Can Take Back the Game and Restore Quality Family Time In the Process – Linda Flanagan is author of “Take Back the Game: How Money and Mania Are Ruining Kids’ Sports and Why It Matters.” We discuss how commercialized and professionalized youth sports are hurting kids and their families.
Episode #26 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: How Can We Fix Youth Sports? – John O’Sullivan is Founder and CEO of Changing the Game Project and author of “Changing the Game: The Parents Guide to Raising Happy, High Performing Athletes and Giving Youth Sports Back to Our Kids.”
Episode #25 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Physical Education Should Be a Critical Component of K-12 School Design – Michael Horn is co-founder of the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation.
Media
"How We Can Save Sports" author Ken Reed appears on Fox & Friends to explain how there's "too much adult in youth sports."
Ken Reed appears on Mornings with Gail from KFKA Radio in Colorado to discuss bad parenting in youth athletics.
“Should College Athletes Be Paid?” Ken Reed on The Morning Show from Wisconsin Public Radio
Ken Reed appears on KGNU Community Radio in Colorado (at 02:30) to discuss equality in sports and Title IX.
Ken Reed appears on the Ralph Nader Radio Hour (at 38:35) to discuss his book The Sports Reformers: Working to Make the World of Sports a Better Place, and to talk about some current sports issues.
- Reed Appears on Ralph Nader Radio Hour League of Fans’ sports policy director, Ken Reed, Ralph Nader and the New York Times’ Tyler Kepner discussed a variety of sports issues on Nader’s radio show as well as Reed’s updated book, How We Can Save Sports: A Game Plan. Reed's book was released in paperback in February, and has a new introduction and several updated sections.
League of Fans is a sports reform project founded by Ralph Nader to fight for the higher principles of justice, fair play, equal opportunity and civil rights in sports; and to encourage safety and civic responsibility in sports industry and culture.
Vanderbilt Sport & Society - On The Ball with Andrew Maraniss with guest Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director for League of Fans and author of How We Can Save Sports: A Game Plan
Sports & Torts – Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans – at the American Museum of Tort Law
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