Remember last week’s story about the soccer coach at Belmont University who was fired for being a lesbian? Here’s yet another story about homophobia in the athletic world.
According to University of Minnesota golf coach Katie Brenny, she was demoted because she is a lesbian. She contends that after her superior discovered that she was gay, she was relegated to a desk job and was prohibited from training players or traveling with the team. Her attorney, Donald Chance Mark Jr., said that he has sufficient evidence to show that the demotion occurred immediately after the official who hired her found out that she is a lesbian. While the facts of this incident are still coming to light, it does highlight an ongoing pattern of homophobia in sports. In addition to the firing of the soccer coach, there is the lesbian couple that was ejected from a Baltimore Ravens game for being affectionate, the nixing of the WNBA Mystics kiss cam because it might capture two women kissing, and many other incidents of anti gay sentiment directed at lesbians. ‘Tis a shame. Lesbians and sports go together like vodka and cranberry juice. Having just one or the other just isn’t the same, but reading about all of these stories makes me want to hold the cranberry juice and go straight for the vodka.
