Profile -
"Out in Sport" at the GLISA Human Rights Conference
July 26-29, 2006
Rob Jagnow
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At the beginning of August, more than 12,000 lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender (LGBT) athletes from 109 countries descended on Montreal
for the First World Outgames. The week-long event, organized by the
Gay & Lesbian International Sport Association (GLISA) emphasized
participation, inclusion and personal best at its 36 sporting events.
From July 26-29, 2006, just prior to the opening of the Outgames, GLISA
also hosted the world's largest human rights conference on LGBT issues
with more than 2000 participants of its own. As part of the event, the
Gay & Lesbian Athletics Foundation (GLAF) put together an "Out
in Sport" conference track with ten panel presentations on topics
ranging from transgender athletes to unique concerns for the LGBT sports
movement in developing countries.
The inclusion of the "Out in Sport" conference track is motivated
by the understanding that sport can be a powerful agent of social change.
Just as Jackie Robinson paved the road for social change by being the
first African American player in major league baseball, LGBT persons
today have the opportunity to change attitudes and breakdown stereotypes
through participation in sport.
Remarkably, despite these barriers, the First World Outgames included
representatives from 20 countries where homosexuality is still a crime.
Enormous progress has been seen in countries like Mexico and Brazil,
where LGBT sports leagues are rapidly growing and receiving positive
attention from mainstream media.
The "Out in Sport" conference is not just about surveying
the status quo but also about identifying means to move forward in the
fight against homophobia. One panel focused explicitly on effective
agents of social change, identifying the following as key success factors:
- Pick a targeted mission and do it exceptionally well.
- Make sure there is a means for financial stability.
- Demonstrate a need for change.
- Draw attention to tolerance that already exists.
- Exercise individual honesty and integrity.
- Seek a common ground for debate around safety, respect and
rights.
- Aim to understand the struggles of other minority groups.
As an appropriate segue from the human rights conference into the Outgames,
tennis champion Martina Navratilova gave a keynote address at the closing
plenary session. In her own take on effective agents of social change,
she emphasized honesty and integrity, saying that the most powerful
statement one can make is to come out of the closet to friends, family
and coworkers. It is much harder to have intolerance toward a group
if one has a personal, rather than abstract, connection to that group.
Furthermore, she emphasized that as consumers, we speak with our dollars
and we should be deliberate about supporting businesses that support
the LGBT community.
Also introduced at the closing plenary session was the Declaration of
Montreal, a document that lays out the political agenda of the LGBT
community. Mirroring the major conference themes, the declaration is
organized into the categories of essential rights, global issues, the
diverse LGBT community, participation in society and creating social
change. The document is intended to serve as a foundation for the LGBT
equality movement and will likely be used as a benchmark for decades
to come.

http://www.icsspe.org/portal/index.php?w=1&z=5
Profile -
"Out in Sport" at the GLISA Human Rights Conference
July 26-29, 2006
Rob Jagnow
|