Presents the 2nd Annual International Gay

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Presents the 2nd AnnualInternational Gay
LesbianAthletics Conference

• Taking on the Challenge
• March 26-28, 2004

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Mission

• The Gay Lesbian Athletics Foundation is
  dedicated to the acceptance and visibility of
  gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender men and
  women in the professional, amateur, and
  recreational athletics communities. The
  Foundation promotes through education,
  understanding and respect for all members of the
  athletics community regardless of sexual
  orientation. Adjunctly, GLAF promotes positive
  role models for society-at-larger.

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2003 Sponsors/Partners
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NGLAC 2003 Heroes Among Us_at_ Boston City Hall
MIT
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Heroes Among Us

• Our inaugural event, the National Gay Lesbian
  Athletics Conference 2003 was universally hailed
  as a stunning success that has touched more lives
  and created a deeper impact than anyone could
  have possibly imagined. Our partners and
  representatives included the NCAA, Womens Sports
  Foundation, US Olympic Committee, MIT, Sports in
  Society, Harvard University Spaulding Hospital,
  GLSEN, GLAAD, and others. The three-day
  conference brought together over 50 speakers, the
  Whos Who of gay athletics and straight allies,
  to discuss and debate the issues confronting LGBT
  athletes and have started the working
  conversations to make progress towards
  accomplishing fair and equal playing environments
  for everyone.
• The event was covered by a number of media
  groups, including ESPN, Sports Illustrated, HBO
  Real Sports, Boston Globe, Atlanta
  Journal-Constitution, and other notable LGBT and
  mainstream press. During the weekend of pending
  War with Iraq, the event still attracted 300
  attendees from the recreational, Olympic,
  professional, high school, and collegiate
  communities, with more than 20 colleges
  represented. We have received feedback from the
  attendees complimenting the professionalism and
  attention to detail, the content, the food, the
  committees, and the diversity.
• The conference brought together people from all
  over the world with many different experiences,
  and from many different perspectives, with a goal
  of decreasing and eliminating homophobia in
  sports through galvanizing supporters of topics
  ranging from women in sports, gays lesbians in
  high school and collegiate athletics, sensitivity
  training for athletes and coaches, creating and
  strengthening healthy alternative community
  institutions for GLBT athletes and the greater
  community, and identifying and developing
  leadership training needs in collaboration with
  and in support of the sports community at-large.
  The conference achieved the magical balance of
  networking, collaboration, intellectual
  discussion, debate, warmth, electricity, and its
  success sets a higher standard for our collective
  work.

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Statements from 2003 Attendees

• When you stand up here and look, at all of you,
  all of us here together . Most of us have a
  shared experience in our lives that each of us
  share a time in our lives where we felt a certain
  way and we felt different from everyone else and
  we felt alone and isolated and that were the only
  people in the world like this, and its
  incredible to see these rooms filled with people
  like me, and like each other we have a huge
  family here.
• Mark Tewksbury, Gold Medal Olympian Swimmer
• This is just the beginning I can see this
  conference grow to thousands of people attending
  
• Robert Dover, Bronze Medal Olympian Equestrian
• I had to scrap up change from a jar to make it
  to take two buses from Philadelphia to Boston
  Im so excited to be here.
• Paul Farber, journalist and runner at the
  University of Pennsylvania
• This is the first time Ive ever talked about my
  sexuality in a public setting and this is a very
  moving moment for me have the strength now and
  I want to be a part of this movement.
• Holly Metcalf, Gold Medal Olympian Rower
• for us as a group here today to build that
  bridge for those that are able to live openly
  and honestly, youre the hero and you can impact
  people that you dont even know and thats how
  were getting closer to being everywhere and
  being accepted
• Billy Bean, Former Major League Baseball Player
• sports challenges the distribution of power in
  society -- hyper-masculinity has caused more
  pain, more oppression, more discomfort in this
  society, than anything. We live in the most
  violent society -- guns are a masculine thing --
  sports are a masculine thing -- masculinity
  causes violence -- violence against men and
  violence against women! This conference is
  the first time men and women have gotten together
  to talk about these issues.
• Eric Anderson, sociologist and author of
  Trailblazing
• Im here on behalf of the US Olympic Committee
  and its a great step for the organization to
  play a more active role with the gay community
  At the US Olympic Committee, they are very
  aware that they have LGBT staff and athletes and
  were about producing the best athletes and how
  to get the best performance out of the athletes.
• Alicia McConnell, Associate Director, Community
  Outreach Programs, United States Olympic
  Committee
• I have not had such a positive experience in so
  long a time. The GLAF conference was indeed
  overdue, I am very glad I was a part of this
  inaugural event. Indeed, this is just the
  beginning of something remarkable.
• Chuck Hagel, hockey player and organizer from
  Minnesota

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Affecting Society Through Sports

• Affecting society through sports
• Sports---professional, amateur and
  recreationalpermeate the worlds culture
• A way for impoverished children to pass the time
  and adults to bond, and a tool of diplomacy
• Its big business televised sports is now the
  biggest part of the entertainment industry taking
  in tens of billions of dollars a year in the
  United States alone, outstripping movies,
  publishing and music in revenues. Unlike the
  1970s, when T.V. sports was pretty much limited
  to the weekend, sporting events and the programs
  derived from them (like ESPN) can be found on the
  tube just about any time of the day or night.
• Like nothing else sports bring communities
  together, from small ones like Norman, Oklahoma
  (University of Oklahoma football) to big ones
  like New England (Patriots, Red Sox and Celtics)
  to even bigger ones like Brazil (the countrys
  2002 World Cup victory unified its rich South and
  poor North). A survey by Deloitte Touche
  revealed that New York area residents believed
  that professional sports played a positive role
  in comforting and unifying the country in the
  weeks following September 11th and has played a
  role in helping the country recover from the
  attacks.
• From childhood to retirement, sports play a huge
  role in our emotional and physical well-being.
  Some of the most formative experiences growing up
  happen on a field, court or track. As children,
  the interaction with team mates is often where we
  all learn our social skills that are then refined
  through out our adult years. And, besides parents
  and teachers, no group of adults has a greater
  impact on a kids development than coaches.
• Sports terminology and metaphors permeate our
  politics and culture. Need proof? Here are two
  examples. When a politician gives a great speech
  or a movie has a smash opening weekend, they are
  said to have hit a homerun. How many times has
  somebody told you to get on the ball when
  youve fallen behind on a project or misplaced
  something?
• Sports is a platform for social change (e.g.
  business often purchase sky boxes stadium naming
  rights corporate sponsorships etc)

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Affecting Youth Through Sports

• For many, often the first type of hero or role
  model a child takes on is that of a sports hero,
  television show hero, or comic book hero
• In children, involvement in sports has a very
  defining role, those that have echoing effects
  throughout their lives
• If a child is ostracized from sport, anecdotal
  and documented evidence exists that there are
  effects throughout their life
• Youth thinking is very moldable and often
  prejudices that may be encumbering in life are
  often developed during those formidable years

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Goals

• Promote recognition, understating and respect
  among ALL members of the athletics community
  (recreational, high school, collegiate,
  professional/Olympic), including athletes,
  coaches, managers, owners, sponsors, media, and
  fans
• Promote fair and inclusive environments
• Eliminate homophobia in all areas of sports
• Create a network for support, education, and
  mentorship for LGBT athletes
• Promote and protect endorsement opportunities for
  LGBT athletes
• Assist LGBT athletes to be the best they can be
  without fear of retribution
• Provide access to the tools to develop local
  sports communities
• Provide a meeting forum of exchange and learning
  for national, umbrella, and local sports groups
• Promote athleticism and a healthy lifestyle in
  the greater LGBT and straight communities
• Develop LGBT athletes as positive role models for
  society-at-large

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Wide Reach

• The conference isnt just for jocks but its
  for everyone and its about growing up and having
  positive role models, mentors, and heroes, and
  Chinsomboon adds, Could we save lives in the
  process and at least make the coming out process
  less painful? Consider stories like those of
  Matthew Shepard and how it could be different
  very different!

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Notable and Future Accomplishments

• Partner include National Collegiate Athletics
  Association (NCAA), Gay Lesbian Straight
  Educators Network (GLSEN), Gay Lesbian
  Advocates Against Defamation (GLAAD),
  Outsports.com, Federation of Gay Games, Gay
  Lesbian Medical Association, Womens Sports
  Foundation, National Center for Lesbian Rights,
  Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies, AIDS Action
  Committee, Federation of Gay Games, Center for
  the Study of Sports and Society, Spaulding
  Rehabilitation Hospital, and others.
• Assembled a distinguished Advisory Board of over
  70 well-known athletes, academics, coaches,
  writers/authors, and others respected in
  athletics (including Billie Jean King, Dave
  Kopay, Olympians, the Triple-Ironman winner,
  Eco-Challenge athletes, and others).
• Successful 2003 conference pending 2004
  conference
• Distributed over 10,000 pamphlets about the
  conference nationally and internationally
• Financial sponsorship from a number of
  multinationals
• Steering Committees in Los Angeles, New York
  City, San Francisco, Chicago, Salt Lake City,
  Philadelphia, Washington DC, Nashville, Dallas,
  and Colorado
• Launch of a scholarship fund for high school,
  collegiate athletes and Olympic hopefuls
• Creation of a network of corporations that
  financially support and promote health and
  wellness within the greater community

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Panels and Workshops

• National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA)
  and Sexual Minorities in Athletics (SMIA)
  collegiate athletics collegiate athletics
• Federation of Gay Games (FGG) topic to be
  determined
• Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network
  (GLSEN) high school athletics and coaches
• Womens Sports Foundation (WSF) Women and
  sports, gender equality
• Outsports.com and Gay Lesbian Alliance Against
  Defamation (GLAAD) media and athletics
• National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) legal
  issues of athletics, Title IX
• Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies (CLAGS)
  sports academic research
• AIDS Action Committee HIV/AIDS and athletics
• Gay Lesbian Medical Association (GLMA)
  Psychology of sport
• Professional sports panel
• Panel of Olympians
• Fiction and sports
• Workshops GLMA on health and athletics
• Workshops How to build a local sports
  group/team/league
• Meeting Project on Homophobia (training)
• Meeting Local sport teams meet to share and
  discuss learning
• Meeting Local umbrella organizations meet to
  share and discuss learning
• Meeting International sports governing groups
  meet to share and discuss learning

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2004 Program Features

• Sports Leadership Congress (Fri) sports
  organization leaders from around the convene and
  share ideas over 50 organizations representing
  over 24,000 LGBT athletes Opening ceremony
• 500 actual attendees from around the world
  leaders and influencers
• Sports Company Exposition (Sat)
• Health, Fitness Wellness Clinics (Sat)
• Sports Clinics (Sat)
• Keynote speeches (breakfast/lunch/dinner All
  weekend)
• Panel and workshops (All weekend)
• Social activities and networking (All weekend)
• Athletics race and competition (Sunday)

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Athletes and Youth Scholarship

• In partnership with The Point Foundation, GLAF is
  launching the creation of a Scholarship fund for
  High School, Collegiate Athletes, and Olympic
  hopefuls.
• Premise of scholarship fund
• Athletic, Intelligent, highly capable youths are
  turned away from their homes, abandoned by their
  friends, turned away by uninformed and
  unsympathetic school counselors only to be left
  alone to fend for themselves or are shunned.
  Sound unlikely? It happens all the time. Every
  day young people with outstanding athletic
  capability and leadership promise, gifts and
  drive are stripped of the precious tools they
  need to successfully start and continue their
  athletic training. Even in this day and age, it
  is possible to lose emotional and financial
  support from family and friends, counselors and
  positive role models when they are needed the
  most all because an individual reveals his or
  her sexual orientation or gender identity.
• About The Point Foundation
• Founded in 2001, The Point Foundation is the
  first nationwide LGBT scholarship foundation
  granting scholarships to undergraduate, graduate
  and post-graduate students of distinction. The
  mission of The Point Foundation is to provide
  financial support, mentoring and hope to
  meritorious students who are marginalized because
  of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
• In the academic year 2003-04, The Point
  Foundation awarded 132,000 in scholarships to
  ten American college students as an investment in
  a better world for gay, lesbian, bisexual and
  transgender people. In the previous year,
  125,000 in scholarships were awarded to eight
  scholars--six of whom are continuing their
  educations, and two of whom have graduated with
  highest honors.
• The Point Foundation offers hope, financial
  assistance and a network of individuals to
  support scholars who are physically,
  intellectually and morally capable of leadership
  within their chosen field of endeavor. These
  recipients are known as Point Scholars.
• By identifying and supporting these scholars, The
  Point Foundation hopes to provide a greater level
  of acceptance, respect and tolerance within
  future generations for all persons, regardless of
  sexual orientation.

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Athletics Card Membership and Affinity

• A membership vehicle like HRC and GLAAD offer
  its constituents to support the organization,
  with the added benefit of members discounts on
  corporate products

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Verizon and GLAF Together

• Supporting the Community
• Corporate Social Conscience and Leadership
• Innovators
• Providers
• Foundation supporter
• Scholarship fund supporter
• Membership card product sponsor