Seven years ago the LGBTQ center was a storage closet for the history department; Today the room is brightly colored with active and determined people who have worked tirelessly to make Conn one of the top LGBTQ-friendly colleges in the United States, according to HuffPost and CampusPride.
Among the many projects in the works at the center, the You Can Play Project has taken center stage. You Can Play is a national organization “dedicated to ensuring equality, respect and safety for all athletes, without regard to sexual orientation.” The most visible parts of the organization are the video compilations of collegiate and professional athletes expressing their support of their current and future LGBT teammates. Members of the Boston Bruins and Buffalo Sabres, University of Connecticut and UCLA, a handful of NESCACs, and some musical groups, such as Fun. and Macklemore have produced such videos.
You Can Play videos at Connecticut College began with Lowell Abbott’ 14 pitching the project to Jen Manion and Fran Shield, Director of the LGBTQ Center, and Director of Athletics, respectively. Abbott, also a member of the women’s soccer team and captain of women’s lacrosse, was inspired by the premise of the project after attending a lecture by the project’s founder, Patrick Burke, and upon hearing of friends’ participation at other schools. “Sports have been such a huge part of my life…but we are often so concerned with our own game and inter-team rivals that people forget about larger issues within sports,” explained Abbott. In November of this year, Abbott, Manion and Shields sat down to brainstorm.
Meanwhile, Anne Holly ’17, a member of the women’s squash team, and Ry Hormel ’14, member of men’s soccer, had already approached Manion earlier in the year hoping to create a You Can Play video a Conn. Holly first heard of the You Can Play project working with members of the Wheaton Lacrosse team at a The ALOHA Foundation, a summer camp in Vermont. Upon arriving at Conn, Holly was aware that many NESCAC schools such as Amherst, Bates, and Bowdoin had already produced videos and was eager to make one here. She was put in contact with Abbott later in the year.
Hormel joined the project through a slightly different venue. He had approached Manion several years earlier about an LGBTQ sponsored soccer game, but the plan never came to fruition. In November he was invited to help spearhead the project. “I have a gay grandfather, so issues of inequality have always resonated with me,” said Hormel, “I always try to be a good ally, so if I can lead in some way, especially within athletics, that’s something I really care about.”
Together, Abbott, Holly, and Hormel set out recruiting athletes. Within two weeks filming and editing the video with the help of Lily Plotkin ’14, a film minor. While professionals have done most other collegiate You Can Play videos, Hormel felt that the student led effort speaks to true nature of Conn’s athletes. “In some ways those videos make it seem like the institution is trying to send the message [of inclusion],” he explained, “but for us, it’s done by the students and I think that has a lot of power and meaning.”
Echoing this student commitment, Abbot, Holly, and Hormel set up a workshop, prior to filming, to teach athletes how to be good allies. “ We didn’t want the video to be scripted, “ explained Abbott, “We wanted to get people talking and make sure they understood why we were doing this.”
Homophobia in sports arises in different ways. On men’s teams homophobia is most overtly seen in language, with homophobic slurs or jokes getting thrown around or used as taunts. While this may seem minor, these comments create an unwelcoming environment. For women’s teams, there is a stereotype that most female athletes are lesbians, leaving straight team members with a need to prove they are not gay. The goal for these women is to do so in a way that is not homophobic.
With the You Can Play project picking up momentum, the hope is that we will begin to see a change in the culture of athletics to one that is more accepting of LBGTQ players. “It’s a topic that is relevant to every team, and a topic that isn’t talked about enough,” said Abbott, “If our video can makes one person looking at Conn feel more accepted, it will have been a success.”
The You Can Play video will premier on Monday, Dec. 9th at 4:30 in Ernst Common Room as a part of a celebration of Conn’s recognition as a top 25 LGBT-friendly school.
