It was a tumultuous week for the NCAA as coaches, players and athletic officials as they approached the Final Four Championship in Indiana. However, amidst the roaring crowd, overpaid coaches and Division I athletes, there’s one individual who didn’t stand on the sidelines this year. UConn head coach, Kevin Ollie, did not travel with his men’s basketball staff this season in response to Indiana’s controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
The decision not to attend was made in response to and in support of Governor Daniel Malloy’s signing of an executive order which placed a travel ban to Indiana. The order was declared following the announcement of Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act which many critics argued would promote LGBTQ discrimination. Specifically, several politicians feared the law would allow businesses to refuse LGBTQ individuals strictly on account of their sexuality or gender identity. As described by Malloy in an interview with MSNBC, “A member of the army could be gay, go into a coffee shop under this law and have someone say ‘because you’re gay, even though you’re wearing the uniform of the United States, I am not going to serve you.’ That was the intent of the law, they knew what they were doing, and someone has to call them on it.”
According to UConn president Susan Herbst, the team’s decision to boycott Indiana travel was one which deeply reflects the morals and core values of the institution. As described by Herbst in a recent press release, “UConn is a community that values all of our members and treats each person with the same degree of respect, regardless of their background and beliefs, and we will not tolerate any other behavior.”
Although UConn Men’s team was not in the final four this year, as reigning champions of 2014, their avoidance of the event resonated strongly throughout the athletic community. Following the statement, many others within the NBA have expressed similar sentiments against the law including former NBA player and current TV basketball analyst Charles Barkley. As described by Barkley in an interview with USA Today, “Discrimination in any form is unacceptable to me. As long as anti-gay legislation exists in any state, I strongly believe big events such as the Final Four and Super Bowl should not be held in those states’ cities.”
In defense of the Act, many republican officials have argued that any implications of homophobia within the religious protection act are unintentional. House Speaker Brian Bosma and Senate President Pro Tem David Long, two of Indiana’s most influential politicians, have both pledged to fight for an updated format of the act which will explicitly protect the rights of those within the LGBTQ community. Although the update still requires a vote from the legislature and a signature from the governor, its chances of passing with the support of Bosma and Long are reasonably high.
From the perspective of many, the controversy surrounding Indiana’s religious freedom law may seem surprising. However, the proposal is strikingly in line with the state’s lack of protections for LGBTQ residents. According to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), in the majority of US states, including Indiana, there are no laws which currently protect LGBTQ individuals from being fired solely on behalf of their sexuality or gender identity. Indiana is not alone or in its development of the Religious Freedom Act, as many states including Arkansas have created or are in the process of developing similar proposals.
Perhaps what is most unusual, however about the act’s controversy is the outpour of support and activism on behalf of the NBA and the greater athletic community. While some argue that politics have no place in athletics, it has been recently contested that our ever growing professional athletic industry plays a key role in promoting concrete social change. This activism was profoundly demonstrated in light of the Ferguson shooting, where members of the St. Louis Rams protested the Grand Jury’s decision by walking on the field portraying an all too familiar “hands-up, don’t shoot” gesture. Although the participating players received multiple threats following the games proceedings, their commitment to standing in solidarity and promoting racial justice were commended by many, both in and out of the athletic community.
In the context of LGBTQ issues, our nation has also been a recent witness to remarkable athletic initiatives including the “You Can Play” campaign which seeks to eliminate homophobia in athletics. The program has been successfully implemented in professional athletics, colleges and universities across the country, including Connecticut College. Many professional athletes, most notably UMass Basketball player Derrick Gordon and former NFL pro Scott Fujita, have taken equally strong public stances to advocate LGBTQ equality. Indiana’s policymakers may be lagging behind, but one can only hope the athletic community will continue to tread forward in the fight for social justice. •
