Action Guide for Parents:
Making Sport Welcoming for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People

Adapted from: © Pat Griffin, 368 Hills South, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003 (413) 545- 0211, griffin@educ.umass.edu

• Monitor your own stereotyped beliefs about LGBTQ people and commit yourself to challenging them.
• Talk with your daughter or son about LGBTQ people in sport to understand questions or negative stereotypical beliefs they have about them.
• Encourage young people to stand up for fairness for everyone, even when peer pressure does not support this perspective.
• Encourage your school's physical education department to sponsor educational programs for athletes, coaches, and parents on LGBTQ issues in sport.
• Thank coaches and athletic directors when they do sponsor educational programs focused on encouraging fairness, safety, and respect for all.
• Stop young people from using anti-gay or sexist language and talk with them about why it is not acceptable.
• Role model respectful treatment of LGBTQ coaches and athletes for your son or daughter.
• Challenge your own assumptions about the importance of rigid adherence to stereotypical gender expression for your children.
• Consider the possibility that your son or daughter might be LGBTQ and identify ways you can support him or her.
• Make it clear to your children that they have a right to set their own personal boundaries for interactions with teammates and that any unwanted breach of those boundaries is unacceptable.
• Make it clear to your children that any coach, regardless of sexual orientation or gender, who engages in sexual talk or behavior with athletes is unethical.
• Attend school-sponsored programs about LGBTQ issues.
• Talk with other parents about the importance of encouraging young people to appreciate differences and treat all teammates and coaches with respect.
• Read books or news articles about LGBTQ issues in sport to better understand how to make sports safe for all.
• Use inclusive language that does not assume that all coaches or athletes are heterosexual.
• Always assume that there are LGBTQ people on teams and among the coaching and support staff even if they have chosen not to identify themselves.
• Propose a non-discrimination policy for your athletic department that includes sexual orientation and gender expression.
• Treat all athletes and coaches fairly and respectfully regardless of their sexual orientation or gender expression.