Fearless and Fabulous

I’ve written before about Jeff Sheng and his traveling photo exhibit of LGBT high school and college athletes (November 12, 2007). The project is called Fearless and you can learn more about it at Jeff’s web site Fearless Campus Tour. In the tradition of the Love Makes A Family photo exhibit project, Fearless is a way to raise awareness and to put faces to the abstract concept of “LGBT athletes.” It is a way to help people understand that LGBT athletes are members of every school community and that their academic and athletic goals and interests are not all that different from everyone else. The athletes featured in Fearless are your teammates, friends, sons and daughters, nieces and nephews. They are people sitting next to you in class or at the movie theatre. They are also role models for younger generations of LGBT athletes who still need to see their experiences celebrated and still need to know that being an athlete and being openly gay, lesbian, bi or trans is possible.

Some day, coming sooner than later, we will not need to describe LGBT athletes who are open about their sexuality as fearless, but today we still do. Thanks, Jeff, and thanks to all the athletes who chose to be a part of your wonderful photo exhibit.

I found this posting on YouTube in which Jeff talks about the Fearless photo exhibit. Check it out. Better yet, see if your school would like to host the Fearless photo exhibit. You can get in touch with Jeff through his web site.