On The Road to the Final Four

I will on the road for the next five days. First stop - Philadelphia - to attend the premiere of "Training Rules," Dee Mosbacher's documentary on the Rene Portland "no lesbian" era in Penn State women's basketball, which thankfully ended in 2007 when Portland resigned. The film will be part of the Philadelphia Film Festival.


I am looking forward to seeing the film and will post my reaction to it here. I did see a rough cut about a year ago and what struck me most then was hearing several of women Portland targeted over a 20 plus year period talk about their experiences. It is a powerful testimony to the damage and pain Portland caused and to the strength and resilience of these women who chose to tell their stories publicly for the first time in the documentary.


Then I am on to St Louis for the Final Four and the WBCA convention. I am part of a convention session entitled "Seeking Common Ground: Lesbians and Christians in Women's Sports- Take 2." Last year at the convention I helped plan and participate in a similar session with some women from the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Athletes in Action, and the National Center for Lesbian Rights.


We are doing the session again, but instead of a panel, this year we are focusing on small group discussions among the folks who attend the session. Last year we had a wonderful dialogue and this year we hope to extend it to include more voices. We hope to leave the session with a brainstormed list of ways to make sure that all women on a team - Christian and non-Christian, lesbian, bi or straight - feel respected and included. I'll post something after the session which is Tuesday, right before the final game.

I'm hoping for a Stanford vs. Oklahoma final game, by the way. I know I am probably fighting an uphill battle rooting for Stanford to beat UConn, but they did it last year. Why not a repeat?

Take care and I'll talk to you from the road.