March 21, 2016
An Open Letter
From: The Common Ground Leadership Team
We are a committee comprised of
sports educators including members of the LGBTQ community and faith community
who work in college athletics. We come together to encourage respectful dialogue
and to build relationships across our differences. Our goal is to find common ground in policies
and practices that enable all people in collegiate athletics, regardless of
faith, sexual orientation or gender identity, to participate in a safe, civil
and respectful environment.
We believe that student-athletes of
all faiths, sexual orientations and gender identities deserve a safe and
respectful athletic experience in which they can reach their full potential. Further, we believe that we have the best
chance of creating safe and respectful athletic climates by working together to
provide leadership and guidance to individual schools and national athletic
organizations about how to achieve this challenging goal. We believe in the power of engaging in
difficult conversations together to find answers that benefit us all.
Finally, we believe that divisive
and polarized public debate pitting religious freedom against LGBTQ rights results
in zero sum solutions characterized by fear and defensiveness that prevent us
from recognizing our common values, commitments and humanity. We reject this conflict
model as a way to create the kind of inclusive athletic climates we envision.
We came together in November, 2014
as part of an event hosted by the NCAA and planned by members of the LGBT
Sports Foundation to engage people of faith and LGBTQ people in athletics in an
initial conversation about “seeking common ground.” As a result of that
positive and productive conversation, the Common Ground Leadership Team
evolved. We are currently engaged in
planning a second Common Ground meeting in November, 2016 at NCAA headquarters
to which we will invite representatives from faith-based schools, people of
faith from secular schools and LGBTQ people to extend our conversations about
finding workable inclusive practice and policy that honors our differences and
creates the respect and safety essential for all student-athletes. Our ultimate goals are to create and share a
process for individual schools and athletic conferences to engage in their own
common ground initiatives and to provide school athletic leaders with
recommendations for more inclusive practice and policy.
Although we have significant differences in our
perspectives on faith, sexual orientation and gender identity, we believe that we
can work together to create more inclusive college athletic climates in which
all participants can thrive while remaining true to our deeply held beliefs and
identities. To that end, we are committed to a process that respects the core
identities that our faith, our sexual orientation and our gender identity
represent as we seek ways to bridge our differences. We invite all to join us
in this challenging endeavor, always employing civility as we seek common
ground.
Signed,
The Common Ground Leadership Team:
Nevin Caple, Executive Director
Br{ache the Silence
Helen Carroll, Sports Project
Director National Center for Lesbian Rights
Pat Griffin, Professor Emerita
University of Massachusetts Amherst
H. “Skip” Lord, Director of
Athletics Houghton College
Karen Morrison, Chief Diversity
Officer, University of Central Florida
Gary Pine, Director of Athletics
Azusa Pacific University
Amy Wilson, Director NCAA Office of
Inclusion
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