FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  September 9, 2024  CONTACT Malkia Hutchinson, National Center for Lesbian Rights | mhutchinson@nclrights.org   Ninth Circuit Affirms Trial Court Decision Blocking Enforcement of Arizona’s Law Banning Transgender Students from Sports    In a unanimous decision, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit affirmed a trial court decision blocking enforcement of Arizona’s law banning transgender girls in […]

TUCSON, AZ — Today, a federal judge in Arizona issued an order blocking enforcement of an Arizona law that bars all transgender girls from playing on girls’ sports teams. The court held that the new law likely violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution and Title IX by singling out transgender girls and […]

SAN FRANCISCO, CA ­– Today a coalition of LGBTQ, faith, sports, and other organizations released a statement of support for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the inclusion of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence at their Pride Night tonight, Friday, June 16. GLAAD, the world’s largest LGBTQ media advocacy organization, and Athlete Ally, a national nonprofit […]

WASHINGTON, DC – The National Center for Lesbian Rights, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), and The Trevor Project – along with the National Education Association and more than a dozen other organizations – have submitted comments to the U.S. Department of Education supporting its proposed rule requiring equal treatment of transgender students in school […]

For the first time in history, chamber votes to strip rights from children WASHINGTON, DC – The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) condemns today’s passage by the U.S. House of Representatives of H.R. 734, which would ban transgender students from participating in school sports. This bill is discriminatory and goes against the values of […]

TUCSON, AZ – Today, two Arizona families filed a legal challenge in federal court against S.B. 1165, which prohibits transgender girls from competing in school sports. The Plaintiffs are represented by the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and the Law Firms Debevoise & Plimpton LLP and Osborn Maledon P.A. The law singles out transgender […]

Today’s release of a proposed rule by the U.S. Department of Education affirms that Title IX requires the equal participation of transgender students in sports.  WASHINGTON, DC – Today the United States Department of Education released a new Title IX rule affirming protections for transgender students’ participation in sports. The proposed rule provides that categorically banning […]

SALT LAKE CITY, UT — Today, the Third District Court of Utah issued an order blocking enforcement of a newly enacted law, H.B. 11, that barred all transgender girls from playing on girls’ sports teams. The court held that the new law likely violates the equality guarantees of the Utah Constitution by singling out transgender […]

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Today, the U.S. Soccer Board of Directors passed a resolution to adopt a ban on discriminatory chants at all soccer matches sanctioned by U.S. Soccer. The Board will next convert the “zero-tolerance” resolution towards homophobic chants into a formal policy for enforcement at all matches that U.S. Soccer hosts or sanctions […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEOctober 9, 2020 “This is pure bigotry. There is no justification for reversing the current inclusive policy, which has been in place for nearly two decades.” SAN FRANCISCO, CA – The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) condemns today’s guidelines released by World Rugby, which create a complete ban on competition by transgender […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEMay 24, 2020 SAN FRANCISCO, CA – The National Center of Lesbian Rights (NCLR) today announced that they will be honoring San Francisco 49ers Offensive Assistant Coach Katie Sowers with their Trailblazer Award, presented by pro-athlete and transgender activist Chris Mosier, at the NCLR 2020 Anniversary Virtual Celebration on Saturday, May 30 at 6 pm (PST). Also […]

“Perseverance in almost any plan is better than fickleness and fluctuation”—Alexander Hamilton When we adopted our NCLR tag line—”The audacity to fight for justice, the perseverance to win”—it was before President Obama’s book “The Audacity of Hope” and years before the cultural phenomenon that is “Hamilton” ushered in a refreshed examination of Alexander Hamilton’s writings. […]

Major League Baseball (MLB) Commissioner Bud Selig today announced a set of actions that will alter the lives of baseball players and the trajectory of MLB teams for future generations. The league has welcomed openly-gay former MLB player Billy Bean back into their fold with a position to work with the league to implement a program […]

Last week, I was in a room of about 100 LGBTQ sports advocates and stakeholders at the 3rd annual LGBTQ Sports Coalition Summit hosted by Nike. Formalized in 2013, the LGBTQ Sports Coalition consists of nonprofit members, engaged individuals, and affiliates dedicated to ending homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia in sports by 2016. We held our […]

The news that Michael Sam had been drafted by the St. Louis Rams late on Saturday, becoming the first openly gay athlete in the NFL, was met with two very different reactions in my house. While I was overcome with pride and emotion at this historic moment, my two sixteen-year-old daughters—one a rock climber and […]

Michael Sam made history today by becoming the first openly gay player to be drafted by an NFL team. Standing in front of ESPN news cameras, Sam, an All-American defensive lineman from the University of Missouri, broke down in tears, hugging and kissing his boyfriend after hearing from St. Louis Rams’ coach Jeff Fisher: “You […]

The announcement by University of Missouri football player Michael Sam that he is gay marks a new milestone in sports history. This has been a long time coming, but we are ready. The uncommon courage demonstrated by Sam makes clear he is a force to be reckoned with. The NFL team that has the wisdom […]

For the last several months, OutSports.com’s Cyd Ziegler, GLSEN’s Changing the Game Sports Project Director Pat Griffin and I have worked with Nike representatives to organize the groundbreaking, strategy-building summit
that attracted dozens of leading organizations and people working to eliminate homophobia/ transphobia in sports. The summit—held June 14 to June 18—was based on the belief […]

Though most followers of Olympic figure skater Johnny Weir knew he was gay, he did not officially come out until a year ago.  Why?  Perhaps because the international world of judges have been known to be harsh in their scoring of LGBTQ skaters. That’s just one of many reasons why Johnny’s announcement of his marriage […]