6B Wednesday, February 19, 201 // The Statement
Emerging from the shadows: LGBT life in the locker room
by Jake Lourim
In 2005, Stephanie Hoyer came east from
Englewood, Colo., to one of the biggest college
athletic programs in the country. She prac-
ticed field hockey in the shadows of Michigan
Stadium, and in world-class facilities named
after legends like Schembechler and Yost and
Crisler and Oosterbaan.
Hoyer had a strong freshman season. She
scored six goals, added three assists. She net-
ted a game-winner early in the season, then
later scored in the second round of the NCAA
Tournament.
But that season was nothing compared to
what she would do the following year. The
next fall, she told her teammates the biggest
secret of her life - she was bisexual.
In 2005, in a culture steeped in the uncer-
tainty about how to handle lesbian, gay, bisex-
ual andtransgender people - let alone athletes
- Hoyer was met with open arms.
Playing on the same campus as future
Olympians, Hoyer had a fine situation on the
surface. Her life or someone else's could be
very different right now had it not been for
the compassion she found inside the hallowed
halls of the University Athletic Department.
But to understand how we got here today,
and how Hoyer succeeded at Michigan eight
years ago, you must first understand a story
from a similar, yet entirely different college
town and through a sprinter named Paul Far-
ber.
Paul Farber came to the University of Penn-
sylvania in 2001 among a class of about 20
track athletes seeking an Ivy League educa-
tion, athletic success and an experience among
the world's brightest people.
Instead, when he stepped on the track early
during his freshman season, one of the first
words he heard was a derogatory gay slur. Far-
ber is gay.
Inside, this environment ate at Farber. He
felt depressed and worn down, physically and
mentally. It was his worst academic semester
yet. At one point, he tried his coach for advice.
But even his coach showed him apathy. He
told him that in his time coaching at Penn, two
athletes had come out and fit in well with the
team. Another, however, ended up getting ina
fight and had to leave the team. "So make sure
you make the right decision," Farber recalled
his coach, Charlie Powell, telling him.
The decision, when it came down to it, was
between being an athlete and being himself -
which, in the end, wasn't much of a choice at
all.
Farber chose himself, quitting the team
his freshman year. The following year, in an
attempt to create a more welcoming environ-
ment for gay athletes than the one he encoun-
tered, he helped establish Penn Athletes and
Allies Tackling Homophobia. Its goal was to
confrontwhathesaw asthe taboo ofhomopho-
bia in athletic culture.
Four years later, Farber's story and Michi-
gan's intersected. Working toward a PhD. in
*16 American Culture at Michigan, Farber became
a GSI for Professor John U. Bacon's class on the
history of college athletics.
Farber skimmed the list of topics in Bacon's
class and noticed that many examined sports
as an avenue for realizing social change, but
homosexuality in athletics was never dis-
cussed in class. So he started the discussion -
or, rather, he brought it out in the open.
"This is an issue that cannot be managed
with silence," Farber said. "It's been on the
back of student-athletes and willing adminis-
trators to carry forward the conversation."
To carry on the conversation at the Uni-
versity, Farber established the Michigan Ath-
letes and Allies Partnership. Similar to PATH,
MAAP created a space for athletes and allies.
teammates, several of whom were gay them-
selves, either open or closeted. When he did,
he found that nothing changed.
"The people who looked back at me after
I came out to them, I just knew that nothing
had changed," Heiter said. "It changed noth-
ing for them. They still saw me as exactly the
same person."
Last week, former Missouri defensive end
Michael Sam, who is projected as an NFL
Draft pick, came out publicly. If selected in
May (a near certainty for the Southeastern
Conference Defensive Player of the Year), Sam
would become the first openly gay NFL player
in a sport known for its masculine locker-
room culture.
Starting Sunday,
Sam will compete at
the NFL Combine,
where NFL teams
will scout him before
the upcoming draft.
He will be judged for
his speed, his hands,
his strength, his per-
sonality and now, per-
haps, his sexuality.
Sam put a lot of
money on the line by
coming out when he
did. Heiter and Hoyer
said they look for-
ward to the moment
when a player like
Sam's news isn't the
news story it has
become - but for
now, they're happy to
watch it unfold.
"I think where we
are right now, it needs
to be a spectacle,"
Hoyer said. "The
attention is neces-
sary. There's been so
ERIN KIRKLAND/Daily much hurt and pain
caused and suffered for
years, for gay people and straight people."
Heiter and Hoyer agreed that everyone has
his or her own journey and that everyone is
ready to come out at different times.
But both of them anticipate the time when
everyone is ready at some point - no matter
how many Michael Sams it takes to get
there.
When a former softball player, who asked
not to be identified by name because she is
not openly gay to everyone, came to Michigan
in 2008, she found an atmosphere in which
homosexuality was a "you-didn't-talk-about-it
thing."
But the culture changed substantially over
the player's four-year career. She told herself
she would be herself at college, and as her
teammates got to know her, that was OK.
"By my senior year, it was just part of who
you are," she said. "You don't need to say it if
you don't want to. We just went along with our
daily lives because it didn't affect anything for
us.
When it stopped affecting things, the player
enjoyed her experience at the University. The
true moment of peace for her came before her
sophomore season, when she was unsure of
how incoming freshmen would respond to her
sexuality.
"We've got your back," the senior players
told her. "We're not going to let anyone say
anything. We'll take care of you."
When the player came to Michigan, MAAP
was already established. For her, it was more
than just a place to go - it was an organization
that carried her through her college experi-
ence and helped her accept who she was.
When she had early college problems, the
group helped her. When she needed a group to
hang out with, the group gave her that too.
Hiding the secret, though, doesn't always
pose a problem. These athletic teams often
become players' families. In fact, Hoyer, Heit-
er and the softball player each told their teams
before they told their families. The team pro-
ceeded normally from there.
Bacon, who spent significant time around
the Michigan Athletic Department while
working on his 2013 book "Fourth and Long,"
said that reaction coincides with what he saw.
."Whatwas acceptable10years ago probably
isn't now," Bacon said. "I didn't have too much
doubt that guys I was around there for three
years would accept a gay teammate."
Sam came out to his team in August.
Because he was openly gay, coaches, support
staff and even some reporters knew he was
gay. According to Yahoo Sports, the Missouri
student newspaper knew Sam was gay before
last weekend. A reporter arranged an inter-
view with him about it, and when he cancelled,
the newspaper didn't run the story.
In each of these cases, the people around
the athletes haven't hidden the secret because
they are avoiding the issue or because they
don't want to create conflict. They have hidden
it because it's not their secret to share.
Think back to Paul Farber. Remember that
not all coming-out stories are like Hoyer's
or Heiter's. Remember that this issue is not
resolved.
Ten years ago, Farber told his coach the
most intimate secret of his life and was met
with apathy. Five years ago, a Michigan soft-
ball player came into an environment in which
homosexuality wasn't discussed. Ten days ago,
a college football player told the world he was
gay, risking his future in the process, doubters
be darned.
There will be a day when an athlete like
Michael Sam tells people he or she is gay and
no one bats an eye. This day might not be
tomorrow, or the next day. It might take more
Evan Heiters and Stephanie Hoyers and Paul
Farbers to get there. But once it comes, they
and the thousands of other people who have
helped make it happen will watch and smile.
To see the full version, go to michigandaily.com
the thought bubble
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'6' on the record
"Being a Canadian, I think curling is a great event. But
that's not as popular down here."
- RED BARENSON, Michigan Hockey coach on the Olympics
"We have a chance here in Michigan to recapture
national leadership with the growth of our public
universities," Coleman said. "I firmly believe that states
that do not invest in higher education will not win the
21st century, and I want desperately for Michigan to
win."
- MARY SUE COLEMAN, during a speech
about the importance ofHigher Education this past Thursday
"It better be delicious. We've waited long enough for it
to be good."
- AMELIA RUNCO, LSA sophomore,
on the opening of the new gelato station in East Quad
"Tell us a crazy story about traveling abroad."
"I once tried to buy alcohol in Egypt and I ended up in a minefield and I
had to be rescued by Israeli military personnel. Don't try to buy alcohol in
Arabic countries."
- EPHRAIM LOVE, ALUM '13
trending
USMAGAZINE COM
Last Saturday, the St. Louis Blues center
scored all four of the USA hockey team's
shoot-out goals to beat the Russian hockey
team.
The actress,
who starred in
movies like Juno,
Inception and
X-Men came out as
gay on Valentine's
Day this week at
the the Human
Rights Campaign's
inaugural Time
To THRIVE
conference.
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Hoyer was a key member. So was former
gymnast Evan Heiter, who graduated in 2011.
Along with other athletes and allies, the two
helped Farber start the alliance in 2008.
And the culture they helped build at the
University was very different than the one
Farber encountered in Phila- delphia 12
years ago.
In 2007, Heiter started as a gymnast at the
University. Did he feel pressure? Yes. Sur-
rounded by athletes who pushed him tobe his
best, he constantly felt motivated.
Did he occasionally have trouble finding
himself? Yes. But so would any 19-year-old
from the Ann Arbor area going out on his own.
The atmosphere in which Heiter competed
early on was not just open to gay athletes - it
was even more accepting, he found, than his
own family. He came out to his teammates
before he told his family.
He came out early in his career to a group of
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Campus was buzzing on social media this
week when students got word that the
20-year-old rapping phenom was coming to
Hill Auditorium in March.
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Mizzou students
formed a human
wall to block the
Westboro Bapists
Church protest of
DE Michael Sam,
who came out
as gay last week.
Sam's decision to
come out marks the
first-ever openly
gay college football
player.
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