 Hello everyone and welcome to the IIP Connects web chat on empowering LGBT youth in combating homophobia in sports. My name is Ken Keromance, and I'm the senior advisor for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues for the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C. It is my pleasure to introduce this program along with our speaker Angela Huckelis, former member of the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team and founder of the Empowerment Through Sports leadership series. Angela won the U.S. Soccer Foundation's Humanitarian of the Year award in 2009. She's on the board of the You Can Play organization, which works to make sports a safe place for LGBT players. After this program, please feel free to continue this conversation via Twitter. You can tweet us at humanrightsgov. Thank you for joining us today. To our live audience, you may submit questions on the chat box at any time throughout the program. Angela, maybe you can start by telling us more about your personal experience and why you are invested in empowering LGBT youth in sports. Sure, Ken. Thank you very much for having me here today and thank you to the State Department as well. My background is in sports and I started playing soccer from a very early age and loved the game. It was something that I found joy in. I gained confidence through and really became a part of my life and my family's life as well. Throughout my professional career, I was fortunate enough to play on the U.S. Soccer Team as well as play collegiately and participated in two Olympics and two World Cups and wound up retiring from the game in 2009. So I had the opportunity to kind of step away from soccer and the sports world. I went to something completely different. I started practicing real estate and after that time, I realized I was being drawn back to the sports world. I had more to do, not necessarily on the field but off the field. That's when I founded the Empowerment Through Sport leadership series and my whole mission and purpose is to really find ways to help empower girls and women, especially using the vehicle of sport. It's very important to me being a member of the LGBT community to find ways to help raise such an important issue, to raise awareness and to create change of equality within the LGBT community specifically with with youth and with girls and women. So that's kind of my background and why it's very important to me to be involved in this issue. Being gay is human reality. It's part of our human experience and it's an issue of human rights. So it's very important that this is a conversation not just for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people but for all people. I work with the You Can Play organization which specifically targets the sports arena, creating a safe place for all LGBT members and the kind of the motto of this is if you can play sports, if you can play soccer, if you can play basketball, no matter what your ethnicity, your sexual orientation, you can play. So I've been involved with that organization and do a lot of speaking towards these issues. I think that we definitely find that, you know, straight allies are so key in the effort for defending and promoting the human rights of LGBT individuals. It can't just be, you know, our LGBT brothers and sisters who are part of this fight but we really count on, you know, the leadership and support from our friends, our family members, our colleagues, our fellow athletes. What can you say about working with, you know, straight allies in this effort and who have you found has been particularly helpful in supporting your work and your goals? Sure. I agree. It's super important to have our straight allies be supportive and they can do this in different ways. It's lending an ear, you know, especially to the youth. There are a lot of young people out there who are dealing with issues of being bullied because of their sexual orientation and just who they are. So really reaching out, making it an availability for young people to have that opportunity to be heard, to really take that chance to listen to someone who might just need a little bit of extra support. And not just that but also speaking up. I've been very fortunate to have had a good experience through my lifetime of support from my family, from my friends, from my teammates as well. And just knowing that is very empowering and, you know, just a feeling of overall safety as well. I mean this sort of phenomenon of bullying is getting a lot of play in the news here in the United States and really overseas as well. I've been working with a number of organizations, you know, in Europe, in Latin America and elsewhere that focus on bullying in general and LGBT bullying as part of that. But it's really something that is affecting so many youth these days and it's critical, the work that you're doing, I think, to make sports a safe space. Specifically because, you know, youth learn so many really important skills on the field, being part of a team, leadership skills, not to mention, you know, what our First Lady talks about, just healthy living. You know, it's always a good place to burn calories and have a good time, provided you're having a good time. And the threat or fear of bullies is something which keeps, I think, a lot of kids off the field, unfortunately. So what you're doing is definitely very commendable. You've been traveling abroad with the State Department a few times and you have some other plans to travel in the near future. Why don't you tell us a little bit about that? Sure. I've had really wonderful experiences working with the State Department. It's just tremendous to see that our U.S. government is really taking a stand on some very important issues. I traveled last year to Namibia and to Morocco, two places I'd never been before. And really those two trips were focused on empowerment through sports. In Morocco it was the first time that women were able to become licensed soccer coaches, football coaches in most of the world, which was tremendous to see. So just taking them through exercises and giving them guidance on something that's very passionate for them. So that was a really neat experience and Namibia working more closely with younger players, but also raising some important issues about how women are treated in the world. So some very important things going on with the State Department. And again this year I'll be fortunate to travel to both Ukraine as well as Tel Aviv. So very excited about those trips as well. Great. Getting back to sort of LGBT youth and combating homophobia in sports, what are some of the tools that you and your organization incorporate, use to fight LGBT bullying or to make the sports arena a safe space for gay and lesbian players? What do you guys actually sort of do to achieve that goal? Sure you know there are obviously resources online. There are a lot of different organizations working to combat this this issue and really raise awareness. What you can play specifically does partnering with other organizations but doing panel discussions and speaking at universities really targeted professional athletics as well as collegiate athletics. And the biggest message and probably one of the most simplistic ways that everybody can be involved in this is focusing on eliminating slang and slur words. So just the language that's used so casually that's really a put down to those in the LGBT community. Just changing those words and eliminating them from your vocabulary. Because if you're in the locker room, if I'm on my team and I hear on my teammates saying oh well that's just so gay, that's a put down. You're using that in a negative way and me as a gay individual, I'm thinking well is that person not going to like me and by not safe here. So really being aware of that and also once you have those words eliminating from the vocabulary really taking a stand and saying listen we're not going to tolerate this language. We're really going to support our teammates because you know as a teammate and when you're on the field your teammates and you're working together that becomes your family. Right and your goal is to win and you've got to win together and you've got to bring your best. Exactly that's the focus. You know what do they say? Bring your A-game every day. Exactly. Very good. Well we will now turn it over to questions submitted by our online audience. We would like to welcome live viewers from Queersport in Barcelona in the in addition to online viewers from Serbia, Kosovo and the US. Our first question is what has been the hardest challenge you face when working with LGBT youth? That's a great question. I think what's challenging when you're working with LGBT youth is what's available to them and what type of support are they receiving? Not everyone has a supportive home environment coming out as a gay or lesbian youth. So I think the challenges there are as a young person you might not have as many resources as an adult. So really trying to help them create that community of support whether it's coming from a parent, whether it's coming from a coach, a teammate, a friend, someone within the school or education community. So I think that's probably the biggest challenge that I've seen working with youth today. You know that it gets better campaign and there are a number of campaigns out there focused on sort of youth. Have you all or are you aware of let's say straight allies in the sports world who have made statements, comments, videos along those lines that have been successful? I would imagine if I were you know a young gay athlete college level, high school level, whatever perhaps haven't yet come out of the closet that hearing messages of support from pro athletes could be a really important really important thing to hear at some critical times in one's life. Definitely I mean I think that's one of the great things that I've seen through You Can Play group using the NHL, the National Hockey League, which unfortunately has a reputation of being one of the most homophobic sports leagues in our country. But there have been straight allies, male hockey big strong burly guys up there stating listen it's okay to be who you are I will support you know my gay teammate but it's it's nice that people who have that platform using sports to really make a statement that is such an important human issue and same thing with some players recently in the National Football League recently with the Super Bowl you know just having comments coming out right you know so really being able to tackle this issue head on with some important sports figures. I'd be interested to learn and maybe you will in your upcoming travels hear if this movement that you're a part of is also taking hold in other parts of the world right if you know there are soccer players soccer stars um you know from other parts of the world who are also standing up and of course soccer or football you know as it's known throughout the rest of the world is uh is the most popular sport right for good reason and um you know hearing from from folks like well like Beckham I guess right or others great example yeah you know can really uh help at some critical points so our next question is uh what resources are available for combating homophobia or supporting lgbt issues in other countries uh and I think maybe I'll speak a little bit great um I mean the state department for a number of years has been focused on the human rights of lgbt individuals and we have been we have our annual human rights report which we write for every country of the world and for about the past seven years or so we have included a section on sexual orientation and gender identity um which every year gets a little bit more robust and includes information about uh you know what's it like in that country is it uh criminalized right to love who you will love uh can that land you in jail or worse there are still I think six or seven countries in the world where um loving who you want to love uh can end up uh you know highest penalty of the death penalty which is obviously shocking in 2013 right um and this is something that the state department is is working on uh and is uh working with um other governments uh NGOs civil society organizations all around the world to try and uh decriminalize love and make the world kind of a safer place for lgbt individuals um we our embassies kind of all over the world are hosting events meeting with lgbt activists and advocates and also in many ways in in some places where you know homophobia is completely acceptable uh lgbt individuals are stigmatized we have uh been trying to form a safe space for the lgbt community to also meet with the larger human rights community right uh and and and and form without those kinds of common bonds um um you know when uh former secretary of state clinton when she was our first lady and she went to chida and she said women's rights are human rights and human rights are women's rights that was sort of quite shocking in many parts of the world sure that was only 20 years ago and of course a year and a half ago in well let the less in december of 2011 well actually before that but she said you know lgbt rights are human rights and human rights are gay rights and and that was a little bit groundbreaking at that time and yet to say it or hear it today uh makes a lot more sense and i think it's reaching younger people it's reaching the next generation and we're going to see uh hopefully some real forward movement in this regard so uh next question can you give us examples of ways individuals can help an lgbt youth who is experiencing problems yeah i think just kind of following up even with with what you just mentioned just having a discussion um as i said before lending an ear and letting someone know that you're available to discuss these things um you know just it's going to take a village and there are individuals who are stepping up and speaking out on important issues um and i think it starts with a conversation you have to talk about these things first to bring awareness to educate um so that's that's definitely the first step and i think especially with someone who's young who might not have the opportunity to really talk about something right and and knowing who to speak to it's going to fall on maybe the other person to really put that out there and just saying listen i'm here and i'm available if you ever want to come to me and talk about anything i mean did you ever experience homophobia in sports you know were you ever called out you know uh were you ever sort of the victim of and of these this kind of nonsense i mean i see you now as sort of a strong empowered woman and that's phenomenal but when you were younger how did you manage that or were you always sort of able to stand up you know strong and tall and say no no that that won't cut it as i'm sure you are today i i wish i could say that's how i have always been um but i think it's every person's individual uh process and i know for me the more that i became comfortable with who i was and who i am um you know just as a person as a whole the easier it was for me to recognize that this is a part of me and it's not a big deal just one other part of me like i'm a soccer player or you know i'm an african-american woman so no it hasn't always been an easy road fortunately for me i haven't had a horror story or i haven't had a whole lot of real issues that i've had to deal with but you know there there have been moments um that have been very uncomfortable and uh i mean i remember just being on a team and everyone's talking about their boyfriends or you know their significant others and not feeling like i was okay to say well you know i might be interested in a girl right um so you know that's one of the things of of creating that safe space and really allowing people to have that opportunity to share who they are right um so how can we combat bullying on the field in countries where homophobia is the norm if it's everywhere in the community how can focusing on the sports world help right um and that's a great question what one of the things that i love about sports is um you touched a little bit on this before that it offers so much um that is it offers ways that you can learn about leadership yeah it teaches you how to deal with different personalities you know on a team sport um it sports teaches you about life not just on the field but off the field and that translation is so important so using sports as this vehicle it's an opportunity that people are having fun you know they're having a great time playing a sport it makes it more comfortable to talk about uh hard issues you know historically we've seen that sports um crosses boundaries of politics you know i think the olympics is a great representation of you know differences setting aside differences to go ahead and have a healthy competition in a sports and safe arena so the same thing applies when we talk about lgbt issues when we talk about um anti-bullying um these are different ways in which we can raise some really important topics um in a safe way yeah you know because this as we said this is your family right um your sports team becomes a family and it becomes your peers your social group i'm wondering if sports were successfully used in other sort of civil rights movements i mean i mean obviously the integration of jackie robinson into the major league baseball right you know back 50 years ago by the chore uh uh you know was something that we all still remember and um women in sports is also incorporating women into sports has been a real push that the united states government has taken on since title title nine title nine yeah back in the 70s right something along those lines so you know this is sort of the next step right in many ways of uh of that can you talk it all about efforts in in that regard especially i guess well as an african-american animal when you may have some good examples of both of them i cross cross all boundaries yeah no i mean i think um we can really look at this um you know and that's why it's it's a human issue yeah you know it's i love what you said before about how it's just a part of the whole right part of your person exactly yeah exactly so you know obviously with with race issues sports has served as a way to really um highlight inequalities and um differences that were not fair in our past right well and most importantly it demonstrates that regardless of color gender social sexual orientation gender identity if you're good at what you're doing you're good at what you're doing right if you can play you can play you know exactly which is a great name for the organization exactly yeah yeah and it's it's such a great way to really um show that these things don't matter and i might i mean that in the sense of um we're all human beings right you know it doesn't matter what we look like it doesn't matter um how we identify uh but we're all human beings and that's why we're all in this together and um you know it's it's a fun way to really put some of these differences aside or have a discussion about it you know and um you know you look at the baseball league when the men went off to war and the women were able to play right right so another great way that you know you're bringing in um in an environment that you didn't necessarily think um some of these things could exist so so during your career where did you find sort of more progressive sports communities and in which countries did you find more challenges right well i think um even i mean as a member of the national team right you just played the olympics but you also played in other countries too definitely okay oh did lots of traveling yeah playing with the us team which was phenomenal yeah um and a great experience to really see other cultures um meet other teams in different countries um make friends uh you know across the world and did you play on every continent no that's always my goal no as a foreign surface officer to live on every continent right oh that's a great goal that's fun yeah no um you know tremendous opportunities with playing with the us team but uh very fascinating to explore some of these differences and what i thought was interesting is is very much what we're talking about it's when we're on the field yeah you don't necessarily see this team um as a different culture and kind of picking out all the differences right it's about competing you know so um sure they might be speaking another language different than we are yeah um you know off the fields maybe you can go into a little bit further depth of conversation i remember um befriending some of the brazilian uh women and uh on the field we weren't friends right you know they were one of our toughest toughest competitors um and a huge rivalry for the united states so um definitely on the sports field it's you know you're there for business right right yeah but off the field you could you know go out for dinner or would you guys get to know one another a little bit a little bit i think uh depending depending but um you know exploring other countries and just really seeing what what the culture is like like there but could you ever feel when you were visiting countries even for a short period of time or playing on the field that homophobia may have been more prevalent it existed it was a stronger kind of undercurrent or sure i mean i think um one of the the biggest things is just obviously playing um being a woman and playing against other women just the differences in other countries and how they're treated versus how we're treated in the united states and the support that the women don't receive versus the men right um but i have heard of stories that um women have been kept off of certain national teams in other countries okay because the coach thought they were gay or a lesbian um and that's just that it hurts you know knowing that someone who is as talented to be on a national team isn't able to represent our country because of that fear right you know whether it's true or not it shouldn't even matter but just that that stigma with the fear of being gay and as you said if she's good enough to be on the team then she's probably good enough to make a real positive impact on the team exactly which may have brought them to a winning you know to a winning um result right so a participant from cosvo asks how do you think that a local lgbt community can overcome the visibility issue in a country where most people think lgbt people don't exist or if they do they live elsewhere that's a great question um yes the lgbt community is worldwide it's everywhere we represent the world you know that we have representation in the entire world yeah again i think it starts with conversations and discussions but beyond that there needs to be some type of support i think from your government as well some type of policy some type of law made to really support um and create a level playing field for all people um i think that's where you start to get more of the attention and support when something is legalized in support of the lgbt community um i mean we've seen in our country with the repeal of don't ask don't tell um you know having our president you know make a statement that all people should be created and and created equally um and you can love whoever you can love i mean i think that you know in a in a country like like cosvo in a young country like cosvo uh where um you know homophobia is still prevalent the lgbt community is just starting to organize you know it can be a little bit tough definitely but i think that uh as the or as the community is organizing itself uh i think forming a a soccer team just to sort of play at the neighborhood level or the uh you know just for fun uh is a great way to kind of bring the community together and it also provides an opportunity for lgbt individuals with those interests to find one another right uh there's it's remarkable here in washington dc we have an organization called team united i believe and they have a whole host of different sporting teams whether it's uh soccer or uh football american football or baseball or all these different kinds of teams and it's a totally different group of folks who go and enjoy that kind of environment and that kind of community as those who enjoy going to say the gay bar or coffee shop or you know that kind of community center you know those sorts of other outlets which we've created over the last sort of 40 or 50 years of the movement here here in the united states and i think also to that point um you know what sports does provide is that opportunity for people to get to know you as an individual and you as a competitor you know as a teammate without having that identity of being labeled as something right so i think that's another great opportunity that we can see through participating in sports right you know and i think it's also important you know for the global audience that this is an effort which takes a lot of time right as much as we wish that the fully quality exists here in the united states already of course it does not we know that and we recognize that this conversation is one which is ongoing and will continue here at home and in other parts of the world the conversation is just getting started and you know it takes time and it takes um it takes a lot of effort but if uh you know the the fact of the matter is is that throughout the course of history human rights have expanded right and they will continue to expand until all people are truly born free and equal exactly dignity and rights exactly and um that's what the state department is working toward that's what the u.s. government is working toward that's what other governments around the world are working toward and it's wonderful to be a part of that conversation and and to you know have have you here today with us and to talk about this other angle this uh of this effort right so the gay lesbian and straight education network are glisten just released a new study about lgbt athletes in middle and high school they find that many of these students experience harassment assault and discrimination that negatively impact their overall performance in the physical education courses what can educators and fellow students do to make these spaces safe i think uh definitely you know targeting say the locker rooms i know in sports it's great to use a lot of visuals having the team coming up with different guidelines or rules but i think by having the team really make this issue something of of importance by making a statement taking a stand saying um we will support all people um regardless of you know ethnicity sexual orientation starting there as a team you know um making that feel comfortable and safe and seeing how that filters out because that's a controlled environment yeah um and one that again it's focused on working hard and having fun um but really kind of figuring out a way to engage you know people in a sports environment i think is going to be a great way to do it i guess i'm sort of wondering like on a day-to-day you know or on the first day like how do you you know like is the is the is you know the call on day one that the coach or the phys ed teacher you know should sit the class down and say now listen these these things are not acceptable and sort of lay the groundwork from the first day is it something that you find needs to be repeated throughout the year both okay yeah both i think um so so set the standard on day one set the standard and then repeat it when required definitely i think you know as as we said we're going to have to keep talking about these things yeah um it's not just you bring it up once and everything solved yeah you know we know that's not true but you know setting that precedent you know just like you know you need to have certain rules about what goes on on the fields and what goes on in your locker room what goes on with the team making that known what the team culture is like what's acceptable what's not you know starting off on day one you know this is what we're going to do these are the goals that we want to achieve and this is what's acceptable and what's not um but you're going to have to revisit it you know it it's going to be something that's constantly brought up um what need be but also just another reminder i think um as well just to kind of enhance that definitely um who was there to listen to you did you have someone in particular who would lend an ear whenever things were difficult for you whether that's on the field or off the field or preferably an example of both sure i mean um again i was i was very fortunate i've been very fortunate in my life to have had um wonderful support from my family and um and my mother as a psychologist my dad is a history professor and um you know i remember going to my mom's office one time and seeing on her door you know these symbols you know the triangle the pink triangle and saying this is a safe space um and that was before you had even and that was before i came out that's great right and you know i remember seeing that and that made me feel comfortable absolutely you know knowing that one day i was going to be talking to my mom about this although as a young as a you know teenager when you're first starting to have you know feelings like that developed during our teenage years how did that make you feel i mean did it did it really make you feel warm and fuzzy or was it almost a little bit weird or you know what i'm saying like i can almost imagine it sort of being like uh maybe too much too soon or you know what i mean you know what i mean i think you know obviously there are so many things going on yeah your teenager you know and you're trying to figure out who you are you're trying to you know get your homework done you're you've got so much going on and then there's this added element of i'm different than everybody else right you know um so you know how do you deal with those emotions you know those thoughts and you know who do you turn to um i think for a long time you know whatever that relativity is yeah i didn't feel comfortable talking to anyone right even people that i knew would be supportive exactly um and that was my own process i know other people um are very courageous and can make a statement early on which i think is incredible but not everybody can feel that um and it takes time yeah but i say the patients having the patients to feel comfortable yourself right um to find someone safe to talk to that's amazing what about that on the field on the field same thing um you know i knew of other gay teammates that i had yeah and just knowing that uh made me feel more comfortable as well whether or not i was out to my teammates what about coaches i mean did you have coaches during obviously right you know this was a few years ago when you were in college a few years thank you two or three a couple years ago uh you know was that message delivered however many years ago that was was that something that you all heard from your coaches back then that there were certain terms which are were not acceptable that this was you know a place where all were welcome or was that not really even discussed back then it wasn't really discussed back then i think you know what we're seeing is something new it's it's um a great shift yeah towards um really making the lgbd community feeling safe yeah and having more of those human rights awarded to them um i know it's hard with coaches too because some coaches that are a part of this community don't feel safe themselves for fear of maybe losing their job um how parents might respond to them coaching their daughters right um you know this recruitment of um you know you're turning my my daughter son into a gay person right so you know coaches have um have had a tough time as well trying to figure out what those boundaries are yeah um and so you know my experience kind of going growing up and um collegiately you know club level it's not really coming from the coaches whether they're straight or gay um but i think that's what's great to see now is that there's a change uh what's not coming from the coaches the leadership to fight homophobia or the homophobic comments the comments okay um well i should say or both bringing it up making it a standard that this is not acceptable right um it wasn't really touched upon okay at all and now we're starting to see that and now there's there's a shift so a very positive shift which is great to see yeah what your organization does it target uh i know you're talking that there's a real focus on professional sports right uh and you've talked a lot about collegiate sports college level university level uh teams what about at the high school level are there are other organizations that you partner with uh to get this message into the high school level because as we were talking about last night you know the earlier we can start right encouraging people to be uh supportive express tolerance rather than hate uh oppose bullying you know the kind of the better world will make sure yeah i know i don't uh with this with you can the you can play organization it is more focused right now on you know the professional and collegiate level um the hope is that by more discussions you know from our older groups and community that'll trickle down yeah and you know what i'm seeing just in in my daily life is younger people it's more of a non-issue for the younger people right you know they're starting to be born into this world and grow up with they're leading the way on gay uncles or you know it's it's a normality for them absolutely so um fortunately i don't think there needs to be as much work done for you know younger younger people right so that you can play uh organization what's if people wanted to find out more uh out there what's the website for sure it's uh you can play project dot org why are you spelled out why are you all one word you can play project dot org yes terrific terrific do you notice a difference between people's acceptance toward gays uh les bisexuals lesbians and transgender individuals are some orientations more socially accepted than others in the united states that's um a really interesting question i think you know we use this acronym lgbt right you know lesbian gay bisexual transgender right um i i feel like especially in the united states um the t the transgender community gets left out a bit i think there is um still some confusion and people seem to be a little bit more uncomfortable yeah um because it's not as black and white right you know and i think um there's still a lot more education that needs to be done i know i need to be more educated myself um on the transgender community yeah no it's remarkable we have uh at the state department uh an individual who just transitioned uh year and a half ago um uh so our first sort of transgender right foreign service officer and uh i've gotten to had the pleasure of really getting to know her uh a little bit better over the last year and a half and she's absolutely amazing she's absolutely brilliant she's an and a real live rocket scientist of course of course and uh the freedom that she now has sort of like the freedom that that you and i certainly felt when we finally came out of the closet and accepted ourselves and found that others accepted us as well just that that burst of energy that um that we experience just being comfortable in our own skin right there's another whole step to that process that transgender individuals go through to get comfortable in their own skin and to feel like they can present themselves outwardly as they are as we can present ourselves inwardly as we are it's really it's a amazing and i i fully agree with you and it's it's remarkable in following these issues globally right there are a number of countries out there where the transgender community is the most accepted right um particularly parts of south asia uh and in that part of the world and in parts of africa too the the transgender community is the one which is most accepted and it has been a part of the culture for hundreds and hundreds of years and accepted part of the culture for hundreds and hundreds of years um so it's uh it's it's fascinating how different cultures kind of view the lgbt community which kind of exists as a community but in many ways it's all about individuals right and individual experiences are are different i was talking yesterday with some uh reporters uh who do lgbt travel overseas around the world and they were talking about one of the mention that it was in some parts of the world much more difficult to be sort of let's say a butch lesbian than it is to be a gay man right right uh they are the target of more harassment than you know gay you know gay men right and that that sort of reminds us that at the end of the day there's well a lot of work to be done sure um to help folks just see people as people and to kind of drive the message home all around the world it doesn't matter at the end of the day it doesn't matter your color it doesn't matter your race doesn't matter your religion doesn't matter your sexual orientation or your gender identity we're all just people and we're all just doing the best we can to get it you know to get through the day yeah i mean there's a lot that you know we as Americans can learn from and take from other cultures you know especially on this topic yes and it's um one of those things where you shouldn't have to fear something that's different right you know um i think that's part of what we see sometimes is that uh someone who's different than us it makes us uncomfortable yeah um it doesn't have to be something that's feared right you know but it's just different could actually be something that's embraced exactly and we've we've seen this well again in sports but also at the state department in business you know diversity is a benefit right uh you know if it's only a bunch of people who are you know 30 and this color and this background you know the base of information which is brought to the table is that wide right whereas if you have folks from different backgrounds and different with different ideas sure boy you really can get to a much better product whether you're talking about the goal of getting the goal or making more money for your organization or producing a better report for the state department or whatever it might be uh diversity is so important definitely and uh uh you know it's it's been a long road i think in a world which is continuing here in the united states and and elsewhere around world uh no country i think has got it all figured out yet but uh i think that uh most countries are working toward that goal and we hope that soon all of all of the world um so i just wanted to let you know angela that we are now uh we now have several online viewers from india serna pakistan spain kosovo serbia nigeria and the united states right right they are enjoying this discussion very much and have a few more questions so on to our next one fantastic how do you see social media playing a role in adjusting social attitudes toward lgbtq in both sports and society i think it's a great tool everybody um i know it's different across the world um but we're seeing such a large growth and using the internet yeah and using social media as as a tool to communicate our communication has changed so greatly over the last few years by using facebook by using twitter it's another tool i think that you can use in a positive way to really um create conversation and discussion yeah um you find a lot of you know i find some of my friends and other professional athletes really using that tool as a way to promote um a great idea uh to to offer and show their support and where they stand on certain issues so really being able to engage in an audience that you know they might not have that reach to um just by talking or you know talking on the phone so i think it's a great tool to use to promote positive messages um and obviously people don't always use it in that way but well that's what i was thinking you know we hear today uh and i'm so glad i'm you know not a teenager today with social media being used as a place a new platform for bullying as if you know the classroom the sports field and and elsewhere wasn't enough now they can also get bullied online and you just think oh you know like teenage years are tough enough people who you know give each other a break that's it's just so unfortunate because um you know i think one of the downsides about that is you know who's going to be the better person you don't really want to get in a social media war right you know but if someone's i feel like the same type of practices that you would use offline you can use online you know so if you see something or you see a comment that is unfair or is a bullying comment right you know don't stay silent right you know you need to speak up and you need to say something just as you would um if you see a classmate or a friend or a teammate you know in the hallway right getting bullied as well yeah you know bringing in um that attention we really need a dislike button yeah that'd be great referring back to the role of the authority coach or teacher uh another participant asks for more clarification on ways to deal with a coach or authority figure that may be the bully right are there steps individuals and their teammates can take and i think that's a really great question that is a great question i think you know that's that's challenging as well yeah because here you have you're in a position being bullied by someone who's in that authority or that power position yeah um so it might be hard it might be challenging but again something needs to be said or some action needs to be taken now whether that's talking to someone else right say it's a club or an organization yeah someone else that um might have more authority yeah you know might be in a higher position within that structured organization right you know you might need to go ahead and jump to that person and i'm thinking of a couple of other uh ideas as well so let's say that it's a teacher or a coach uh is the school guidance counselor or principal someone that you could talk to uh could the parents could your your own parents help definitely could maybe a classmates parents help let's say that you know you're a lesbian i'm straight my parents however have already like gotten to know you love you think you're the greatest thing ever would they be willing to reach out another idea maybe is is there a local NGO um that focuses on lgbt issues or bullying issues right that could take that message that you could reach out to and say hey you know we've got this coach at my school or this teacher at my university who's uh really saying some terrible things could you all engage we've seen that actually here at home uh even recently with some teachers who have come out with saying some really insanely ridiculous things against lgbt students people who are in their care and there are organizations here at home parents and friends of lesbians and gays p flag the aclu and other organizations which have really stepped up and let it be known that that's not not okay right um i don't know if there are other ideas but i think you're right the in general identify who your allies are who are at that person's level or maybe in maybe even superior to him or her and ask them see if they can intercede on your behalf because you're right as a as a student or as a player to uh combat that kind of language on your own can be very challenging right and again it's not necessarily what i'm saying speak up or take action right it's not necessarily directed towards that person who is being bullied yes um you know a lot of times it is more powerful for the person who's observing yeah to speak up right um or you know like you said figuring out who that ally is that can speak on your behalf um if you're the person being bullied so it's again it's a community effort it takes a village you know it needs to be an issue for all people not just the lgbt people yes so queer sport in barcelona followed up by saying that they agree that lgb is getting better but the t is more problematic always what about people who identify as queer when politicians are not interested in transgender issues is there a way to change politicians mindsets that's a it's a very interesting question as well um you know i think um you have to look at what action i think it can be taken again if you're having some type of policy change that's great you know whether it be going around within your community um you know having some type of ballot or having some type of physical presence you know to to really show the politicians that this is an important issue and it's not just me it's not just this one other person but let's me have hundreds or thousands of people that feel like this is an issue um and bringing that awareness and that attention to it you know i mean politicians are it's it's tough as well to generalize globally because the way we as americans relate to our politicians is different from the way even in europe uh the way that europeans relate to their politicians and then of course uh in the developing world even in democracies it's even wider birth between your average you know joe on the street and and a politician uh i remember living in a number of countries where the notion of communicating with your local representative was almost was was completely far right right yeah at this point we have enough time for one more question and that question is through the course of your life you have seen positive developments in combating discrimination and homophobia in sports thanks in part to organizations like you can play as we look to the future what is a final message you'd like to send to young lgbt athletes who may have tuned in today or will watch this chat later online that's great i think um the last message i would like to leave is that um stay true to who you are um you know stay courageous have patience and know that the change that you might want will take time um it can be scary it can be painful but it doesn't mean that you're wrong right you know so really stay true to yourself and as we've seen historically for so many issues um to have this type of change in a positive direction it's going to take time it's going to take effort it's going to be hard yeah but it can and will happen and i think you know stay true to yourself even if that's just to yourself remember that you know everybody out there has value and worth and even if the messages that are around you don't support you know that you are needed and loved and cherished on this earth and keep that close to your own heart i love that yeah thank you again to our online audience and a special thank you to angela hughley's thank you a recording of this program will be available on the connex portal page after about three business days thanks for watching this program has been brought to you by connex