This story is part of our monthly series, Campus Dispatch. Read the rest of the stories in the series here.

Student athletes have long been held up as role models in their communities. Whether they’re winning on the national stage and bringing attention to their universities or using their platforms to call for social change, they’re often offered a microphone on a public stage.

That microphone is being used internally, too—as conservative anti-LGBTQ+ policies make their way into school sports, student athletes on campuses across the country are working to ensure every teammate feels included at school and beyond, whether their schools uphold Title IX or not.

Since its inception, “Title IX” has been colloquially used to describe exclusion in sports, though the actual law encompasses all school activities. Title IX was enacted in 1972 to establish that no one involved in any education activity or federally funded program could be discriminated against on the basis of sex.

Essentially, Title IX prevents discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation.

But as lawmakers debate who should be allowed to participate in what level of school sports, one thing has been missing from the conversation: input from student athletes themselves.

Creating their own communities

A common throughline among student athletes is that they love their sports—they just want to compete with their teammates. That proves to be difficult when lawmakers play tug-of-war with policies that affect who can compete and who they compete against.

Athlete Ally, a New York City-based nonprofit founded in 2011 by former University of Maryland All-American wrestler Hudson Taylor, focuses on championing inclusion and advocacy among and for LGBTQ+ athletes across the country. The organization holds workshops nationwide to educate people on the importance of being an ally. One of its missions is to “end homophobia and transphobia in sport,” according to Athlete Ally’s website.

Ryan Kane started Tufts University’s chapter of Athlete Ally in 2022 after not seeing a space for queer athletes like himself, despite knowing there were others at his school.

“I wanted to create a community not just to find friends, but also to try to change the language, trying to promote education, trying to change stereotypes, trying to really change Tufts’ image of an athletic space,” Kane, who’s on the men’s rowing team, said.

Not knowing what being a queer athlete at Tufts would look like also fueled Kane to start the chapter, for which he now serves as president.

“When I was getting recruited to row, there was no way to find out whether a school was safe for people like myself to compete,” Kane said. “So one of the missions is to really highlight Tufts as a safe space for LGBTQ+ athletes.”

The Tufts chapter is the largest Athlete Ally chapter in the country, with over 150 active members and all varsity sports represented. The group hosts events ranging from workshops addressing issues like performance anxiety and movie nights to smaller, more intimate events like snack breaks and study sessions. Occasionally, the group partners with chapters at other universities in the area, such as Boston University, Harvard University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to host mixers.

Peter McCormick, another member of both Tufts’ rowing team and Athlete Ally, still remembers a moment that made him realize the organization’s impact on the athletes.

“During our formal team representative meeting and photoshoot, it was really exciting just to see how many folks and sports are coming uniting in this because you often see 20 different sports teams come together,” McCormick said. “It made me really hopeful.”

History of LGBTQ+ inclusion—and exclusion—in athletics

In April, the Department of Education issued updated Title IX rules that specifically protect LGBTQ+ students from discrimination, undoing provisions put into place by former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. But the new rules don’t mention transgender athletes, who have been at the center of discriminatory school sports team bans.

The intersection of the LGBTQ+ issues and athletics has been brought to the forefront in recent years as conservative lawmakers have fought to exclude trans girls from participating on sports teams that align with their gender identities. In one of the more recent high-profile cases, the ACLU filed a lawsuit against West Virginia on behalf of Becky Pepper-Jackson, a 12-year-old transgender girl, to allow her to remain on her middle school track team. In April 2023, the Supreme Court denied the state’s efforts to remove Pepper-Jackson from the team.

LGBTQ+ athletes weren’t always as welcomed in college sports. Susan Cahn, a University of Buffalo professor emeritus and historian focusing on gender and sports, emphasized the need to acknowledge a time that was very different.

“Most people don’t have any conception of how restrictive and discriminatory sports were prior to Title IX,” Cahn said.

She also said it’s important “to understand the change over time, but also to understand how fundamental the belief that sports is inherently masculine continues to be, even though we now accept women.”

But not all schools are as outwardly welcoming as others, and some athletes enter college with varying baselines of acceptance. Kurt Weaver, chief operations officer at You Can Play, a national organization that works to create safe and affirming spaces for LGBTQ+ athletes, coaches, and fans, said “level-setting” is essential.

“Level-setting means getting on the same page with terminology, which, especially these days, means different things to different people,” Weaver said.

It’s a team effort

For Emily, an athlete at Haverford College who requested a pseudonym out of fear of retaliation from her family, her school’s friendliness toward LGBTQ+ folks is just as prevalent on her team. She credits the leadership for cultivating that community.

“I want to emphasize the importance of having your coach be a role model and how much of an impact adults have on your life,” Emily said, adding that having someone who “really strives to be as inclusive as possible” is important.

Both Emily and Maya Holmes, a member of Haverford’s cross-country and track and field teams, agree that leadership also must stem from a team’s more senior members.

“There’s only so much you can do in terms of being a coach,” Holmes said. ”It’s more coming from the captains and upperclassmen to set an example and lead by that example.”

For University of Kansas students, Athlete Ally game day initiatives centering on Pride have helped foster inclusion on campus. Events have included Pride Regattas and swim and dive meets. The school’s athletic administration has stepped up, too.

“One of the biggest things is trying to make sure that our infrastructure of inclusion is in what we do,” Paul Pierce II, the university’s associate athletics director for inclusive excellence, said. “We’ve updated our onboarding documents for our student athletes to include their pronouns in them as well as their demographic information.”

Lize van Leeuwen, an international student from the Netherlands who’s on Kansas’ swim and dive team, added that American student-athletes have a particularly high impact in the media.

“I noticed in the U.S.—college sports, but sports in general—just get so much more media coverage, and there are so many more active fans,” van Leeuwen said. “I never thought of athletes as being role models for being able to create societal change.”

Many athletes take the simple yet effective route of speaking up. Since there are many backgrounds represented on a team, being hyper aware of internal biases and showing empathy is a theme among many athletes. Also welcomed? Fans and teammates showing outward support.

“I think it’s important to really be vocal and speak up about what you believe in,” Kansas rower Sarah Sutton said.

What’s next?

While no one can predict the legislation that lawmakers may or may introduce the athletes themselves will continue establishing safe environments for their LGBTQ+ teammates. They will also ensure that the team functions as exactly that—a team. Straight allies are a large part of this, according to Kane.

“Something that’s really important that we’re focusing on in our chapter is trying to create a very inclusive space and to get straight allies involved,” Kane said. “We really want to have straight allies involved in a lot of the communication and conversations and our mission because they’re so instrumental in creating change on our campus.”

Sports media also plays a huge role in shaping the conversation, whether it be at the courthouse steps or in conversations on social media platforms.

“Make sure to recognize everybody’s accomplishment,” Emily said. “It is a very simple thing to say, but see what news articles are focusing on and if they’re focusing on the white straight woman or male men in sports.”

No matter what the future laws dictate, Weaver said it’s the athletes and spectators themselves who make the difference.

“If we have a Pride night, it doesn’t mean you’re not invited,” Weaver said. “It simply means that we’re going to reach out to a certain community and welcome you to our lunch table. And we need to do that more often—and all the time.”