Fair Play: How LGBT Athletes Are Claiming Their Rightful Place in Sports

This important and accessible book about the evolving treatment of LGBTQ athletes in organized sports should be required reading for anyone involved in the playing, coaching, and administration of organized sports. Zeigler, an expert in LGBTQ athletics and cofounder of the online magazine Outsports, revisits key moments that have shaped sports participation for openly LGBTQ athletes. The book includes a profile of Fallon Fox, a transgender mixed martial arts fighter, as well as one on NFL Hall of Fame wide receiver Michael Irvin, who became an advocate gay rights to honor his deceased older sibling, who “had been either transgender or a crossdressing gay man.” Zeigler describes the moment in 2007 when former NBA first-round draft choice Tim Hardaway told a talk radio host that he “hate[s] gay people” as “the day the homophobes lost the culture war in sports.” The author debunks the myth that having a nonstraight athlete on a team’s roster is a “distraction” and shares positive stories of younger athletes at high school and college levels who have come out to coaches, teammates, and family members. Zeigler argues that the dominant emotion holding back LGBTQ athletes is fear, reminding them and everyone else that courage is contagious. (June)