GLBT Alumni Association, IU Athletics partner up

The IU Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Alumni Association has joined forces with the IU Athletics Department.

Their goal: to get the GLBT community more involved and enthusiastic about IU sports.
Jonathan Kitto, secretary of the IU GLBTAA, said many people have a misconception that the GLBT community is uninterested in sports in general.

Kitto said he is seen as an anomaly.

“For some unknown reason, I am a gay man that loves football,” Kitto joked.
So Kitto helped organize LGBT Appreciation Day 2010, which will be on Oct. 30, the day of the football game against Northwestern.

Kitto said this not only engages the GLBT community in athletics, but in a subtle way, it also shows that the GLBT community can be included in the definition of family.

“I think the fact that IU is getting the GLBT community into football sends a phenomenal message to gays and lesbians who are still in high school,” Kitto said.
IU Athletics also received a lot of attention for participating in the Circle City IN Pride for the first time and for being the first athletics department of any U.S. university to attend a Pride event, Kitto said.

However, Patrick Kraft, the senior assistant athletic director of marketing for IU Athletics, said the department focuses on recruiting Hoosier fans. The Circle City IN Pride was just another promotional opportunity.

“We don’t care what sexual orientation or gender our Hoosier fans are,” Kraft said.
And IU Athletics’ mission fits into GLBTAA’s goal for students and allies, said Rachael Jones, director of alumni programs for the IU Alumni Association.

The GLBTAA helps provide grants for GLBT-related events run by student organizations. It also gives out two scholarships: one for academics and one
for need.

“Sadly, every year we give out an emergency scholarship because someone gets cut off financially as a result of coming out to their family,” Kitto said.

The GLBTAA is just one factor of IU becoming more GLBT-friendly.

“For a university system, we are learning every year,” Jones said.