Ithaca College

A documentary that examines how homophobia in women’s collegiate sports can collude in the destruction of the lives and dreams of many of its most talented athletes will be the next selection in the Out of the Closet and Onto the Screen film series at Ithaca College. “Training Rules” will be shown on Wednesday, Oct. 5, at 7 p.m. in Textor 103. It is free and open to the public.

Rene Portland had three training rules during her 26 years of coaching women’s basketball at Pennsylvania State University: no drinking, no drugs and no lesbians. “Training Rules” follows the lawsuit filed in 2006 against Portland and Penn State by student-athlete Jennifer Harris and demonstrates how an athletic department and a complacent university allowed talented athletes, thought to be gay, to be dismissed from their college team. The film shows that the problem is hardly unique; that Harris’s experience of harassment and dismissal is rampant at colleges across the country.

Sponsored by the Ithaca College Center for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Education, Outreach, and Services, the theme of this year’s film series is “LGBT People and Sport.” Support for the series is provided by the Jack Dembow Charitable Foundation. For more information, visit www.ithaca.edu/lgbt/.

Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations should contact Lis Maurer at lmaurer@ithaca.edu or 607-274-7394. We ask that requests for accommodations be made as soon as possible.