The end of the first day of the SMYHL conference was a purely personal interest: I picked “Integrating LGBT Youth in Athletics” as something that seemed interesting. It was a bust in terms of audience (3 people) and in the composition of the panel doing the talking. Three collegiate lesbians and one high school swimmer makes not an interesting panel-or at least the audience was wrong. It was composed of me and two other college students-none of us were coaches at the high school level, there was nobody there to ask questions about creating a comfortable environment for GLBTQ students in the locker room.
Sunday morning I went to a session on LBGT homeless students-which apparently I had attended two years ago, but didn’t remember until the video started. The topic is one that I find interesting, and I should have become involved with the issue over the last two years up in Indianapolis, but I didn’t. This has been a significant personal failure.
The keynote speaker for the conference was Dr. Terry Tafoya from the University of Washington. I saved him for last, and this is perhaps the part that will be most negative. Dr. Tafoya has many fans at the conference, and indeed he is a repeat from the conference two years ago. He’s a charming individual and he tells great stories-both of which are charming and enduring qualities. However there is not significant density of content. After hearing one story, you’ve heard all there is to know, yet most people continue to be enchanted with him. I left, at the end of the conference before he could start his Community Healing Ceremony.
Overall the conference was excellent, from my perspective. As to whether or not it was good for the high school teachers and community youth, that’s more difficult. I hope it was.
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