Recruiting and Retaining LGBT Athletes Lessons from the Population

Presented at the Diversity Research Symposium 2014: From Research to Action conference at Ball State University. Published in 2016 as part of the conference proceedings entitled Diversity Research Symposium Journal 2014: From Research to Action.This paper explores the experiences of gay and lesbian college student athletes. Participants of the study played at National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I or National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) institutions. All contributors were engaged in an hour to 90 minute interview. They were asked a range of questions regarding their family environments and attitudes, institutional climates, and the process of disclosing their sexuality. The primary research question explored was, What are the experiences of gay and lesbian college student athletes on college campuses? Intentions for the study were to bring awareness to the treatment of gay and lesbian athletes on college campuses, and how they navigated their college surroundings. The submitted chapter provides an outline of implications for athletics and for higher education, overall. Information was collected through resources provide by the NCAA on inclusivity of LGBT student athletes (Morrison, 2012)