Dr. Pat Griffin, a former athlete and coach of several sports, began her lecture last Wednesday night in the Reilly Room by telling a story about a little girl on the East Coast who was into playing sports.

This girl thought she was a lesbian after reading about homosexuality in a Dear Abby column when she was 12. However, acting out of fear of how other people would react, she kept it a secret all through junior high school and high school. She met a girl in college whom she entered into a relationship with, but afraid to come out because of ridicule, she tried to hide her sexuality by dating guys.

Eventually she stopped dating guys, but she still kept her sexuality a secret for years. Upon concluding her story, Griffin revealed that the girl in her story was none other than; you guessed it, Pat Griffin.

Eventually Griffin wanted to be comfortable with who she was and decided to come out of the closet. However, the consequences of doing such can be catastrophic for some people.

Griffin then told the story of Greg, a high school football player, who was gay. Greg hid his secret and, out of distress, even tried to kill himself. When it was revealed that Greg was gay, he was shunned by his teammates and coaches, as well as virtually the entire town. Times became so bad for him that he quit school and was home-schooled the rest of the way. Upon reaching post-high-school-age, Greg left his town for good.

Griffin did stress that not all stories are bad stories for gay athletes. Corey was a high school football player who was gay. He revealed his secret to his teammates and coach. They, in turn, rallied around him and supported him as a teammate and a friend.

After several anecdotes, Griffin asked a group of questions about college life and GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Trangender) exposures, connections and experiences. Students present at the lecture were encouraged to give honest answers.

As Butler’s athletic department was one of the organizers of this event, all athletes were required to attend the lecture. Also being an organizer of the event, as well as a group vested in improving the lives of GLBT students, faculty, and staff, many members of the Butler Alliance were also present.

“People in the world have many differences,” Griffin stated. “We live in a country where we can live with safety and dignity without all being the same.”

After speaking for about thirty minutes, Griffin showed a video about gays and lesbians in sports, called “It Takes a Team.” The people in the video, many of whom felt coming out in high school would be unsafe, shared their stories.

“It is always good to put a human face on an issue,” Griffin said.

Griffin divided environments for GLBT people into three categories: places that are hostile, places that are tolerant and places that are accepting. She discussed the term ally, which refers to a supporter of a group that they may not necessarily be a member of.

“Sometimes people don’t recognize [that] they may be offensive when making anti-gay comments,” Griffin acknowledged. “Anti-gay comments make people feel unsafe and uncomfortable; they spread a message that the environment is not safe for GLBT people.”

Griffin did point out that most people do not normally subscribe to such mean-spirited behavior. Some people just don’t understand that what they are saying might be very offensive or discriminatory.

Griffin closed out her lecture by giving everyone a helpful tip: always assume someone around you either is gay or lesbian or has a friend or relative who is gay or lesbian.

Griffin believes that if we all take what we learned from her lecture and apply it to whatever environment is applicable, whether it be college, an athletic team, a student organization, or a religious group, our society can benefit greatly and make life easier for GLBT students and people in general.