TRAINING RULES

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Dir: Dee Mosbacher & Fawn Yacker, USA, 2008, video, 61min
Genre: Documentary
Identity: Lesbian

Rene Portland had three training rules during her 26 years coaching basketball at Pennsylvania State University – no drinking, no drugs and no lesbians. Training Rules examines how a wealthy athletic department, enabled by the silence of a complacent university, allowed talented athletes, thought to be gay, to be dismissed from their college team.

In 2006, student athlete Jennifer Harris, in conjunction with the National Center for Lesbian Rights, filed charges against Pennsylvania State University and basketball coach Rene Portland for discrimination based on sexual orientation. This lawsuit inspired others whose lives were shattered during Coach Portland's reign to come forward. The film focuses on these individuals and investigates why organisations established to protect these athletes have done so little to end this common form of victimisation. Training Rules serves as a wake-up call to the many athletic departments worldwide that still discriminate against their student athletes and coaches.

Queer Sports panel

Immediately following the session, in the cinema. Presented by Queer Sports Alliance Melbourne.

Discussing homophobia in sport – where we have been, where we are now, where we are going and how far we have to go.

Panelists:

Dr Caroline Symons is a Senior lecturer in the School of Sport and Exercise Science at Victoria University, and Convenor of the Melbourne based GLBTI sport advocacy group Challenging Homophobia in Sport Initiative. She was the recipient of the Federation of Gay Games Legacy Award in 2009 for academic scholarship and achievement in gender, sexuality and sport. Her book The Gay Games: A History, will be published in April 2010.

Peter Van Miltenberg is an athletics & cross country head coach and a Level 4 track & field coach. He was Australian open beach sprint champion 1978, Australian track & field team member 1982–1985, and represented Australia at the 1984 LA Olympics. He was a gold medallist at the 2002 Gay Games in track & field.

Dr Brent McDonald is a Lecturer in the School of Sport and Exercise Science at Victoria University, and regional editor for the International Journal of Eastern Sport and Physical Education. He teaches and researches in the field of sport, inclusion and identity on the basis of sexuality, ethnicity, age and gender. His research into Japanese sport has been widely published.

Sally Goldner has been out of the gender closet for over thirteen years and an active participant in Melbourne’s queer community for the last ten. This includes ongoing involvement with TransGender Victoria, 3CR’s ‘Out of the Pan', VGLRL, and Zoe Belle Gender Centre. Sally is an accountant specialising in the not-for-profit sector.