The issue of homophobia in sports is not new. But what is changing is the likelihood that players or coaches who believe they've been victims of anti-gay discrimination will take the issue to court.

Former Pennsylvania State University women's basketball player Jennifer Harris put the spotlight on the issue this fall when she accused Nittany Lions Head Coach Rene Portland of discriminating against her based on perceived sexual orientation. Harris, who says she is not gay, alleges that Portland repeatedly asked about her sexual orientation, told other players not to associate with her, and ultimately released her from the team because she thought she was gay.

In late December, Harris filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against Portland. The suit also names the Penn State athletic department and Athletic Director Tim Curley as defendants. The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), a California-based law firm, is assisting Harris with her claim.

Portland has denied the accusations, and stated she released Harris because her "attitude and work ethic were detrimental to the team." Penn State has promised a full investigation into Harris's claims.

This suit is the third athletics-related anti-gay bias case the NCLR has handled in the past two years. In 2004, the center settled out of court with the University of Florida after softball player Andrea Zimbardi claimed she was kicked off the team because she was a lesbian. In the settlement, Florida agreed to pay Zimbardi's tuition for her master's degree and implement mandatory training on homophobia for all of its coaches, athletic administrators, and staff.

In early 2005, Bloomburg (Texas) High School Girls' Basketball Coach Merry Stephens accused the Bloomburg Independent School District of terminating her contract because of her sexual orientation. That case was also settled out of court after the school board president testified under oath that Stephens had in fact been fired because she was gay.

"Jennifer Harris's case is part of a bigger change in the way anti-gay bias is being handled in sports," says Helen Carroll, Sports Project Coordinator at the NCLR and a former NAIA basketball coach and NCAA D-III athletic director. "In the 1980s and 1990s, we tried awareness and education. But things didn't really start to change until people began to take the issue into the courts. What these three cases are saying is that anti-gay discrimination in athletics is not going to be tolerated anymore."

Managing the increased liability requires athletic directors to proactively address the issue with coaches and athletes. "To start, the athletic director needs to translate the university's anti-discrimination policy into terms that apply to athletics," Carroll says. "How does the policy affect coaches and athletes? How might it come into play in team situations? Create a policy that is meaningful in athletics terms, but also short and simple, and then make sure it's reviewed every year with coaches and athletes."

The University of Florida followed that advice in the wake of the Zimbardi case. "The university policy had always been in our coaches' manuals, but we clarified it for athletics and we now regularly circulate it as a stand-alone document to all our staff," says Lynda Tealer, Associate Athletic Director at Florida. "And to make sure everyone sees it, we put it into their paycheck envelopes."

Making coaches and athletes aware of the reporting structure and resources at your institution is also important. "We've set up three ways, internal and external, to report incidents of discrimination," she says. "I think making sure both athletes and coaches know where to go if they have a concern about this topic is the most significant thing we've done."

Florida administrators also focused their response on creating an open dialogue. They invited educators from the NCLR to address the entire coaching staff, and quickly found that coaches had a lot of questions they had been wanting to ask.

"They wanted to bring up scenarios they'd faced in the past, and they wanted to know how to support gay and lesbian athletes on their teams without necessarily drawing attention to an issue those athletes might not want to discuss," Tealer says. "It really opened up the topic for discussion and created a dialogue that we've kept going ever since."

"Once you bring the issue out into the light and start talking about it," says Carroll, "it really doesn't have to be that big of a deal."