For all of the gains LGBTQ people have made over the past few decades, sports remain a highly visible reminder that homophobia and transphobia persist. In recent years, more professional athletes, from U.S. women’s soccer team player Tierna Davidson to Olympic gymnast Danell Leyva, have come out of the closet. However, locker rooms remain less inclusive of LGBTQ people than places like schools or workplaces.
Rachel Allison and Chris Knoester
Rachel Allison joined the faculty at Mississippi State University in 2014 after receiving her Ph.D. from the Department of Sociology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her research focuses on gender and intersectionality across societal institutions characterized by women's increased representation, including education, medicine and sports. Chris Knoester is an associate professor of Sociology at Ohio State University. His research focuses on the effects of children on parents’ lives and on the patterns and implications of fathering. Chris also created a new National Sports and Society Survey, a landmark project that focuses on patterns of sports involvement and their links to well-being.