brief history of rene portland and l

A Brief History of Rene Portland and the L Word.

Rene Portland played on the famed Immaculata teams of the early 70s.

After her playing days were done, she went into coaching. In 1980, Joe

Paterno, who was both football coach and Athletic Director at the

time, brought her in to take over the Penn State women's basketball

program.

It wasn't long before rumors circulated that Rene had a "no lesbians"

policy.

Shortly after Portland arrived, three players left due to what Rene

called "principle differences." Later in the 80s, a student filed an

internal complaint alleging that she had been kicked off the team

because she was a lesbian, but after investigating the matter, the

school took no action.

In 1986, Portland told the Chicago Sun-Times about her no-lesbians

policy, and how she brought it up with parents on recruiting trips. "I

will not have it in my program," she said. "I bring it up and the kids

are so relieved and the parents are so relieved."

That public statement merely confirmed what was common knowledge among

many close to the program. And yet there was little response from the

school, the athletic department, or anyone else.

The watershed moment for this story came on March 10, 1991, when Jere

Longman (then with the Philly Inquirer, now with the New York Times)

published an article exposing Portland's policy. Longman interviewed

several players.

"She does make it known when she's recruiting that she doesn't put up

with homosexuality," Suzie McConnell (now Serio) said.

"She tells you, flat out, 'I don't have any appreciation for the

homosexual lifestyle. I won't have that on my team,'" said Patti

Longenecker.

Others later confirmed that Portland announced her "no drinking, no

drugs, no lesbians" policy each year. As one lesbian and former Lions

player told the LA Times (April 6, 1992):

She said it the first day of practice in my first year. I remember

at the team meeting in my second year I was so afraid that it was

going to be like the first. She made the point very strongly. It

was a very negative statement. No one said anything. I just

remember it affected me. Of the meeting, all I remember is that one

moment. That sticks in my mind. It will be in my mind forever.

As another player told the NCLR much later:

I'm not a lesbian, but when I played for her I was afraid she might

think I was and take away my scholarship. I started changing the

way I dressed, started going out with a guy I didn't like, just to

stay on the team. It meant my academic career, that scholarship.

Liz McGovern, a graduate assistant under Portland, later confirmed

that Rene's recruiting letters told parents that she had no lesbians

on her squad.

At the time of Longman's article, many supported Portland's rules. "I

like that she took that stance," Meggan Yedsena, who went to Nebraska

after being recruited by PSU, told Longman. Yedsena explained that

Rene was just trying to erase the stigma of lesbianism from women's

sports.

Portland herself would neither confirm nor deny the policy. All she

said to Longman was: "I have training rules. And I will never have to

say what my training rules are."

After Longman's article, the story blew up on Penn State's campus and

elsewhere. Students picketed when PSU hosted an NCAA tournament game

the following week (the Lions lost to James Madison in an upset).

Protesters later occupied the administration building and jammed the

phone lines.

Rene still said nothing. The athletic department took no action, just

as it had taken no action for the previous decade. Times columnist

Robert Lipsyte, who picked up and pursued the story, called Paterno.

Joe Pa, then and now the most beloved and powerful figure at the

school, refused to disavow Rene's policy and refused to say whether

he'd kick a gay player off his football team.

Students and faculty demanded that the school take action to override

Rene's policy and to protect gay and lesbian students.

Embattled school president Joab Thomas would not support a specific

policy banning orientation discrimination. The Faculty Senate went

over Thomas's head and voted 93-12 to recommend adding a sexual

orientation provision to the school's existing antidiscrimination

policy. The Trustees accepted the recommendation.

Portland and Paterno both apparently opposed the efforts to ban

orientation discrimination. Lipsyte reported in June of '91: "In

recent interviews on the subject, Penn State staff and faculty members

are guarded, seemingly fearful of incurring the athletic department's

wrath."

Pat Griffin was brought in to run a mandatory workshop on homophobia

for all PSU coaches. (Pause for a moment to appreciate the visual:

Rene, Joe Pa, and the rest of the athletic department forced to sit in

a room while famous lesbian activist Pat Griffin lectures them on the

evils of homophobia. Oh... my kingdom for a photo.)

When asked later how the workshop went, Griffin responded flatly: "Not

so good."

Rene finally broke her silence (sort of) in an December '91 interview

with Lipsyte. She refused to say whether she agreed with the policy or

what she would do to comply.

That is a policy I have to work under as an employee of the

university. That's all I'll say about it.

You didn't have to be particularly skilled at reading between the

lines to understand the gist of Portland's feelings.

Given Portland's history and her thinly-veiled disdain for the

antidiscrimination policy, you have to wonder: If you were a lesbian

basketball player, would you consider going to Penn State? If you were

a player on Portland's team, would you feel comfortable coming out of

the closet?

If the answers to those questions are no, then it's hard to avoid the

conclusion that Portland was allowed to keep a straight-only program,

de facto, even if she was no longer allowed to say so out loud. In

short, Penn State passed a policy, but it's unclear whether the school

took any action to give the policy teeth or to ensure that lesbians

felt welcome on the basketball team.

The usual defense of Portland goes like this: That was a long time

ago, things were different back then; she, like lots of us, has

probably changed her mind.

But there's no evidence to support that defense. In fact, when the

Washington Post's Greg Sandoval called her for comment in 2003, she

basically gave the same line that she had given in 1991.

In a recent interview, Portland didn't sound as if she has changed

her mind about not wanting lesbians on her team.

"I'm going to be honest with you: Penn State has rules and to stay

the basketball coach. I follow those rules," said Portland.

Whatever rumors have circulated in the last decade, there has been no

real way for any of us on the outside to know what happens in the

Happy Valley.

Now Jen Harris has come forward and alleged that Rene still

discriminates against lesbians despite school policy. What remains

hidden -- both at Penn State and elsewhere in the world of women's

college basketball -- may finally be exposed.

Longman's 1991 article began: "Want a fight? Rene Portland will give

you one."

Time will tell whether she's finally picked a fight that she'll lose.

Related Posts:

1. March 2005: Harris kicked off the team for reasons unclear.

2. May 2005: Still weird.

3. October 2005: Harris files suit, and Portland responds.

4. December 2005: Outside the Lines covers the case.

5. December 2005: An overview of Harris's legal claims.

6. December 2005: document archive.