An investigation of ethnicity as a variable related to US male college athletes' sexual-orientation behaviours and attitudes

Abstract

While most often forbidden by university policy, homophobic attitudes and intolerance of gay/lesbian athletes may still exist within intercollegiate athletic departments. Against this backdrop, this study examines attitudes towards sexual orientation from a sample of Division I and III male university athletes (n=397) from four universities in the south-eastern United States. The study's primary research questions are: a) utilizing ethnicity as the independent variable, what are the sampled male athletes' attitudes towards sexual orientations? and b) is there a relationship between male college athletes' ethnicity and their sexual-orientation attitudes? Using the frameworks of social script and critical race theories, this article discusses the results' significance for university athletic administrators, faculty and college athletes.

Keywords:

• Organization
• social organization
• sports
• sexual racism
• culture
• diversity