LGBTQ+ Athletes Claim the Field: Striving for Equality

Gr 6 Up—This brief and up-to-date overview highlights the struggles of numerous LGBTQIA amateur and professional athletes across a wide variety of sports. The text is divided into five broadly thematic chapters that somewhat necessarily overlap: stories of athletes coming out, for instance, are woven throughout the text, not just in the "Athletes Come Out" chapter. The section on transgender and intersex athletes is the most focused and includes high-profile Olympians like Caitlyn Jenner and Caster Semenya as well as lesser-known but similarly pioneering individuals in college athletics, Ironman competitions, tennis, and martial arts. While all of the stories of these athletes are individually compelling, a few organizational stumbles interrupt the flow. The connections between sidebars and the larger text are not always clear and can often be quite tenuous. For instance, one sidebar, "Child M's Story," in the chapter "The Gatekeepers," discusses a gender-fluid child in a way no more related to gatekeeping than any other story. Furthermore, the story does seem better suited for the "Athlete Bodies, Athlete Genders" section. Since the text is not chronologically arranged, the detailed time line in the back matter more effectively communicates a narrative of major events and progress over time. Crisp color photographs, usually of athletes on or off the field, enhance the text throughout and visually reinforce the message that athletics are for everyone.