At the beginning of June, the Washington State Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) twitter account posted a tweet of the Pride flag with the Cougar logo.

As the crimson Cougar flag unites Cougars with their shared passion for Washington State University, the Pride flag has united Washington State student-athletes, staff, and community for a common cause.

LGBTQIA+ Focus Group

In 2019, to enhance its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts, the athletic department established a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Council, consisting of 17 athletic department staff and coaches, including Director of Athletics Pat Chun.

"Diversity, equity & inclusion are critical core values for WSU Athletics," said Bryan Blair, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Diversity Officer. "We formed the DEI Council last fall to ensure that these values are not just words, but long term, strategic action that permeates the entire athletics department."

A LGBTQIA+ Focus Group was established within the DEI Council with the stated mission: "To create and maintain an environment that is safe, inclusive, and equitable for LGBTQIA+ student-athletes and staff. In so doing, we demonstrate clear support and pride for our LGBTQIA+ student-athletes and staff, which is reflected in policy, programming, and athletics culture."

Athletic department staff collaborated with SAAC to celebrate Pride Month and raise LGBTQIA+ awareness.

"During Pride Month, SAAC delivered content in support and solidarity with our LGBTQIA+ athletes and allies, sharing resources and athletes personal stories to highlight the community in our athletic department," said SAAC board member and rowing student-athlete Megan Duthart. "SAAC plays an instrumental role in leading the way for positive change from our athletes to the department and we want to make sure the standard is set to accept, welcome and support our LGBTQIA+ peers."

In addition to partnering with SAAC, the LGBTQIA+ Focus Group is working with the campus and national community to raise LGBTQIA+ awareness.

Initiatives include partnering with the university's Gender Identity/Expression and Sexual Orientation Resource Center and national groups such as Athlete Ally. 

"These collaborations strengthen partnerships and enhance resource offerings as well as demonstrate support and pride for our LGBTQIA+ student-athletes and staff, which is reflected in policy, programming, and athletics culture," said Clinical Psychologist Kate Geiger, a member of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council and LGBTQ Focus Group.

A focus for the council is to continue to improve the Athlete Equality Index score. Launched in 2017 by Athlete Ally, the index was developed as a way to measure LGBTQIA+ inclusion policies and practices in collegiate athletic spaces.

The WSU Athletic Department has increased its score by 10 points from 2017 to 2019 and is about nine points higher than the Power 5 average, and 1.5 points higher than the Pac-12 average.

"We are working to update our policies and procedures to ensure that we are consistent with NCAA and Athlete Ally best practice recommendations to support our LGBTQIA+ community," said Geiger, who explained the council is putting together initiatives to expand student-athlete and staff education, as well as offer events focused around supporting the LGBTQIA+ community. 

"We are in the process of collaborating with SAAC to develop an affinity group to support our LGBTQIA+ student-athletes," Geiger added.

Supporting Social Justice and Equality

In addition to supporting Pride Month events and initiatives throughout June, tweets from the SAAC also demonstrated support for Black Lives Matter, social justice, and equality.

The council collaborated with the SAAC to increase visibility and develop programming in support of the Black Student-Athlete Association (BSAA), founded by student-athletes in the athletic department. 

The June 3 SAAC tweet not only recognized the beginning of Pride Month it provided an explanation about the origin of the brown and black stripes to the flag to address the importance and representation of people of color. 

The tweet concluded, "By supporting black lives matter we also support black lives of the LGBTQA+ community."

Later in the month, SAAC released a statement on its twitter account in support of the BSAA stating in part, "Washington State SAAC is committed to lead the change we wish to see in the world. In this time of need we stand by all African Americans and other people of color."

"We stand with our Black LGBTQIA+ student-athletes against systemic racial injustice and police brutality," Geiger continued. "Black LGBTQIA+ Lives Matter to us, and we are committed to ensuring that our Black LGBTQIA+ student-athletes are seen, heard, supported, and cared for."

Continuing to Educate

Though Pride Month will end, the work by the DEI Council and SAAC to educate and bring awareness to LGBTQIA+ cause continues throughout the year.

"Our focus as a Council is to increase the department's diversity, promote equitable opportunities for staff and student-athletes, and provide an inclusive culture for all Cougs to be the best version of themselves," Blair said. "We are creating year-round DEI educational programming and partnering with our student-athletes to create safe spaces and communities for dialogue, among many other efforts. WSU Athletics has made some strides in the areas of DEI, but we realize there is much more work to be done." 

"As a queer athlete, I'm excited for athletics and our athletes to play a larger role in support with our students, department and fans," said Duthart. "For the longest time being an athlete and queer wasn't safe. I'm thankful to those before me who paved the way to bring forward movement in equality and acceptance but there is still a way to go.  As a board member of SAAC, I can wholeheartedly say we plan on continuing to make sure those movements keep going in the best way we can: advocating, educating, communicating and connecting with our athletes and the wider community."

"As a Cougar community, we value family and supporting one another, in order to be our best selves and achieve excellence," said Geiger. "For our LGBTQIA+ student-athletes, it is especially important for us to ensure they are fully welcomed and valued as equitable members of the Cougar family."