"Fearless" - Out LGBT Student Athletes

“Fearless” is the name of the photography series Jeff Sheng (pictured at left)started almost 5 years ago about “out” high school and collegiate athletes who openly self-identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. While these individuals are only a small segment of the LGBTQ community, Sheng wanted to photograph them and give them visibility because they exemplify a particular courage and self-confidence in being “out” at a very young age while also competitively participating in the often-times homophobic world of sports. More importantly, these individuals do not let fear stand in the way of being true to themselves and enjoying what life has to offer. This is a lesson that is universal. Here is a link to the "Fearless" website. Sheng further describes his goal as:

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"What I hope people get when they look at the images," Sheng said, "is that they see pictures of people that they recognize. Images that look like their friends, maybe even people in their family, like their sons and daughters; and that they begin to look at the gay and lesbian community in a different way--perhaps with more empathy and respect."

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I know from my own personal experience that just being "out" professionally has resulted in a number of my clients finding themselves having to re-think their image of gays and stereotypes. Thus, the more that can be done to show members of the LGBT community as typical members of all walks of life in society, the easier it will be to defeat the misinformation deliberately disseminated by Christianists and other anti-gay groups. A portfoli o of the students photgraphed by Sheng for the exhibition can be found here. Other goals of “Fearless” and FearlessCampusTour.org include:

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- To use photography and the visual medium to effectively educate the public and eliminate prejudice and discrimination
- To increase acceptance for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer youth in high schools and colleges
- To decrease homophobia in athletics
- To give LGBTQ youth an online resource for support, particularly at risk youth who feel isolated from their peers
- To help educators, administrators and coaches meet the needs of LGBTQ youth in their schools, teams and communities