"It's tough to tell how tolerant people are and I definitely risked putting my teammates in an uncomfortable position," says Crosby, who told his teammates he was gay in May 2000.

The Athletic Department Listens

In addition to rallying support for the forum from within his student group, Davidson also contacted the Harvard Athletic Department for endorsement of the event.

He was told that it was the Athletic Department's policy not to formally endorse any student-initiated event.

Davidson said he was "disappointed" that Henry would not agree to officially sponsor the panel, which would have allowed BOND to attach the Harvard Athletic Department moniker to their posters.

However, Davidson was pleased Henry agreed to promote the panel to athletes and coaches. Henry sent an e-mail to all coaches urging them to attend the panel because it is important to "[their] roles as teachers, mentors and coaches."

Henry also recently brought up the "Sports and Sexuality" forum with the Undergraduate Advisory Committee on Athletics (UAC), a group consisting of one representative from each varsity sport. At the group's monthly meeting, Henry discussed the event and encouraged each UAC member to pass the information along to teammates and to encourage attendance.

UAC member Duretti Fufa '02 told the group that "attending the forum would give us ideas for issues to discuss."