Antigay Penn
State women's basketball coach Rene Portland,
who's facing a lawsuit from a former player, says the
player and the gay rights group representing her are
trying to ruin her reputation. In a statement released
yesterday in State College, Penn., Portland said it
was "time to fight back" against the player, Jennifer
Harris, and the National Center for Lesbian Rights,
the Associated Press reports.
"I'm not going to sit silently on the sidelines
anymore and let this former player and this national
organization spread damaging allegations while they
attempt to exploit this case for their own agendas,"
Portland said in the statement, according to the AP. She
added, "I am not perfect, but I'm a fair and honest
person who cares deeply about my players, our
basketball program, and Penn State University," and that
"the sexual orientation or race of any player or person is
irrelevant to me."
Earlier this week, Portland and Harris, who says
the coach tried to force her off the team because she
thought Harris was gay (she is not), failed to settle
the suit in a court-ordered mediation session. Last
month, a Penn State investigation into Harris's
accusations determined that Portland violated the
university's nondiscrimination policy in her
treatment of Harris, who now attends James Madison
University in Virginia, and fined the coach $10,000.
The NCLR dismissed Portland's remarks. "We
solely have an agenda to protect our client, Jennifer,
and other young women from this type of harmful
discrimination that they have been subject to as part of the
Penn State Lady Lions basketball team," the group's
Karen Doering, Harris's attorney, said in a statement,
reports the AP.
In Portland's
statement, the coach notes that until now there have
been no formal complaints lodged against her, although
earlier in her 26-year career she bragged publicly
about keeping lesbians off her basketball team.
(The Advocate)
