By Pam Cole

Harrisburg, PA, Dec. 21, 2005 - The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) announced today that former Penn State women's basketball star Jennifer Harris is suing Rene Portland (the Lady Lions basketball coach) and Pennsylvania State University. The suit also names Athletic Director Tim Curley as a defendant.

Before you start thinking, "Oh no, not another lesbian basketball scandal," catch this: Harris is not a lesbian. But the notoriously homophobic Portland, according to NCLR, "repeatedly inquired about Harris' sexual orientation, pressured Harris to change her appearance to be more 'feminine,' harassed and targeted Harris and other African American athletes, and eventually told other players not to associate with Harris." In 2005, Portland dismissed Harris from the team without explanation, despite the fact that Harris was one of the team's best players.

In the NCLR press release, Harris said, "My departure from Penn State was very painful. I struggled with whether I should just walk away and try to forget what happened. I finally realized that I could never put this incident behind me." Harris is now at James Madison University and is not eligible to play during the 2005-2006 season because of NCAA transfer rules.

Portland has twice made homophobic comments on the record: first, in 1986 when she told the Chicago Sun Times that she did not allow lesbians on the team, and then in 1991 in a personal profile in the Philadelphia Inquirer where she made similar statements. After that 1991 article, Penn State responded by expanding its anti-discrimination policy to include sexual orientation.

Harris vs. Penn State is a far cry from the original "lesbian basketball scandal" in February 1982 when Sports Illustrated reported that South Carolina women's basketball coach Pam Parsons was having a lesbian affair with one of her players, 17-year-old Tina Buck. Parsons was subsequently fired from her coaching position and sued Time, Inc., the owner of Sports Illustrated, for libel. During the trial both Buck and Parsons denied ever having sex, under oath. (After all, it was 1982. Nobody ever admitted to being a lesbian in 1982.) But when witnesses testified that the two were lovers, Parsons and Buck were both charged with perjury and served 109 days of a three year sentence in a Lexington, KY prison. In women's basketball, this incident is largely blamed for a damaging backlash to the professional sport. The WBA, the predecessor of the WNBA, was not formed until 1993. (NOTE: Parsons and Buck stayed together and now live in Atlanta, GA.)