Source: San Jose Mercury News, Women's Sports Foundation

Images of out gay athletes from Jeff Sheng's exhibit, "Fearless" photos by Jeff Sheng

Members of the school's Gay-Straight Alliance, which has been on campus for about 10 years, designated last week Gay Pride Week on campus.

Students have been spreading awareness about accepting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

As co-presidents of the Gay-Straight Alliance, seniors Nick Pittarides, 17, and Sammy Brenner, 18, have been passing out rainbow ribbons, telling classmates about National Day of Silence and preparing for this weekend's photography exhibit.

Photographer Jeff Sheng, a lecturer at UC Santa Barbara, is bringing his "Fearless" exhibit to San Ramon Valley High School to encourage people to open their eyes and minds to those who are gay.

Pittarides found Sheng's artwork online and saw that the exhibit had visited many colleges across the country, including Yale and Columbia universities.

The exhibit, which has nearly 100 photos, are all of athletes -- mostly college students with a few high school students -- who are openly gay.

A portfolio and slideshow of Sheng's work is available online.

In an article about his exhibit written for Women's Sports Foundation, Sheng explains:

After graduating college, I wanted to work on a photography project that was both personal and dealt with social justice issues. I began in earnest in the fall of 2003 to document, interview and photograph any athlete on a high school or college sports team that also openly self identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer.

About a year ago, I realized that the project was about inclusion; that I wasn't going to cut any of the athletes who volunteered. I don't cut anyone based on looks, or sport, or body type, etc. For most of these photo shoots, I spend a lot of time with the athletes and I've gotten to know them really well as friends.

Pittarides finds Sheng's message of inclusion an important one to communicate to his fellow students. By having athletes in the photos,  he said, the exhibit sends the message that homosexuality is just one part of someone.

"I personally hope the exhibit just shows people who are straight and gay that being gay doesn't have to be the defining factor of who you are — just a component," he said.

Club adviser Jeffrey Davis said he was supportive of the students' desire to bring the "Fearless" exhibit to campus.

Davis said the San Ramon Valley school district has come a long way in providing safe and accepting environments at its schools, but there's always room for improvement.

Some students are still caught using the slang, "That's so gay," to mean something is negative, and other derogatory comments are still heard sporadically, Davis said.

Despite the occasional setback, "the feeling on campus is one of progress," Davis said. "This exhibit is part of that outreach."

Sheng would understand the problem since his exhibit, which is usually shown at colleges, has had varied reactions from student athletes and coaches.

"Sometimes the coaches and athletes make a really concerted effort to find me and talk to me; sometimes the athletics departments at various schools will stonewall," Sheng wrote. "When you put the words 'gay and lesbian' with 'high school and college athletes' you get a weird response from people, particularly in athletics. They try not to appear homophobic, but I can clearly read their hesitation to work with me as homophobia."

Full article: San Ramon Valley students celebrate gay pride week | San Jose Mercury News
My View of the Fearless from the Camera | Women's Sports Foundation