Category Archives: Co-Workers

Nancy Hogshead-Makar, Straight Ally

Video November 13, 2013 We Are Straight Allies Leave a comment

Nancy Hogshead-Makar is Jacksonville’s own 3-time Olympic swimming champion from the 1984 Games. She is a life-long advocate for access and equality in athletics, internationally recognized legal expert on sports issues, scholar, and author. She has a commitment to equality, using sports as a vehicle for social change. As one of the foremost exponents for gender equity, she advocates for access and equality in sports participation, sexual harassment, sexual abuse and assault, employment, pregnancy, and legal enforcement under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and within the youth sports and Olympic movement.

Read more about Nancy here: http://wp.me/p3PnKk-81

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Co-Workers, Communities

Pat Geraghty, Straight Ally

Video October 7, 2013 We Are Straight Allies Leave a comment

Pat Geraghty, CEO of Florida Blue, located in Jacksonville, FL explains why he is a Straight Ally in support of LGBT equality in the workplace. Read more here: http://wp.me/p3PnKk-73

Co-Workers, Communities

Ally Profile: Nancy Hogshead-Makar

Image October 3, 2013 We Are Straight Allies Leave a comment

Hogshead-Makar has testified in Congress numerous times on the topic of gender equity in athletics, written numerous scholarly and lay articles, and has been a frequent guest on national news programs on the topic, including 60 Minutes, Fox News, CNN, ESPN, NPR, MSNBC and network morning news programming. She serves as an expert witness in Title IX cases and has written amicus briefs representing athletic organizations in precedent-setting litigation. Her scholarship includes her book, co-authored with Andrew Zimbalist, Equal Play; Title IX and Social Change, Pregnant and Parenting Student-Athletes; Resources and Model Policies, published by the NCAA, and her book chapter, “The Ethics of Title IX and Gender Equity for Coaches” appears in The Ethics of Coaching Sports; Moral, Social and Legal Issues, edited by Robert L. Simon. Since 2003 she has been the Co-Chair of American Bar Association Committee on the Rights of Women. Sports Illustrated Magazine listed her as one of the most influential people in the history of Title IX.

Hogshead-Makar is currently the Senior Director of Advocacy for the Women’s Sports Foundation, a 29-year affiliation that started as a college intern. She has received significant awards recognizing her commitment to athletics, including receipt of an honorary doctorate from Springfield College, induction into the Academic All-America Hall of Fame and the International Scholar-Athlete Hall of Fame, the Hall of Fame for the National Association for Sports and Physical Education, and receipt of the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletic Administrators’ “Honor Award”. In 2011 she was presented with the National Organization for Women’s “Courage Award,” and was inducted into the National Consortium for Academics and Sports Hall of Fame. In 2012 she was awarded the “Title IX Advocate Award” from the Alliance of Women Coaches.

Nancy is the recipient of the 2014 International Olympic Committee’s Woman of the Year for the Americas. She has been recognized as one of the foremost authorities on gender equity in sports and one of the most influential people in the history of Title IX – the groundbreaking legislation which has given women the same opportunity as men to compete in US collegiate sports.

Why is Nancy a straight ally and supporter of the HRO ordinance?

I am an ally and supporter of the HRO ordinance because human dignity and respect for who you love is a birthright.

At every level, sports participation is a powerful educational experience, and is the underlying reason I work in this field. Homophobia, in particular, is used to diminish all women’s athletic feats, as they accomplish under a cloud of sexual suspicion. Women’s heart-soaring accomplishments can’t upset traditional notions of femininity too much as they become stronger, highly skilled and more ambitious. Therefore, questions about boyfriends and future plans of marriage are practically obligatory, and not just in the media.

So while most LGBTQ athletes suffer, my lesbian teammates suffered uniquely. Straight women may be afraid of supporting their lesbian teammates for fear they might be seen as lesbians themselves. Women athletes are all running from the same shame and discrimination, rather than affirming our life’s pursuits and our selves.

So it’s no wonder so many of my lesbian teammates didn’t share their sexuality with me until long after we’d finished competing. That saddens me – that they didn’t see me as safe. I love my family with my whole being, and I bring that enthusiasm with me to practically every conversation. I can’t imagine not being able to share the people I love with the world, for fear of discrimination. How painful. I want all of my lesbian and gay friends’ humanity. That includes their ability to share joyfully their life’s loves with as much passion and freedom as I share about mine without fear of loss.

What if the stigma of same-sex relationships didn’t exist? The suspicion of being a lesbian could no longer be used to marginalize women in sports, and we’d all be healthier and more productive.

The Jacksonville Human Rights Ordinance will be a solid step towards making this dream a reality.

See Nancy’s Straight Ally Video Statement here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=364dJ3hv_OY

Co-Workers, Communities, Families, Friends

I’m coming out….

September 18, 2013 We Are Straight Allies Leave a comment

I’m coming out….

as a Straight Ally….

in support of LGBT equality.

and the Jacksonville Human Rights Ordinance.

in support of my brother.

in support of my sister.

in support of my mother.

in support of my father.

in support of my friends.

in support of my colleague.

in support of my employees.

in support of my community.

in support of non-discrimination.

in support of everyone’s right to marry.

in support of basic Human Rights.

in support of the pursuit of happiness.

in support of LOVE.

This is my lifelong journey…..

I’m coming out because there is nothing more important than our humanity.

Co-Workers, Communities

Ally Profile: Pat Geraghty

Image September 17, 2013 We Are Straight Allies Leave a comment

“I believe that engaged employees are a key ingredient for a business to be successful. Internal diversity within the workforce helps businesses better understand who they serve and allows the focus to be on the work and not on definitions that limit inclusion.” – Pat Geraghty

Patrick “Pat” Geraghty is chairman of the board of directors and chief executive officer (CEO) of Florida Blue, the state’s largest health plan serving more than 7 million people in Florida and providing Medicare payment services to beneficiaries across 15 other states. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Colgate University and has participated in executive education programs at Harvard University School of Public Health and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He has three children; Sean, Briege and Kiera.

Throughout his career, Geraghty has been active in community and professional organizations. He is a board member for a diverse group of organizations, including the National Institute of Health Care Management (NIHCM), Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, Prime Therapeutics and the Oliver Wyman Innovation Center Advisory Board. He is a member of United Way’s Tocqueville Society and, in 2011, was appointed to the Florida Council of 100. He received the Humanitarian of the Year Award from Kappa Alpha Psi for Florida Blue, the American Values Award for his outstanding leadership and commitment to the community from the North Florida Council Boy Scouts of America, The Jefferson Award for Public Service for BCBSMN, the 2012 Game Changer Award from Politic365 for Florida Blue and the Gold Standard from the CEOs Roundtable in support of the American Cancer Society with BCBSMN and Florida Blue.

Geraghty has been featured in Florida Trend magazine and interviewed on Bloomberg TV’s Street Smart program and the Nightly Business Report which airs nationally on PBS. Additionally, he has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Florida Times Union, Miami Herald, Tampa Tribune, Tampa Bay Times and Orlando Sentinel, among other publications.

Pat has seen discrimination in many forms throughout his life, amongst family members and in the workplace. He learned about discrimination early on when his grandfather, an Irish immigrant. was denied employment. “When we discriminate against others in our everyday lives, people pay a price.” he explains. “Discrimination in any form is wrong.” As Chairman and CEO, Pat wants employees to fully experience the opportunities they have available, both at work and home.

Pat is proud to be a Straight Ally, working to build a more inclusive, more fair, community for everyone to live in. “Florida Blue stands for inclusiveness and for passing the Florida Competitive Workforce Act. We will also be supportive in the efforts to work on the changes in Jacksonville’s Human Rights Ordinance.”