CHARLOTTE — A former Queens University student has filed a lawsuit against the school claiming her golf coach outed her as gay, resulting in humiliation, sexual harassment and depression.
According to the lawsuit, when she was on the women’s golf team several years ago, she hadn’t come out yet.
The lawsuit claims that in 2018, her coach started “asking members of the the women’s golf team and athletic staff about plaintiff’s sexuality and them them that plaintiff is gay.”
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The suit said the coach stalked her partner’s social media and told the athletic director the athlete was gay. The lawsuit goes on to say that when the student complained to the school’s Title IX office, it ruled the coaching staff had not violated policy.
“It’s inherently harassment,” the lawsuit said.
Clark Simon is the board president of Charlotte Pride. He has no connection to the student or lawsuit but spoke to Channel 9 as an advocate for people who have been in this situation.
“I find it disgusting. No one’s story should be told by anyone but that person and if they weren’t out they clearly weren’t comfortable coming out,” Simon said.
The lawsuit claims after she was outed, the student didn’t want to be on campus, that she was humiliated and suffered insomnia and depression.
Her grades dropped, she lost scholarship money and was ostracized by her teammates, according to the lawsuit.
“This is not uncommon if it’s not you, you know someone that has been outed. And some people can’t take it in stride other people it takes a large mental toll on them. LGBTQ youth are four times as likely to attempt suicide than their straight peers,” Simon said.
The lawsuit said it took more than a year for the school to put the coach on administrative leave.
A Queens University spokesperson sent a statement to Channel 9 saying, “the University takes all sexual harassment-related allegations very seriously and has robust policies, procedures, reporting mechanisms, and training in place to address such issues.”
The lawsuit claims despite those policies, the school “failed to take any such action.”
Queens University said the coach, athletic director and Title IX coordinator are all still employed with the university.
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