Episode 322 - Betty Baxter

About this episode

The episode features Betty Baxter discussing her journey as the first female coach of the Canadian women's volleyball team and her subsequent activism for LGBTQ+ rights.

When Betty Baxter was hired to coach the Canadian women's volleyball team in 1980, she was met with a media frenzy as the first woman in the position. Then her career was cut short—Baxter was fired in January 1982 and tossed from volleyball at age twenty-nine because of rumours about her sexual orientation. This personal memoir chronicles Baxter's journey from a small-town prairie girl discovering her passion for sports, through the years of international success, including harsh coaches, excruciating training regimes and the inequities in the sports system, especially for a closeted gay athlete. After her abrupt dismissal, Baxter turned to activism, seeking equality for women, initiating a new coaching school and working for a healthy, visible LGBTQ+ community through the internationally recognized Gay Games.

People in this episode

Host: Dennis Rimmer

Guest: Betty Baxter

Topics covered

• sports
• activism
• LGBTQ+
• women in sports
• coaching
• personal memoir

Keywords

• Betty Baxter
• volleyball
• LGBTQ+
• women's sports
• coaching
• activism
• Gay Games
• 1980s
• sports memoir

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Canadian women's volleyball team, Gay Games

Places: Canada

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