Belmont University Forces Women’s Soccer Coach To Resign After She Reveals Her Partner Is Expecting; Athletics Officials Privately Confirm Lisa Howe Violated School’s Version Of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell;” Tennessee Human Rights Act Does Not Protect Employment Or Housing Discrimination Based On Sexual Orientation

Belmont University released a statement Thursday night, athletics director Mike Strickland saying that women’s soccer coach Lisa Howe had offered her resignation without communicating the circumstances that led to her decision. The Tennessean, however, reports Friday several members of the soccer team say Howe, who has been at Belmont six seasons, told them she was pressured into resigned after she informed school administrators and the team that she and her same sex partner are having a baby. Erica Carter, a senior on the soccer squad, says Howe told her and her roommate Ashley Hudak, a junior on the team, that this Tuesday school officials offered her a choice: resign or be terminated because, in telling them her partner was pregnant with a child due to be born this May, she disclosed her sexual orientation. Team captain Sari Lin says she met Tuesday with Strickland, who informed her that Howe had violated a university policy regarding individual sexuality, Lin saying “He basically said we have the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy and when she told us about the pregnancy, it violated that. She was telling us what her sexual preference is. He said you can hide your sexuality, but you can’t hide a baby. He pretty much told me that once the baby was born she was going to get fired anyway, so it’s better to do it sooner than later.” Lin has scheduled a meeting for Friday with Strickland and Betty Wiseman, the assistant athletic director and senior woman administrator, and the entire soccer team, and says “My question for them is why should she have to hide her baby? Why should she have to hide anything about sexuality? I hope we get some answers.” So far, no one from the University is commenting, Belmont President Robert Fischer saying it was an athletics department matter, calls for comment to the department not being returned. The Tennessee Human Rights Act does not offer protection based on sexual orientation in the area of employment and public accommodation. Belmont University, a private Christian college in Nashville, is the same school I reported on in November when officials refused to sanction a student run gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender support group because the issues it represented were “divisive” and “problematic.”