What do LGBTQ+ young people actually experience in PE and sport — and what are they telling us about why they disengage? In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Craig Nieman and Dr. Sara Flory from the University of South Florida to discuss their groundbreaking mixed-methods study, "LGBTQ+ Youth Perceptions of Barriers to Physical Activity in Sport," published in Sport Education and Society (March 2026).
Rather than relying on adult recollections or teacher perceptions, Nieman and Flory went directly to LGBTQ+ youth themselves — at Camp Rainbow, an inclusive summer camp in a conservatively legislated southeastern state. What they found should reshape how every PE teacher, administrator, and professional organization thinks about their work.
In this episode, we cover:
How three years of relationship-building made an 87% participation rate possible — and what that model means for researchers working with marginalized communities
Why community mapping (drawing safe and unsafe spaces) became an unexpectedly powerful research tool — and almost cathartic for participants
The two dominant barriers LGBTQ+ youth identified: surveillance and body dysphoria during physical activity, and being stuck in a gender binary that leaves no safe option
The student who was failing PE — not because of ability, but because they refused to change clothes in a hostile locker room
How accommodations designed for LGBTQ+ students benefit all students (the curb-cut principle in PE)
Small, immediate changes teachers can make right now — starting with the words they use
What the removal of SHAPE America's transgender inclusion resources signals to teachers on the ground
A reminder of the real stakes: one participant in the study linked exclusion from a recreational running group to suicidal ideation
Guests:
Dr. Craig Nieman, University of South Florida
Dr. Sara Flory, University of South Florida
Full Citation
Nieman, C. V., Barnard Flory, S., Cavazos-Wylie, R., & Burger, L. R. (2026). LGBTQ+ youth perceptions of barriers to physical activity and sport: A mixed methods study. Sport, Education and Society. https://doi.org/10.1080/13573322.2026.2639532
