Athletic director Patrick Nero wrote Friday in the Washington Blade, a gay newspaper, about the “small, but encouraging” strides college and professional sports have made toward accepting of LGBT players.

Nero provided staunch support for creating a positive environment at GW for LGBT athletes, pointing to the Colonials’ participation in the “It Gets Better” and “You Can Play” projects. He also praised GW alumnus Kye Allums, the first openly transgender man to play on a Division 1 basketball team in 2010-11.

“Kye’s brave decision to come out was a challenge not only for Kye, but his teammates, our university and college sports. It is through challenges such as this that people learn,” he wrote. “This is what the college years should be about.”

Nero has ushered in a culture shift in GW athletics, aligning athletics goals with the University’s broader vision of becoming an academic powerhouse. He wrote in the Blade that the athletic department has also valued playing a role in LGBT and social issues.

The women’s volleyball team will continue that commitment Saturday as it hosts UMBC in a “You Can Play” sponsored game.

“We talk often as an athletic program about the importance of being part of the greater GW community. Too often intercollegiate athletic programs have strayed from the greater mission of the university, we try hard every day to see that this doesn’t happen here,” he wrote.

“Generations of stereotyping created a harmful environment that we are just now making progress on.”