Hawk happy being herself
ven in the promising light of the new year, sometimes it can feel like society is still weighed down by the same old biases, the same old judgments.
But it’s people such as Izzy Allen, an openly gay basketball player at Horizon High School, who defy all of that and remind us how far this country has come in terms of treating each other as equal.
Allen is a junior guard for the Class 5A No. 4 Hawks (6-2), who are looking like an early state title contender after making a Great 8 appearance last season. And in an age of social media, where profiles are often used to mask identities rather than illuminate them, Allen is here to remind everyone that it’s perfectly OK to be exactly who you are.
“I always say that you should never care about what people think,” Allen said. “As long as you’re happy, that’s all that matters.”
Visit Allen’s Twitter profile — @IzzyTheHooper — and you will quickly discover what she is all about. She is basketballobsessed. She is Hawks-proud. And, perhaps most obviously, she is in love with her girlfriend of eight months, a junior at Mountain Range, and she isn’t afraid to let everyone know it.
The Izzy Allen you see is the Izzy Allen you get, and it’s an identity her friends, family and teammates support.
“Honestly, it was never a secret even though not many people knew (I was gay),” Allen said. “My family supported me all the way as I was growing up — they didn’t care, and they accepted me for who I was. All of my team accepts it too, and we work really well together because none of them care. So I haven’t gotten much negativity from anyone — my family, my team and my friends support me, and that’s what’s most important.”
With the positive reactions she has received since she began dating her girlfriend and with more and more gay professional athletes living their lives out in the open, Allen’s situation might not seem extraordinary.
But the bottom line is that high school can still be high school — at times a vacuum of ruthless negativity and close-mindedness — and openly gay high school athletes are still rare. But for her own positive experience, Allen credits her mom and dad for laying the foundation of support.
“It’s definitely gotten easier to be out, but it still depends a lot on the parents,” Allen said. “With that support, I think it’s way easier to be out than it was than it was a long time ago or even a few years ago.”
On the court, Allen continues to do her part, averaging 10.6 points and 3.5 steals per game as the Hawks continue to ascend toward a chance at the program’s second-ever state title.
“The expectations are really high this year,” Allen said. “I feel like we could easily make it to the final four or to the championship, but it’s going to take some work. The good news is a bunch of us have been playing together on a club team since third grade, so we know each other really well and we have that chemistry. We trust each other and understand type of player everyone is.”
Trust, love, understanding. Sounds like Izzy Allen and the Hawks have a good thing going on. Kyle Newman: 303-954-1773 knewman @denverpost.com or @KyleNewmanDP