The activist and former athlete Betty Baxter discusses her memoir Outspoken: A Journey from Olympic Athlete to Activist (Nightwood Editions, 2026), with Joseph Planta.

Outspoken: A Journey from Olympic Athlete to Activist by Betty Baxter (Nightwood Editions, 2026). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Outspoken

Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.  

Betty Baxter joins me now. She’s just published a memoir, Outspoken: A Journey from Olympic Athlete to Activist. In the book she recounts her experiences growing up in a small town in Alberta, to finding sport, and going on to play volleyball representing Canada abroad, even playing in the 1976 Olympics. The book narrates the reality of sports then as now, and how there are inequities that still need addressing. In 1980, Baxter becomes the first woman to coach the Canadian women’s volleyball team. But in January 1982, at the age of twenty-nine, she was fired because of rumours about her sexual orientation. There was never a question of misconduct, which surrounded some of her male colleagues one should note. She talks about that and the devastating effect it had on her career, and even how she viewed sports themselves. I’ll ask Betty about why she wrote the book, and what she’s had to work through over the years. For a while, because of the firing, she couldn’t even set foot in a gymnasium, she felt so unmoored by the firing. I’ll ask Betty about leadership too, and about the 1990 Gay Games, which she played an important part in bringing to Vancouver. Betty Baxter also initiated the National Coaching School for Women, and founded Canadian Women & Sport. After her expulsion in 1982 as Canada’s national coach, she became an outspoken activist for 2SLGBTQIA+ community and human rights. In 1993, she was the first open lesbian to seek federal office in Vancouver Centre, and in 2011 she was elected to her local school board, serving two terms. This new book is published by Nightwood Editions. We spoke last week, with Betty joining me from Roberts Creek, British Columbia. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, Betty Baxter; Betty, good morning.

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