Penn State President Graham Spanier has accepted the conclusion of a six-month investigation: Lady Lions basketball coach Rene Portland is guilty of discrimination based on sexual orientation ("PSU finds Portland in violation of policy," April 19). No one should be surprised; she has maintained an overt no-lesbian policy for decades.

As a recovering bigot myself, I am sympathetic to Portland's situation. (Let's be honest, most Americans are sympathetic, if not downright supportive.) Raised as an Evangelical, I was told that racial discrimination is wrong, but gays are unnatural, sexual perverts and bound for hell. Then I grew up and learned the American Psychological Association wholly disagrees: Homosexuality is completely normal and natural; it's not a perversion or disorder; sexual orientation can't be changed; it's like being left-handed or having red hair. Perfectly normal, according to www.apahelpcenter.org.

If Portland weren't such a great coach, this would be a lot easier; Spanier would just fire her. But she is, and he didn't.

On the other hand, fair is fair and Penn State policy AD-42 bans discrimination in all its ugly manifestations. What if Portland were guilty of discriminating against black players? How about Jews? What if she had done this for decades, and everyone knew it? I'll bet Spanier would fire her in that case. Double standards are discrimination incognito.