Betty Baxter

Betty Baxter (born 1952)[1] is a Canadian athlete, activist and politician. Baxter was once a school trustee for the Sunshine Coast District 46 in British Columbia.

Baxter was a member of the women's national volleyball team at the 1976 Summer Olympics,[1] and was later named the team's head coach in 1979.[2] Prior to being named coach of the national team, Baxter was a women's volleyball coach at the University of Ottawa,[2] and was named the Canadian Interuniversity Athletics Union's coach of the year.

However, she was fired from that role in 1982 for a variety of reasons, one of which was speculation about her sexuality after the media began to report rumours that she was lesbian.[3][4] Baxter was not actually out as lesbian at the time, but subsequently came out and served as a board member of the 1990 Gay Games in Vancouver.[5] She also cofounded the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women in Sport and the National Coaching School for Women. Baxter subsequently worked as a professional volleyball coach.

Baxter ran as a New Democratic Party candidate in Vancouver Centre in the 1993 federal election,[6] in a high-profile race against Prime Minister Kim Campbell, but was not elected. Baxter later was elected as a school trustee in 2011.