Betty Baxter

Betty Baxter was born in 1952 in Brooks, Alberta. Prior to turning thirty, she played Olympic volleyball and was one of the rare women to coach the sport internationally. She was a member of the National Advisory Council on Fitness and Amateur Sport for the federal government (1977–79) and a founder of Canadian Women & Sport (1981), and initiated the National Coaching School for Women (1987).

Following her expulsion as Canada’s national coach in 1982, she became an outspoken activist for LGBTQ+ 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.

After many years as an educational and human rights consultant, she is grateful to live, write stories and care for her five horses and three dogs in xwésám (Roberts Creek, BC) on the unceded territories of the shíshálh and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh people.