Celebratg LGBTQ sports history: Greg Louganis out at Gay Gam - Outsports

Contents:

• 'I FEEL VERY EMPOWERED': DIVER TOM DALEY DISCS BEG OPENLY GAY AFTER WNG GOLD
• TOM DALEY ‘CREDIBLY PROUD TO SAY I AM GAY AND AN OLYMPIC CHAMPN’
• CELEBRATG LGBTQ SPORTS HISTORY: GREG LOUGANIS OUT AS GAY
• 5 TIM OPENLY GAY DIVER MATTHEW MCHAM SLAYED, AND OUT OF HIS SPEEDOS
• CELEBRATG LGBTQ SPORTS HISTORY: OUT GAY DIVER MATTHEW MCHAM WS OLYMPIC GOLD
• THIS OLYMPIC DIVER DON’T INTIFY AS ‘GAY’ OR ‘STRAIGHT,’ BUT ‘HUMAN’
• FOR GAY DE DIVER, CLN ON HIS TEAM WASN’T AN EMPTY PHRASE
• ‘I AM A GAY MAN AND ALSO AN OLYMPIC CHAMPN’: TOM DALEY AFTER WNG A GOLD MEDAL TOKYO
• IS TOM DALEY GAY? HE'S A DIVER, SO HE MT BE
• WELE TO THE ‘GAY GAM,’ AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE OLYMPICS, WHERE ACTIVISM IS ENURAGED AND EVERYONE’S AN ATHLETE
• TOM DALEY IS DAMN PROUD TO BE AN OPENLY GAY OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST

'I FEEL VERY EMPOWERED': DIVER TOM DALEY DISCS BEG OPENLY GAY AFTER WNG GOLD

Barthel is divg for Germany and do not classify himself as gay or straight but simply intifi as “human.

He was adopted om Cambodia at 18 months, and his adoptive father, Jerry, is gay. In addn, Wdle has ntributed to the It Gets Better mpaign and was mentored om an early age by gay divg legend Greg Louganis—to the pot where he was nicknamed “The Ltle Louganis.

TOM DALEY ‘CREDIBLY PROUD TO SAY I AM GAY AND AN OLYMPIC CHAMPN’

He’s one of the bt and most important stori of the Tokyo Gam after wng his first gold medal Men’s Synchro wh divg partner Matty Lee and spirg lns by clarg, “I feel credibly proud to say I am a gay man and also an Olympic champn. Tom Daley and his divg partner, Matty Lee, brought home a gold medal for Team Great Bra Monday on the synchronized 10-meter platform dive, and the victory was pecially meangful for Daley his send Olympics as an openly gay me out a YouTube vio 2013 shortly after he began datg his now-hband, Dt Lance Black.

"I feel credibly proud to say that I’m a gay man and also an Olympic champn, " Daley said via the Olympic News Service after wng gold. He me out publicly as gay at the Gay Gam 1994, but was out to those around him om an early was the 'g out to myself' procs like for you?

I me out at the Gay Gam 1994, welg the athlet and sayg, 'It's great to be out and proud.

CELEBRATG LGBTQ SPORTS HISTORY: GREG LOUGANIS OUT AS GAY

My thought before I me out to my mom was, 'Oh my God, if my parents knew that I was gay, then the earth is gog to open up and swallow me whole.

5 TIM OPENLY GAY DIVER MATTHEW MCHAM SLAYED, AND OUT OF HIS SPEEDOS

Beg a gay man wh HIV, at that time there was still a lot of stigma surroundg HIV. A lot of the attu the untry and the world was, 'It's killg the right people -- gay men, IV dg ers and prostut.

“I feel credibly proud to say that I am a gay man and also an Olympic champn. Today, a look back at that day 1994 that -founr Jim Buzski scribed as the first time Olympian Greg Louganis publicly acknowledged he is gay.

Diver Greg Louganis out publicly at Gay Gam IV. “Wele to the Gay Gam, ’s great to be out and proud.

CELEBRATG LGBTQ SPORTS HISTORY: OUT GAY DIVER MATTHEW MCHAM WS OLYMPIC GOLD

” Wh those words, gold medal Olympic diver Greg Louganis livered a msage to the Openg Ceremoni of Gay Gam IV New York. While might have been Louganis’ official public g out, his beg gay was long mored the sports world.

THIS OLYMPIC DIVER DON’T INTIFY AS ‘GAY’ OR ‘STRAIGHT,’ BUT ‘HUMAN’

It did not make his statement at the Gay Gam any ls powerful. That shows guts, termatn and toughns, all quali that the stereotyp say gay men uld not have athletics. Louganis is healthy spe beg HIV-posive, yet is ncerned that younger gay men see the disease as somethg easily treatable:.

To improve LGBTQ reprentatn profsnal sports, Schweighofer and Denison said, ach and lears youth sports should set a precent that homophobic language and discrimatn are unacceptable.

Sometim the Gam have taken place untri where homosexualy is not wily accepted or where legislatn impacts LGBTQ rints.

FOR GAY DE DIVER, CLN ON HIS TEAM WASN’T AN EMPTY PHRASE

Denison’s rearch fds that most LGBTQ athlet leave their sports as young people, a parture driven by a culture of homophobic language and stereotyp. Daley has said that while he’s accepted his sport of divg, he often pet agast divers om untri where beg gay is crimalized. And Rapoe 2018 said that, as a kid, she “would have loved to have more rmatn” about what meant to be gay and why g homophobic slurs was wrong.

“Anytime you hear somebody say, ‘Oh, that’s gay, ’ or whatever, those thgs matter, ” said Rapoe, who didn’t e out to her teammat until llege. Homophobic slurs ntue to be prevalent sports – a 2020 study om Out on the Fields, which studi LGBTQ cln sports, found that more than 80% of gay participants had heard them ed while playg. When ach and teammat e gay slurs equently, sends the msage that the language is harmls and OK to e – and solidifi the belief that all members of the team are heterosexual, Denison said.

‘I AM A GAY MAN AND ALSO AN OLYMPIC CHAMPN’: TOM DALEY AFTER WNG A GOLD MEDAL TOKYO

The same Out on the Fields study reported that over 81% of gay men unr 22 hid their sexualy to avoid rejectn by teammat or discrimatn by ach or officials, among other reasons.

But we n assume that many s, gay players will jt drop out of their sport. That’s a problem for profsnal sports – wh few gay players sport, there will be even fewer who will make profsnally.

“Boys and young men are tght to avoid anythg associated wh femy, most notably weakns, emotn, and homosexualy, ” said Schweighofer, whose work on LGBTQ cln sports has appeared the publitn of the Natnal Park Foundatn. The same homophobic norms that affect men sports impact women and girls, too, and they origated the 19th century, Denison said.

IS TOM DALEY GAY? HE'S A DIVER, SO HE MT BE

Homophobic stereotyp of women athlet, though no longer based on women’s abily to reproduce, persist today, Denison said. Atralian diver Matthew Mcham will forever be celebrated as the first out gay Olympic gold medalist, but the now-retired athlete jt add another big “first” to his long list of acplishments. He out publicly as gay, then stuns Beijg wh a perfect dive.

It also ma him the first out gay Olympic gold medalist.

WELE TO THE ‘GAY GAM,’ AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE OLYMPICS, WHERE ACTIVISM IS ENURAGED AND EVERYONE’S AN ATHLETE

It was wonrful to see him such fe form, and while he n’t have been thrilled to lose his signature 10 m platform event to a then-closeted Tom Daley, Mcham’s succs as an openly gay diver no doubt set the stage for Daley and many more gay athlet to e out. Soon after the Gam he beme addicted to crystal meth, which remas a rampant issue the gay muny.

Today, we revis Augt 23, 2008, the day Beijg, Cha, when an out gay man won a gold medal at the Olympic Summer Gam.

TOM DALEY IS DAMN PROUD TO BE AN OPENLY GAY OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST

What Mcham’s w means to gays everywhere. An openly gay male athlete won an Olympic gold medal. By wng the gold medal the men’s 10-meter platform divg, Mcham stck a goln blow for gay people everywhere who’ve been told they’re flawed or not good enough, pecially the athletic arena.

For all the gay men who have been lled weak, sissi, pansi, too emotnal, not tough enough to pete sports, that fal dive was for you. Wh his glor fal round of six div, the 20-year-old Atralian beme the most signifint openly gay male athlete ever (out lbians such as Marta Navratilova and Ameile Mrmo have won their fair share of tl).

Watchg the divg all week, I would bet my life savgs that Mcham was not the only gay man on the sprgboard or platform. And Greg Louganis, also gay and wner of multiple gold medals, is nsired the greatt diver ever.