There have been 39 gay Olympic figure skaters. Here’s the list - Outsports

Contents:

• WELE TO THE ‘GAY GAM,’ AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE OLYMPICS, WHERE ACTIVISM IS ENURAGED AND EVERYONE’S AN ATHLETE
• THERE HAVE BEEN AT LEAST 39 GAY OLYMPIC FIGURE SKATERS. HERE’S THE LIST
• WHY THE FIRST GAY OLYMPICS WAS A WATERSHED MOMENT SPORTS
• A BRIEF HISTORY OF OPENLY GAY OLYMPIANS
• ADAM RIPPON MA HISTORY AS THE FIRST OPENLY GAY AMERIN MAN TO W AT THE WTER OLYMPICS

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

And so Wadll created the Gay Gam – then lled the Gay Olympics, until the Internatnal Olympic Commtee sued over the name.

They draw over 10, 000 athlet and sometim seven or eight tim as many spectators, said Shiv Pl, vice print of external relatns for the Feratn of Gay Gam. And unlike at the Olympics, activism is enuraged at the Gay Gam, as has been sce the begng when the HIV/AIDS crisis was ravagg LGBTQ muni.

THERE HAVE BEEN AT LEAST 39 GAY OLYMPIC FIGURE SKATERS. HERE’S THE LIST

Above all, though, the Gay Gam are an event for queer and trans people to gather safely, play sports they love and be themselv whout fear of tolerance.

The Gay Gam uld be an act of prott then, too, Wadll cid, an event durg which LGBTQ people uld play the same sports they watched durg the Olympics and achieve the same kd of glory he had at the 1968 Olympics. HIV/AIDS awarens has been baked to the Gay Gam sce s ceptn: In addn to banng discrimatn based on genr, sexualy, race and other tras, the Gay Gam wouldn’t allow any participant to be turned away based on their HIV stat.

WHY THE FIRST GAY OLYMPICS WAS A WATERSHED MOMENT SPORTS

The Gay Gam also succsfully lobbied the US ernment to briefly waive a prev ban on HIV-posive people enterg the untry so they uld pete the 1994 Gay Gam New York and the 1996 Olympics Atlanta, chang ma wh the help of the US Olympic Commtee. And unlike the “regular Olympics, ” at the Gay Gam, a same-sex figurg skatg pair n don matchg nim jumpsus a performance set to “Hopelsly Devoted to You. Wadll died of AIDS 1987, one year after the send Gay Gam, but the Gam and his dream for their impact have only grown sce.

Participatn the Gay Gam steadily grew every year was held, and 1994, at the New York Gay Gam, the number of participants exceed the number of athlet at the 1994 Wter Olympics. The openg ceremony of the Gay Gam is still emotnal all the years later, Pl said, pecially when participants om untri where homosexualy is not accepted march the Para of Natns. There have been at least 39 gay men to pete figure skatg at the Wter Olympic Gam over the years, wh eight publicly out men petg 2022.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF OPENLY GAY OLYMPIANS

After g out as gay an Instagram post 2020, Bank hop to show younger athlet “that they n be whomever they are, or want to be, whout discrimatn. Radford ma history as the first petive figure skater to e out as gay while still petg for champnship tl 2014, pavg the way for future LGBTQ+ athlet to e out.

Thanks to some robt fundraisg and a genero scholarship program, hundreds om highly unrserved untri and muni have been brought to the Gay Gam to wns “Participatn, Incln, and Personal Bt ™” first-hand and see the llective power of those valu. As the world’s largt sports and cultural event open to all, the Gay Gam have created and nurtured a movement that has bee among the greatt forc for muny empowerment and social change. Sger Ta Turner was the ma draw at the openg ceremony San Francis for the first Gay Gam 1982, but cy supervisor Doris Ward may have received the biggt reactn om the crowd.

ADAM RIPPON MA HISTORY AS THE FIRST OPENLY GAY AMERIN MAN TO W AT THE WTER OLYMPICS

You uld have an Olympics for anythg, ” says Shamey Cramer, a swimmer who -led Team Los Angel the first Gam, “but heaven forbid you should be gay or lbian. Succeed blockg the official e of the term "Olympic, " but the lawsu galvanized support for the Gam, pecially among the gay muny.

Olympian Helps Organize Gay GamAthlet wave to the crowd at the 1994 Gay Gam New openg ceremony at the 1994 Gay Gam New skatg petors at the 1994 Gay Gam New closg ceremony for the 1994 Gay Gam New York was held at Yankee men's softball fal at the 1994 Gay Gam was held Central Gay Gam clu a body-buildg the 2002 Gay Gam Sydney, Atralia, nners ngratulate each other at the 5, 000-meter fal. Like many other LGBT athlet, Wadll wanted to make a siar, powerful statement wh an event for gay MORE: 8 Memorable Protts by Amerin Athlet “You were eher a drag queen or the leather muny—those were the stereotyp that were prented to the public at that time, ” says Rick Thoman, a track and field athlete who peted the first Gay Gam. ”A number of gay and lbian sports leagu emerged the 1970s, as the LGBT muny gradually announced self to mastream society.

Still, many outlets for gay athlet, namely bowlg and billiards leagu, were still tied to the bars that had served as safe harbors for s. “The Gam offer another place to ‘e out’ bis a dark bar, ” Jill Ramsay, the chair of swimmg and divg at the first Gam, told the Bay Area Reporter, one of the natn's first gay newspapers,  1982. READ MORE: Harvey Milk, in the gay munyLike the mpaigns of gay polician Harvey Milk, a well-known muny anizer, the first Gay Gam were a grassroots project.