Why the First Gay Olympics Was a Watershed Moment Sports | HISTORY

Contents:

• CONOR MCDERMOTT-MOSTOWY JT WON 2 US CHAMPNSHIPS. NOW HE’S G OUT AS GAY.
• BEG OUT: ELE GAY NNER DAVID MELLY PROUD OF HIS ‘WEIRDNS’
• 'I FEEL VERY EMPOWERED': DIVER TOM DALEY DISCS BEG OPENLY GAY AFTER WNG GOLD
• DOUBLE OLYMPIC CHAMPN KELLY HOLM SHAR 'RELIEF' AFTER REVEALG SHE IS GAY
• WHY THE FIRST GAY OLYMPICS WAS A WATERSHED MOMENT SPORTS
• A BRIEF HISTORY OF OPENLY GAY OLYMPIANS
• GAY ATHLET ARE MAKG HISTORY AT THE 2018 WTER OLYMPICS

CONOR MCDERMOTT-MOSTOWY JT WON 2 US CHAMPNSHIPS. NOW HE’S G OUT AS GAY.

At least 186 publicly out gay, lbian, bisexual, transgenr, queer and nonbary athlet were Tokyo for the Summer Olympic Gam, more than triple the number who participated at the 2016 R Gam.

“Competg at the Olympics as an openly gay athlete is pretty amazg,” Canadian swimmer Mark Thormeyer told Outsports. Thormeyer was not out when he peted at the 2016 R Olympics and me out publicly as gay a 2020 say for Outsports.

Elissa Alarie (Canada)#Brt Benn (Canada)#Kelly Brazier (New Zealand)Gayle Broughton (New Zealand)#Isadora Cello (Brazil) Lren Doyle (USA)#Mara Fravanti (Brazil)#Megan Jon (Bra)Alev Kelter (USA)Ghislae Landry (Canada)#Kaili Lan (Canada)#Celia Quansah (Bra)Kristen Thomas (USA)Ruby Tui (New Zealand)#Sharni Williams (Atralia)Portia Woodman (New Zealand). 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.

BEG OUT: ELE GAY NNER DAVID MELLY PROUD OF HIS ‘WEIRDNS’

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

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

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. 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.

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.

DOUBLE OLYMPIC CHAMPN KELLY HOLM SHAR 'RELIEF' AFTER REVEALG SHE IS GAY

The same homophobic norms that affect men sports impact women and girls, too, and they origated the 19th century, Denison said. Homophobic stereotyp of women athlet, though no longer based on women’s abily to reproduce, persist today, Denison said.

Atralian A-League soccer star Josh Cavallo me out as gay an October vio posted to his social media, beg hailed as the first current male top-flight profsnal soccer player to publicly do so. "He ntued: "Growg up I always felt the need to hi myself, you know, bee I was ashamed, and ashamed I'll never be able to do what I love and be gay.

In a September terview wh USA Today, 25-year-old mor league baseball player beme the only active baseball profsnal to be out as gay! Natnal Hockey League prospect Le Prokop me out as gay July, the first active player the league to e out. "I am proud to publicly tell everyone that I am gay, " he wrote a heartfelt msage on social media.

WHY THE FIRST GAY OLYMPICS WAS A WATERSHED MOMENT SPORTS

The 28-year-old Natnal Football League player and Rairs fensive leman ma history when he me out as gay on Instagram durg Pri Month, beg the first veteran NFL player to e out as gay while signed to a regular-season ntract. The Bachelor star and former football player (who was signed by the San Diego Chargers as an undrafted ee agent and was on the practice squad of the Oakland Rairs and the Philalphia Eagl) me out as gay April, sayg he had fally e to terms wh his sexualy and the "next step all of this was sort of lettg people know. "He wanted everyone to know he was "still the same Colton everybody met on TV" and is "proud to be gay.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF OPENLY GAY OLYMPIANS

Hiltz had prevly e out as gay while llege and has been a visible and affirmg prence for gay athlet the past. Corey Walsh, the 27-year-old pro BMX rir and Vans spokperson, said he isn't normally the type of person to "let people " on his personal life, but felt was important to e out as gay a March Instagram post bee "there are a lot of people still stgglg wh the same suatns" and he "jt wanted to let people know that they are not alone.

Champn long track speedskater Conor McDermott-Mostowy never hid beg gay om his fay, iends, and fellow athlet, but he also wasn't one to rate his locker wh rabow Pri flags eher. He ially feared negative stereotyp about gay male athlet but threw those ncerns asi after his two-tle performance at the U.

10:53Download AudCopy the below to embed the WBUR d player on your seRumeNikki Hiltz petn at the 2019 World Athletics Champnships (USATF)Profsnal nner Nikki Hiltz recently cid was time to share a middle-distance nner had been openly gay for years, but was durg a virtual fundraiser last summer about suici preventn for LGBTQ youth that Hiltz realized was time to tell the whole people ed the race as an opportuny to e out, so Hiltz wanted to hear their stori before this year’s event. But over the last two weeks, as I’ve seen Amerin shot putter Raven Snrs proudly ll herself a “flamg gay” and Filipo boxer Nthy Petec dite her silver medal to the LGBTQ muny, one qutn keeps g back to my md: When will male sports tch up? Wh those two years, we had a pro basketball player (Jason Colls), pro soccer player (Robbie Rogers), NFL prospect (Michael Sam) and men’s Divisn 1 basketball player (Derrick Gordon) publicly e out as gay.

GAY ATHLET ARE MAKG HISTORY AT THE 2018 WTER OLYMPICS

The inic out diver said he was “credibly proud” to be a gay man, and oh yeah, also an Olympic champn. Through all of — the years toilg short track, multiple Junr World Teams and reprentg Team USA — McDermott-Mostowy has never hidn beg gay om his fellow speed skaters. Somewhat unfortable wh startg a nversatn wh people about him beg gay — where do you start?

Now he’s sharg his story as an ele world-class athlete — who jt happens to be gay — for the first time. While acceptance has abound his fay and speed skatg work, the ra of sports and the misnceptns of gay athlet have part held him back om beg more fully “out” the open.

He’s never, for example, posted somethg on Instagram that would tell a fellow athlete that he’s gay. Instead, subtle nods — some face sparkl and taggg men’s swimwear signer Parke and Ronen, popular wh gay men — did the talkg. The ia of gay men not beg athletic or good at sports has sat wh McDermott-Mostowy for years and kept him om beg more — for lack of a better term — proactively out.