Wele to the 'Gay Gam,' an Olympics alternative, where activism is enuraged and everyone's an athlete | CNN

Contents:

• THE 50 BT GAY SONGS TO CELEBRATE PRI ALL YEAR LONG
• THE GAY LLEGE TRACK STARS ARE BT IENDS AND CHAMPNS
• GAY, BISEXUAL ATHLET OUT AND PROUD AT BIG TEN TRACK MEET
• BEG OUT: ELE GAY NNER DAVID MELLY PROUD OF HIS ‘WEIRDNS’
• OPENLY GAY DARTMOUTH NNER PAYS FORWARD
• WELE TO THE ‘GAY GAM,’ AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE OLYMPICS, WHERE ACTIVISM IS ENURAGED AND EVERYONE’S AN ATHLETE
• THIS GAY RACE R DRIVER IS OUT AND PROUD, AND CHASG HIS MOTORSPORTS DREAM
• JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU
• THE 50 BT GAY SONGS TO CELEBRATE PRI ALL YEAR LONG

THE 50 BT GAY SONGS TO CELEBRATE PRI ALL YEAR LONG

The two gay llege track stars jt fished a champnship season at Colorado State Universy, wng the 2021 Mounta Wt Men’s Outdoor Track & Field tle. “Sometim, you jt need the gay sh, ” LaRance said.

“We started dog watch parti for RuPl’s Drag Race, and we listen to our gay mic. But most importantly, there is the “gay sh. I was happy to have someone to actually have gay nversatns.

Wh Covid-19 rtrictns lifted, LaRance and Golbe are lookg forward to a hot gay summer.

THE GAY LLEGE TRACK STARS ARE BT IENDS AND CHAMPNS

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.

GAY, BISEXUAL ATHLET OUT AND PROUD AT BIG TEN TRACK MEET

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. 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.

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

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.

OPENLY GAY DARTMOUTH NNER PAYS FORWARD

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.

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

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. I'm a footballer and I'm gay.

"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!

THIS GAY RACE R DRIVER IS OUT AND PROUD, AND CHASG HIS MOTORSPORTS DREAM

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. 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.

JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU

I jt wanted to take a quick moment to say that I'm gay. 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.

THE 50 BT GAY SONGS TO CELEBRATE PRI ALL YEAR LONG

"He wanted everyone to know he was "still the same Colton everybody met on TV" and is "proud to be gay. 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.