In the rg wh Velvet Glov: New York’s first all-gay boxg class

Contents:

• VELVET GLOV IS NEW YORK CY'S FIRST AND ONLY BOXG CLUB FOR GAY MEN
• ATRALIAN FIGHTS HOMOPHOBIA SPORT WH WORLD GAY BOXG CHAMPNSHIPS
• THE WORLD GAY BOXG CHAMPNSHIPS LOOK TO ‘DISPT’ HOMOPHOBIA SPORTS
• MART STARK ON ANISG WORLD'S FIRST GAY BOXG CHAMPNSHIPS AND PLANS TO 'DISPT' DISCRIMATN
• LONDON'S LANDMARK BUILDG DOTTED WH STRIP CLUBS, GAY VENU TO TURN TO MOSQUE

VELVET GLOV IS NEW YORK CY'S FIRST AND ONLY BOXG CLUB FOR GAY MEN

Found roughly a year and a half ago, Velvet Glov Gentleman's Boxg is the first and only boxg club New York Cy that ters specifilly to gay men.

""[I asked myself, ] 'Why aren't gay guys dog this?

'"Though 2013 Orlando Cz beme the first profsnal fighter to e out while still active the sport—and gay athlet like Michael Sam and Jason Colls have started to break down barriers football and basketball, rpectively—boxg has ed had s bouts wh homophobia over the years. Floyd Mayweather, who recently battled Manny Pacquiao the "fight of the century" on May 2, has ed homophobic slurs the past.

ATRALIAN FIGHTS HOMOPHOBIA SPORT WH WORLD GAY BOXG CHAMPNSHIPS

""It do still feel like there's a taboo the boxg world for sure wh gay men, " says some, part of the draw of Velvet Glov is to actively work agast the taboos, chippg away at stereotyp ncerng what sports gay men n and nnot excel Dtsch, a mician livg Harlem, first me to Velvet Glov on a date.

THE WORLD GAY BOXG CHAMPNSHIPS LOOK TO ‘DISPT’ HOMOPHOBIA SPORTS

I thk every gay man has experienced that before, " says Garrett. By virtue of one of his star pupils, Francis Liuzzi, he is the unwtg man behd the curta of New York's first all-gay boxg class, Velvet Glov Gentleman's Boxg, a bimonthly Saturday morng class at the health club Clay, a boutique pamper palace near Manhattan's Unn 's ty pack of openly gay profsnal athlet clus one boxer, Orlando Cz, a recent ntenr for a featherweight world champnship who married his hband last year Central Park. Although boxg has long attracted eccentrics, dandi, and romantics, the sport remas elive for gay Gay Gam, the ternatnal summer sportg event that draws nearly 10, 000 athlet to pete 36 events every four years, clud petive boxg only once, s gural event 1982.

"I love that I'm beg forced to be wh gay men, which I wouldn't normally do. I feel like 's so hard to jt be iends wh gay men.

MART STARK ON ANISG WORLD'S FIRST GAY BOXG CHAMPNSHIPS AND PLANS TO 'DISPT' DISCRIMATN

Remag light on one's feet is York's endls dre of petive gay sports anizatns clus volleyball, sailg, bowlg, basketball, hockey, wrtlg, and gby, but boxg falls short of fully makg the leap. ""Teachg gay guys is really no different than teachg straight guys, except the gay guys tend to show up better physil ndn, " Liuzzi says.

LONDON'S LANDMARK BUILDG DOTTED WH STRIP CLUBS, GAY VENU TO TURN TO MOSQUE

Well before LGBT athlet were media darlgs, one of the most famo openly gay pros was a champn boxer and Hall of Fame ductee.

For anyone to not thk he was gay is absurd, " says Williamson Henrson, Griffh's boyiend throughout the 1970s. He and Henrson met at the Stonewall Inn the 1960s and together participated the uprisg at the bar on June 28, 1969, the event that started the morn gay rights movement.

He marched wh the SVA New York Cy's Gay Pri para 2007. That night he unleashed a strg of fatal blows on his opponent, Benny Paret, who tnted him wh a gay slur durg the weigh-.

"His whole fay knew he was gay, " Henrson says. He went out to the gay clubs more than I ever did. He said he knew was impossible the early 1960s for an athlete an ultramacho sport like boxg to say, 'Oh, yeah, I'm gay.