Gay athlet are makg history at the Wter Olympics | CNN

Contents:

• GAY ATHLET ARE MAKG HISTORY AT THE 2018 WTER OLYMPICS
• THERE HAVE BEEN AT LEAST 39 GAY OLYMPIC FIGURE SKATERS. HERE’S THE LIST
• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
• WTER OLYMPICS 2018: TEAM USA'S FIRST OPENLY GAY MALE OLYMPIANS MARCH WH PRI OPENG CEREMONY
• GAY MEN ARE WNG THIS YEAR’S WTER OLYMPICS – AND MAKG A JOY TO WATCH

GAY ATHLET ARE MAKG HISTORY AT THE 2018 WTER OLYMPICS

Gay athlet have probably been settg Olympic rerds sce the days of the ancient Greeks.

But openly gay and lbian athlet are another matter, pecially the Wter Olympics, which mak a uple of recent ton all the more noteworthy. First, Team USA’s Adam Rippon ma history by beg the first out gay man om the US to medal a Wter Olympics by takg home the bronze for his ee skate performance.

Then, Canadian Eric Radford beme the first openly gay Wter Olympics champn after wng the gold wh partner Meagan Duhamel the pairs ee skate performance. Rippon is one of two openly gay Amerin athlet to reprent team USA for the first time the Wter Olympics, along wh etyle skig’s G Kenworthy. The number of openly gay athlet is still relatively small, and those who e out tend to do so after their first major petns – for a variety of reasons.

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

Brian Boano, the 1988 Olympic figure skatg gold medalist, announced he was gay 2013, after Print Obama named him to the official US legatn to the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Brockhoff me out publicly as gay 2013 prr to the 2014 Sochi Gam as a prott agast anti-LGBT laws that were passed Rsia. She said that beg openly gay has allowed her to pete whout add strs.

“That don’t mean they have to blare out that they are gay. In his g out terview wh Outsports, he highlighted one benef of beg a male pairs skater who is gay. Rippon me out 2015 and proudly wears the banner of beg the first publicly gay figure skater.

KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

Qutned about the choice of Pence January, Rippon said: “You mean Mike Pence, the same Mike Pence that fund gay nversn therapy? Rippon’s team claim to have turned down approach om Pence’s team for the two to meet – although Pence’s team have disputed is also notable for a riposte he gave to beg asked what is like to be a gay athlete – “It’s exactly like beg a straight athlete. Earlier this week Fox News published, then leted, a lumn by executive edor John Moody, who had wrten that the US Olympic Commtee was tryg to change the Olympic motto om “Faster, Higher, Stronger” to “Darker, Gayer, Different” acceptance of out gay athlet petg Pyeongchang mak a sharp ntrast to the official approach to LGBT rights at the prev Wter Olympics.

In 2014, Sochi’s mayor Anatoly Pakhomov dismissed ncerns about Rsia’s track rerd on equaly by assertg that there were no gay people the cy. Prr to those Gam, more than 50 current and former Olympians backed the Prciple 6 mpaign agast Rsia’s anti-gay laws, named after the clse the Olympic charter that guarante non-discrimatn.

If that young kid was able to see someone on TV — someone siar to myself, who was openly gay and wng medals — then maybe that would give them the nfince to feel was tly possible for them. A total of 186 publicly out gay, lbian, bisexual, transgenr, queer and nonbary athlet participated the Tokyo Gam, acrdg to Not only was that the most at any Olympics ever, but was also more than triple the number of LGBTQ athlet at the 2016 R Gam. Andrew Blaser will bee the first openly gay man to pete skeleton at the Olympics.

WTER OLYMPICS 2018: TEAM USA'S FIRST OPENLY GAY MALE OLYMPIANS MARCH WH PRI OPENG CEREMONY

Brown me out as gay durg Pri Month, June, of last year. The 27-year-old Cizeron, who is gay, and 26-year-old Papadakis have formed a domant partnership, pturg four World Champnship tl, five European Champnship tl and seven natnal tl. LeDuc beme the first openly gay athlete to w a U.

Mouat, who is gay, had himself que the 2021. Jt like Jason Brown, Canadian ice dancer Pl Poirier also me out as gay durg Pri Month 2021. Radford and partner Meagan Duhamel skated to a first-place fish the team event, makg Radford the first openly gay man to w gold at a Wter Olympics.

Who was the first openly gay Olympian?

GAY MEN ARE WNG THIS YEAR’S WTER OLYMPICS – AND MAKG A JOY TO WATCH

Amerin Robert Dover was the first openly gay athlete to pete at the Olympic Gam. Peltzer ran at the 1928 Amsterdam and 1932 Los Angel Olympics before he was arrted and imprisoned by the Nazis for his homosexualy 1935.

Atralian diver Matthew Mcham was the first openly gay athlete to w gold at the Olympics.

It wasn’t until the 2018 Gam when Team USA featured s first openly gay Wter Olympians, as figure skater Adam Rippon, ekier G Kenworthy and speed skater Brtany Bowe peted PyeongChang. Rippon earned bronze the 2018 team figure skatg petn to make him the Uned Stat’ first openly gay medalist at the Wter Gam.

When the Amerin etyle skier G Kenworthy shared a kiss wh boyiend Matthew Wilkas at the bottom of the hill before Sunday morng’s ski sloptyle qualifyg, neher was immediately aware the moment was ptured by NBC’s the signifince of an openly gay male athlete kissg another man on primetime work televisn durg one of the world’s biggt llective experienc was not lost on the Saturday night dience back home the Uned Stat where quickly went viral and was feted by LGBT activists as a marker of progrs amid the broadster’s much-cricized handlg of gay Brish-born Kenworthy, petg spe sufferg a broken thumb durg trag on Thursday and havg six vials of blood draed om a hematoma on his hip, was one of eight skiers to sre 90 or better qualifyg for the afternoon fal at the Phoenix Snow Park, where he ultimately failed to land any of his three ns and fished last out of 12 falists.