Billie Jean Kg embrac her role as openly gay legate to 2014 Sochi Olympics - The Washgton Post

gay olympic athletes 2014

The tennis in is one of three openly gay members of the Uned Stat’ legatn to the 2014 Olympics.

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THE ARE THE 6 OPENLY GAY ATHLET PETG AT THE SOCHI OLYMPICS

Figure skaters Adam Rippon and Eric Radford each ma history as openly gay men who won medals at the 2018 Wter Olympics, the latt ton for Team LGBTQ. * gay olympic athletes 2014 *

On Sunday the world gaed another openly gay Olympic athlete: Ari-Pekka Likonen of Fland.

His announcement jt days before the 2014 Wter Olympic Gam start Sochi, Rsia, where an anti-gay law has been effect sce last year.

THE VERY SHORT LIST: WHO IS GAY THE OLYMPICS?

Advocy groups had been urgg Print Obama to send gay athlet to Sochi to draw attentn to Rsia's treatment of gays and lbians * gay olympic athletes 2014 *

” This issue is both public and personal for the six openly gay Olympians who will be petg at Sochi.

GAY ATHLET ARE MAKG HISTORY AT THE 2018 WTER OLYMPICS

Guillme Cizeron is the sixth gay man to w Olympic gold figure skatg. * gay olympic athletes 2014 *

In June 2013, the Rsian ernment banned dissematn of pro-gay "propaganda" that uld be accsible to children. The law’s vaguens, activists note, uld prohib almost any pro-gay exprsn, such as public statements, ralli, rabow flags, rabow ntg dolls, or same-sex hand-holdg. Foreigners n be July 2013, Rsia ma illegal for foreign gay and lbian upl to adopt Rsian children, and October 2013, the ernment proposed legislatn that would remove Rsian children om their LGBT parents.

Rsian activists note that the measur strengthen homophobia a untry where 74 percent of people already believe that homosexualy is new laws, says Human Rights Watch, have also fueled vic attacks agast LGBT dividuals, cludg beatgs, kidnappgs, torture and murr. Or watch this documentary, "Hunted, " by vtigative journalist Liz here’s the rabow lg: Sochi has also provid a highly visible fom for ternatnal prott and prsure rponse to Rsia’s anti-gay laws. For example, some 50 Olympic athlet — pl 406, 000 other people around the globe — have petned the Rsian ernment to "elimate all anti-gay laws and protect all cizens om vlence and discrimatn Rsia.

OBAMA CLUS OPENLY GAY ATHLET 2014 OLYMPIC LEGATN

" Rsian gay rights activists rally Mosw, on March 10, 2012. (Kirill Kudryavtsev/Getty Imag)While Internatnal Olympics Commtee member Dick Pound (no, really) has downplayed the harshns of the untry's “antigay stuff, ” European Unn Commissner Viviane Redg nfirmed that she'll boytt the Gam bee of Rsia's treatment of mori.

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

Instead, he'll be sendg the largt and most openly gay legatn Olympics rponse to the ternatnal outcry, Rsian Print Vladimir Put awkwardly backpedaled to a pedophilia parison.

” Sochi’s mayor then claimed there are no gay people Sochi, leadg to some entertag fact-checkg by the Olympics are a time to celebrate world-class feats of athleticism, flamboyant displays of natnalism and maybe some spanx-clad buns. Even if the mayor of Sochi do not believe gay people, they'll be at the Wter are the five other openly gay athlet who will be petg at Sochi.

(Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Imag)Bucsis me out publicly at Calgary’s Gay Pri Para September 2013, two years after tellg her fay and iends. She told the Globe and Mail she was “so proud to be gay” and wanted to speak out agast Rsia’s anti-gay laws: “I uld never promote that msage of ncealg who you are wh all of this gog on Rsia.

GAY ATHLET COULD BE PROSECUTED AT 2014 WTER OLYMPICS, RSIAN LAWMAKER SUGGTS

The 20-year-old snowboarr and Olympic newbie said she wanted to show Put how succsful gay and lbian athlet uld be. But as blogger Pat Griff pots out, not all openly gay athlet are terted public LGBT advocy. Last November, van Kerkhof said: "It is sad to hear about somebody beaten up bee he is gay.

8, 2014, Hzlsperger assembled a group of reporters om German weekly Die Ze and told them he is gay a lengthy terview. The Olympic Gam Sochi are g up and I thk we need cril voic agast the mpaigns of several ernments agast homosexuals.

GAY OLYMPIC HISTORIAN: KNOWN LGBTQ ATHLET WERE PETG EARLY 20TH CENTURY

But Matos says he is tired of avoidg gay parti, hidg boyiends and pretendg to be straight. ” The 50-year-old figure skatg legend, who won gold at the 1988 Wter Olympics, jos two other openly gay athlet on the legatn — tennis champn Billie Jean Kg (39 Grand Slam tl) and Olympic ice hockey player Cal Cahow (bronze medal the 2006 Toro Gam). London is a safer place to be LGBT than Rsia, where vlence agast LGBT people is growg by the day and a law is on the books barrg so-lled gay 'll be watchg Team LGBT as the gam play out, and we're hopg the roster grows the days ahead.

"Anastasia Bucsis, CanadaBucsis was out at the last Wter Olympic gam Vanuver, but only a few months after Rsia passed s antigay law, she reerated that she was "proud to be 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.

HOW SOCHI BEME THE GAY OLYMPICS

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

BILLIE JEAN KG EMBRAC HER ROLE AS OPENLY GAY LEGATE TO 2014 SOCHI OLYMPICS

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.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* GAY OLYMPIC ATHLETES 2014

Billie Jean Kg embrac her role as openly gay legate to 2014 Sochi Olympics - The Washgton Post.

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