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

Contents:

• THERE HAVE BEEN AT LEAST 39 GAY OLYMPIC FIGURE SKATERS. HERE’S THE LIST
• CONOR MCDERMOTT-MOSTOWY JT WON 2 US CHAMPNSHIPS. NOW HE’S G OUT AS GAY.
• A BRIEF HISTORY OF OPENLY GAY OLYMPIANS
• WELE TO THE ‘GAY GAM,’ AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE OLYMPICS, WHERE ACTIVISM IS ENURAGED AND EVERYONE’S AN ATHLETE
• WTER OLYMPICS: THREE OPENLY GAY MEN PETE FOR A SPOT ON U.S. OLYMPIC TEAM

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

After g out as gay an Instagram post 2020, Bank hop to show younger athlet “that they n be whomever they are, or want to be, whout discrimatn. Radford ma history as the first petive figure skater to e out as gay while still petg for champnship tl 2014, pavg the way for future LGBTQ+ athlet to e out.

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.

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

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). "Not knowg I was gay at the time, I felt a ltle awkward around my peers and this was a really good outlet for me to put my energy to, and I found a really healthy place to do that, " Wagman said on the Five Rgs To Rule Them All podst.

"Due to the creased homophobia directed towards me recently and also the untry, I have never felt more empowered, " Doonan wrote. "Julian Venonsky -- Men's RowgOut gay xswa Julian Venonsky is leadg his team Tokyo after g fourth at the R Gam 2016. "Halfway through my llege reer, my sophomore year, I started actually thkg about datg or what kd of my life I wanted to look like and I found my boyiend on Tr...

A BRIEF HISTORY OF OPENLY GAY OLYMPIANS

"Beg gay pecially means happy, and that's one thg I have started to really take pri , " Snrs told Go Mag USA's lbian wrtler Kayla Miracle ma history when she qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, beg the first out wrtler to do so. 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. 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.

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.

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

Peltzer ran at the 1928 Amsterdam and 1932 Los Angel Olympics before he was arrted and imprisoned by the Nazis for his homosexualy 1935.

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.

WTER OLYMPICS: THREE OPENLY GAY MEN PETE FOR A SPOT ON U.S. OLYMPIC TEAM

There have been at least 39 gay men to pete figure skatg at the Wter Olympic Gam over the years, wh eight publicly out men petg 2022. 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. 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.

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. “I don’t want to talk about beg gay, bee there’s a stereotype that gay guys aren’t athletic, and I don’t want that to be held agast me or ed to jtify a bad rult.

Prevly we saw Amerin Keh Carney e out on Outsports after a top-10 fish at the US Champnships; Amerin Matt Rtenhoe lived openly after he retired and talked to Outsports earlier this year about beg gay. “I n’t thk of anythg that’s ever been directed at me specifilly, ” he said of possible negative reactns to him beg gay.