Sports gay moments
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Also in June… Pride House Berlin welcomes LGBTQ+ fans and allies to Euro 2024 in the German capital; the U.S.
men’s and women’s teams both wear jerseys with Progress Pride rainbow shirt numbers for Pride Month; the Olympics celebrates Pride with a social media post about Campbell Harrison, who takes on the haters; the fascinating story of U.S. ice hockey legend Hobey Baker and a possible gay relationship he had over a century ago is revealed in a new ESPN 30 for 30 podcast; FA director and the chair of Stonewall FC, Alex Baker, shines a light on stats about homophobic language in grassroots football…
July: ‘If it’s worth having, it’s worth fighting for…’
Our pick for this month is, of course, the Paris Olympics – few sporting events are so queer-friendly, and with Team LGBTQ bigger and more successful than ever before (it needed just one more Olympian to get the Outsports up list to 200!), this was a Games laden with golden moments.
A very damp Opening Ceremony had drag queens dancing; there was Celine Dion’s exquisite return at the Eiffel Tower; Lady Gaga was pretty in pink; and Tom Daley hilariously posting to Instagram about being a “fagbearer” (and we still have the unedited Threads post to prove it).
Early on in the Games, Daley claimed silver alongside Noah Williams in synchro diving, with his husband Lance and their two sons watching on.
However, they were barred from further competitions in 1938 after being discovered with intersex genitalia. 1350 athletes from 17 different sports and 12 countries participated in the first Gay Games. Any content you’d like to recommend? Many athletes and activists have challenged the restrictive notions of sport and worked towards carving a space for the community in the field.
It’s not so long ago that Rainbow Laces still had novelty value; now it’s woven into the fabric of Premier League clubs and their community foundations, many of whom have out LGBTQ staff members.
Governing bodies such as the LTA in tennis and the R&A in golf announced in December that they have further restricted the participation of trans athletes.
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So here we go with the 2024 recap! Carl Hester was the only other GB athlete in Team LGBTQ to medal, bringing home a bronze in team dressage.
There were so many inspirational moments and queer and quirky stories from Paris and we enjoyed documenting them all on Outsports.
But whether it’s criticism or commendation, the business of news and commentary on all aspects of being LGBTQ+ in sports continues, alongside the “Courage Is Contagious” slogan.
Also in November… Rainbow Laces is celebrated in the Women’s Super League and Championship, while the Premier League produces a powerful new interview with Southampton’s Aaron Ramsdale, talking about his gay brother Oliver; Brazilian journalist Julia Belas speaks on a panel to represent Sports Media LGBT+ at the D Word 5 conference, held at Stamford Bridge; Caz Simone and Valentine Pursey talk about anti-LGBTQ abuse and misgendering in women’s football on the FvH Podcast; the “Gay World Cup” is held in Argentina, with Stonewall FC champions – and FIFA supporting the IGLFA tournament…
December: ‘It’s time to try defying gravity, and you can’t pull me down…’
We ended the year by rolling with the football punches – the abuse around the Kerr-Mewis baby news, transphobia upon Barbra Banda’s BBC award (called out superbly by the Counter Pressed podcast team), the fallout from rainbow armbands and anthem jackets, and the selection of Saudi Arabia as hosts of the men’s FIFA World Cup in 2034.
But in a strange way, all of these challenges serve as an inspirational reminder of how far we’ve come.
October is marked as LGBT History Month in many countries of the world to acknowledge and commemorate the achievements and history of the LGBTQ+ community.
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Also in March… it’s awards season – Leon Imber wins the NCTJ student sports journalism prize, Laura Howard is the SJA Academy Award winner, and The Athletic’s Adam Crafton claims the big one – SJA Sportswriter of the Year; Emma Hayes makes controversial comments about “inappropriate” intrasquad player relationships – she later says she “let myself down”; pro beach volleyball teammates Tim Brewster and Kyle Friend are boyfriends; Sky Sports’ Becky Thompson talks to us about her experiences of being LGBTQ+ in sports media, for International Women’s Day…
April: ‘Getting to know you, getting to know all about you…’
It was back in August 2018 that Sports Media LGBT+ ran a Q&A with Jack Murley who had started a digital series on BBC Radio Jersey called ‘The Other Side’, sharing stories of LGBTQ+ people in sports.
A few months later, that series became ‘The BBC LGBT Sport Podcast’ and ran for an extraordinary 347 episodes, over five-and-a-half years, with guests ranging from Stephen Fry to the Richardson-Walshs, from Ellia Green to Jake Daniels, covering the grassroots to the elite.
Dora was arrested and sent for further tests, which resulted in their withdrawal from engaging in competitive sports. He went on to write a book called The David Kopay Story to document his experiences as a gay man in sports. These were the first Gay Games and were held in San Francisco, United States. It also highlights the struggles that people of the community have endured to protest for secure equal rights.
The first statement defined homophobia as sexual harassment that sport bodies are obligated to prevent due to the physical and mental harm it can cause to the athletes. This opened the doors for the trans community to participate and compete in Olympics as opposed to earlier, when they were required to go through humiliating tests to qualify for participation.
Italian media referred to the moment as a “hug,” likely in keeping with Italy’s somewhat conservative politics.
Out gay boxer Cindy Ngamba won the Refugee Olympic Team’s first-ever medal.
Beloved queer Team GB diver Tom Daley won his fifth Olympic gold medal in front of his husband and their two children in the men’s 10-meter platform synchronized diving event.
In 1938, they had also won a gold medal at the European Athletics Championship, which they had to return after being discovered as intersex.