Friday, February 12, 2010

It’s Winter Olympics Time. Do You Know Where the LGBT Olympians Are?

Well, of course they are in Vancouver, B.C. preparing for the competition. Thanks to the research of women at AfterEllen, we know that there are at least four openly lesbian Olympians competing. Heather Hogan wrote this article about them with some great photos.

The lesbian athletes she identified are:

• Ireen Wüst, Dutch speed skater
• Vibeke Skofterud, Norwegian cross-country skier
• Sarah Vaillancourt, Canadian hockey player (who also skated at Harvard University)
• Erika Holst, Swedish hockey player

I don’t know if there are any gay men competing. U.S. figure skater, Johnny Weir, describes himself, “I don't feel the need to express my sexual being because it's not part of my sport and it's private. I can sleep with whomever I choose and it doesn't affect what I'm doing on the ice, so speculation is speculation." He also says, “I am who I am, and I don't need to justify anything to anyone." So, let’s just say for now that Johnny, whether gay or not, skates gay with his sequins, sparkles, and fabulous exhibition skate to Lady Gaga’s Poker Face.

I don't know if there are any transgender athletes competing either.

Five thousand plus Olympians and four confirmed publicly out athletes among them. I wish it were more, but there it is. I hope in a couple of weeks we will be celebrating some gay medal winners. I will keep you posted. Let the game begin.

2 comments:

Kelly Garrett said...

Wust won a gold! :)

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