This list of out competitive/elite athletes and coaches/administrators was compiled by Outsports co-founder Jim Buzinski. The names come from a variety of sources including books, magazines, newspaper articles and personal knowledge.
To qualify, an athlete's sexual orientation has to be known in the public realm. If you know of anyone not on this list please send us an e-mail. Also, if you know of any links to photos or articles not listed please let us know. All links are active as of February 2005.
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A "New" designation means it is a new entry to our list, not that the athlete has necessarily just recently come out.
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New Graham Ackerman
Gymnastics
Ackerman won two NCAA titles in 2004 for the University of California at Berkley and came out in an interview with Instinct magazine. "A lot of people consider gymnastics one of the gay sports, but there isn't a ton of gay people that do it," Ackerman said. "I knew I had to be accepted for who I was, but at the same time, I didn't want to burn any bridges or cause any kind of weird dynamic."
In a 2005 interview with Ryan Quinn, an out cross-country skier, Ackerman said: ?In conversations that I have had with other gay athletes across the country, their team?s acceptance seems closely related to the setting of the school, and cannot be universally measured. In that respect, I do not think that athletics is much different than the rest of society.?
Article that mentions Ackerman
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Jenny Allard
Softball
Allard is the head softball coach at Harvard. Allard's team has won two consecutive Ivy League titles.
Read Allard's coaching bio
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New John Amaechi
Basketball
In 2007, Amaechi became the first ex-NBA player to come out.
"I am not a hero nor am I special in any regard," Amaechi told ESPN. "I am simply doing what a good person of conscience would do, which is making people aware that gay people don't just look like Jack from 'Will and Grace,' and that they don't want to jump your bones every occasion and that some are camp and some are butch and that we're different and we're useful and we are here."!
Amaechi comes out
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Camilla Andersen (Denmark), Mia Hundvin (Norway)
Handball
There are precious medals in the Andersen-Hundvin household. Gold for Camilla and bronze for Mia from the 2000 Sydney Games. These two go in as a single entry since they're legally married in Denmark. They became the first spouses to play each other in Olympic competition as Norway played Denmark in the first round of handball.
In the gold medal match against Hungary, Denmark, led by Andersen, roared back from six down to win the gold. In the bronze medal game Hundvin scored the game-winner as Norway beat Korea, 22-21.
Sports Illustrated, in perhaps a first- of- its- kind story in the magazine, ran a lengthy feature on the two, who are much-discussed celebrities in their countries. According to SI, Andersen, 27, had been the lover of handball legend Anja Anderson after they won the gold for Denmark in 1996. Hundvin, 23, had been named by one publication as Norway's sexiest woman. Their ``acquaintanceship,'' as SI dubbed it, blossomed into love last year.
Editor's note: We've been informed that Andersen and Hundvin have divorced and are no longer together as of August 2004. Hundvin has apparently moved in and had a child with Terje H￥konsen, a male Norwegian snowboarder. Those wacky Scandinavians.
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Eric Anderson
Track coach and researcher
Nicknamed ``Gumby,'' he is an openly gay track coach in Southern California. Wrote ``Trailblazing,'' an autobiographical account of his coming out as an openly gay high school cross country coach. Anderson has done extensive research into gay athletes. Married his partner Grant in San Francisco in March 2004.
Check out Coach Gumby's website
Outsports 2000 article on Gumby
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Alyson Annan, Carol Thate
Field Hockey
From Planet Field Hockey.com: ``Annan, voted the best female hockey player in the world in 1999, is sharing a house in Amsterdam with her lover, former Dutch hockey captain Carole Thate, who led her side to a bronze medal in Sydney.''
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Judith Arndt
Cycling
Arndt's sexuality became very public on the second day of competition in the 2004 Athens Games when she won the silver in the women's road race, then popped the finger to the German Cycling Federation as she crossed the finish line.
According to Deutsche Welle news service, "Arndt was disconsolate with her silver medal following the race, accusing the German Cycling Federation of squandering a chance to win gold by excluding her girlfriend, sprinter Petra Rossner, from the Olympic team. "Of course we're happy to have won the silver medal, but actually, we've lost the gold," Arndt said after the race. "If Petra Rossner had been nominated, we could've had the gold. She would've been our trump card, because she's the fastest."
Judith Pops the Finger in Athens
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Ann Bancroft
Polar explorer
In February 2001, Bancroft and Norwegian polar explorer Liv Arnesen become the first women in history to ski and sail across Antarctica?s landmass?completing a 94-day, 1,717-mile (2,747 km) trek.
In March 2004, Bancoft spoke at a rally denouncing an attempt to ban same-sex marriage in Minnesota. "Whatever your views are on same-sex marriage, using the Constitution to permanently treat one group of people differently -- to discriminate, in sense -- is just plain wrong," Bancroft said.
Read Bancroft?s bio
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Rich Barke
Swimming
Barke is a former NCAA Div. III Swimmer, Cross Country and Track Runner who earned his Masters of Science Degree in Sports Leadership at Virginia Commonwealth University.
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Lisa Bavington
Bodybuilding
From her website: Bodybuilding certainly chose me. Becoming an IFBB Pro was the inevitable result of an athlete with a combined background in Kinesiology/Gender Studies and a firm belief in the unlimited potential of the female physique. I?m currently working towards a future in Journalism, in the hopes of one day finding a way to inspire others to participate in, and contribute to, the continued success of some of the greatest female athletes of our time.
Bavington writes about her bodybuilding career
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Betty Baxter
Canadian national volleyball coach
Captain of the Canadian Olympic volleyball team in 1976. Head coach of the national program from 1979-81 when she was fired after months of speculation about her sexual orientation, according to the Toronto Globe and Mail.
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Billy Bean
Baseball
Played for the Tigers, Dodgers and Padres. Bean came out publicly, most notably in a Sept. 1999 front page article in the New York Times. Bean talks about how he hid his homosexuality while a player, including having a wife of nine years and playing the day his lover died. Bean and his partner live in Miami and Bean has become a high-profile spokesman for gay rights.
Read an excerpt from Bean's 2003 book
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Chris Bergland
Triathlon
How fit is Bergland? Consider this article from Ironmanlive: "Bergland has developed the mindset to not only perform well in Ironman competitions (he's completed 11 Ironmans, including four appearances in Hawaii), but to twice win the triple Ironman-length ultra competition (7.2 mile swim, 336 mile bike, and 78.6 mile run) put on by Odyssey Adventures, breaking the record in 2000 with a 38hr-46min effort. One month after this record -- that's right, one month -- Bergland finished the Hawaii Ironman in 10:41:38." Bergland also once ran on a treadmill for 24 hours.
Read about Bergland's training techniques
Bergland's website
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Mark Bingham
Rugby
To know Bingham was to know someone who embraced life to its fullest. He ran with the bulls at Pamplona and once tackled the Stanford mascot at halftime of the Cal-Stanford football game. Our Los Angeles flag football team played against his from San Francisco twice, and both times Mark was their best player; intensely competitive yet fair and a great sportsman, someone who would knock you down with a stiff-arm, then inquire as to what bar we were all going to that night.
A 6'5'', 230-pound rugby player at Cal, Mark was not someone who would sit idly by when there was action afoot. So it was not a surprise when it became apparent he was among a group of passengers who took down hijacked Flight 93 on Sept. 11, 2001, over the Western Pennsylvania countryside. The collective action is credited with preventing a larger loss of life had the plane crashed into government buildings in Washington.
Sen. John McCain delivered a eulogy at a service for Bingham, saying: ``"I very well may owe my life to Mark. "He supported me [in his presidential bid], and his support now ranks among one of the greatest honors of my life. ... I love my country, but I cannot say I love it more or as well as Mark Bingham or the other heroes on United Flight 93. I thank him with the only means I possess by being as good of an American as he was."
Bingham won the Fitzsimons Files 2001 person of the year award from journalist Peter FitzSimons, an Australian rugby writer.
Read a tribute to Bingham
Outsports coverage of Bingham and 9/11
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Geert Blanchart
Olympic speed skating
Belgian short-track national team member, Geert competed at Gay Games IV in 1994 and in Gay Games V in in-line skating.
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Carol Blazejowski
Basketball
A star as a player and voted the top women's college player of 1978. Now the general manager of the New York Liberty of the WNBA, Blazejowski acknowledges her sexuality but refuses to go much further. Newsday last year called her the first out team executive in sports. She was ``outed'' when the Liberty media guide mentioned that she lived with her partner, Joyce, and their two children. As Newsday said, ``"None of the players were informed of Blazejowksiﾴs decision beforehand. When they heard about the media guide, this historic moment was simply no big deal. All the players know Blazejowskiﾴs family. They are at every game. Her daughter, the cutest redﾭ haired kid in the Garden, usually finds her way onto the court to snuggle with Maddie, the floppyﾭ eared mascot." "Iﾴm glad she has the confidence and pride to say who she is," Liberty forward Sue Wicks told Newsday.
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Nat Brown
Cross-country skiing
Brown is a two-time Olympic coach in has amassed 7 World Championships and two medals in his competitive career. A resident of Seattle, Washington, Nat works as a ski technician and remains active in coaching.
Brown on the importance of being out
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Glenn Burke
Baseball
Burke played for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Oakland Athletics and is credited with popularizing the "high five" in 1977. Burke faced prejudice during his career for being gay. ``Being black and gay made me tougher,'' Burke said in a 1994 interview. Burke died of AIDS in 1995.
Burke: Hero with feet of clay
An essay on Burke
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Sean Burns
Tennis
From 1993 to 2002, Burns was the men?s tennis coach at Santa Clara University. He describes what it was like to come out in 2002: The real story of my coming out process at Santa Clara is that in the end there were no dramatic stories to tell: there was nothing to it. The guys on the team completely accepted me. Their knowledge of my sexuality did not undermine their confidence in me in the slightest. On the contrary, a number of them expressed their gratitude for my respecting and trusting them with such personal information. Our team went on to have our best season ever and at the end of the year I was even named West Coast Conference Coach of the Year.
Burns Tells How He Came Out
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Ryan Carrillo
Inline Skating
In an interview with Outsports, Carrillio said: ?Most of the guys are really homophobic. I intimidate some of them because I am not shy about my sexuality and I am completely confident.?
In an e-mail to Outsports in late 2004, Carrillo wrote about competing in the world championships: "This is to be my last competition. It is amazing that 14 year olds are doing the same tricks as me and I don't want to finish last in the next couple of years."
Outsports article on Carrillo
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Helen Carroll
Athletic diversity specialist, basketball coach
Carroll is blunt: ``If we didn't have lesbians in sports, we wouldn't have women sports," she said, adding that straight and gay women need to team up to fight a bigger battle: sexism in sports. `` I am currently the Coordinator for the Homophobia in Sport Project for the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) representing athletes, coaches, administrators and sport professionals who have been discriminated against in sport. We currently are working with an NCAA athlete and a professional athlete. Our toll free number is 1-800-528-6257 for anyone needing advice or help feeling they have been discriminated against. Our link is www.nclrights.org. My new e-mail is carroll@nclrights.org."
A profile of Carroll
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Mark Chatfield
Olympic swimming
An All-American at the University of Southern California, Chatfield swam in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. Once held the record in the 100-meter breaststroke. He has swam at meets of the International Gay and Lesbian Aquatics.
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Carin Clonda
Squash
Clonda has been out in the Australian squash world since the 1980s. She competed at the 2002 Gay Games.
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Greg Congdon
Football
Congdon played high school football in rural Pennsylvania. As ABC's 20/20 said: ``In 1998, in Pennsylvania, Greg's teammates discovered he was gay. He says they turned against him and harassed and threatened him. Fearing for his safety, Greg quit the team. He eventually dropped out of school.''
Congdon's profile from
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New Chad Conley
Figure skating
Conley (27 as of 2006) is a former novice and junior national Canadian medalist, who finished in the Top 10 at the senior level three times before quitting to skate in shows. "Over the last 5 years, I have noticed more straight guys in that
sport, particularly in pairs and dance," Conley said to Outsports. "Some people may think that is a shock, but being a figure skater doesn't hold the stigma
that myself and others felt 10 or 12 years ago."
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Robert Costello
Equestrian
From Costello: "I competed in the Sydney Olympic Games in the Equestrian Three-Day Event. I finished 8th in the individual competition. I wish this site existed when I was a teenager. It seemed like forever before I found any role models that showed me it was ok to be gay and be an aspiring international athlete as well. I continue to compete internationally, and hope to make another U.S. Olympic Team for Athens in 2004."
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Scott Cranham
Diving
Canadian diver holds 28 masters title in his country. Competed at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. Has competed at meets of the International Gay and Lesbian Aquatics.
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Mike Crosby
Water polo
Crosby, a Southern California native, played water polo for Harvard.
A profile of Crosby
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John Curry
Figure skating
Curry won the gold medal in men's figure skating at the 1976 Winter Olympics. According to skating historian Lorrie Kim "Curry confirmed that he was gay at a 1976 press conference, and the information was published in a German tabloid, although it was not discussed widely at the time. But about a year before his death from AIDS, Curry gave an interview in which he attempted to demystify homosexuality and AIDS for the public. He spoke openly about being gay and HIV-positive, and losing his entire circle of friends in New York to AIDS in the 1980s."
Read more about Curry
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John Damien
Horse Racing
This is from noted author Patricia Nell Warren ("The Frontrunner"): It was no surprise to me to hear of a gay jockey, because I had been active in the horse world and already knew that a number of jockeys and jumper riders and dressage riders were closeted gay or lesbian. Damien was fired from the Ontario Racing Commission in 1975 when the commission found out he was gay. It triggered a huge controversy that resonated even in the U.S. press, touching off an 11-year struggle for inclusion of sexual orientation in the Ontario Human Rights Code.
Finally, as I remember the story, he was forced to retire from riding. He became a racing steward, so he could stay near his beloved sport. He died not long ago. I never see his name mentioned in the U.S. today, but he was one of our athlete pioneers in North America.
John Damien's last ride
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Chris Dickerson
Bodybuilding
Dickerson won the Mr. Olympia title in 1982, emblematic of the world's top bodybuilder. He was master of ceremonies at the physique competition at Gay Games III in Vancouver in 1990. According to his website, "Dickerson studied music and is an accomplished opera singer."
Dickerson's official website
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Babe Didrikson Zaharias
Golf, track and field
There?s only one ?Babe? in each gender. Among men, it?s Babe Ruth. Among women, it?s Babe Didrikson Zaharias. Born in 1911, died in 1956, revered and reviled in her time, Babe was unique in sports. She was a striking, strong-willed, pushy, arrogant, funny, big-hearted and courageous Texas tomboy who revolutionized pro golf for women. She also medaled in track and field at the 1932 Olympics, and is said by some to be the most complete women athlete who ever lived.
Patricia Nell Warren on the Babe
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Dora Dome
Basketball
This bio comes courtesy of Helen Carroll, a sports pioneer in fighting homophobia in sports: Dome is one of the top 15 UCLA women basketball players of all time. She is a board member of the National Center for Lesbian Rights and appears on panels speaking on the effects of homophobia on people of color.
Dome is a licensed attorney.
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Robert Dover
Equestrian
We received this great e-mail from Robert in 2000:
``In Sydney I competed in my fifth 5th Olympics as an out, gay athlete from the sport of equestrian. I went on to win my third consecutive bronze medal from the last three games.
``Sydney was fantastic in every way and, interestingly, as the three teams stood on the podiums, I noted that the three males who won medals were all gay (two American and one Dutch). There was also at least one closeted lesbian. I can tell you that gays take part in the majority of sports. Both David Pichler and I were elected Team Captains for our sports and I sit on the Athletes Advisory Council to the USOC.''
He won a bronze medal as part of the U.S. squad in team dressage during the 2004 Athens Games.
A 2004 Outsports profile of Dover
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Nancy Drolet
Ice Hockey
Drolet, a player for Team Canada, came out in 2002. According the Xtra Magazine in Toronto: Drolet, 29, a six-time world champion and Olympic silver medalist, ?married? her long-time partner Nathalie Allaire in a civil union ceremony at the couple?s cottage in the Laurentians in Quebec in August. Drolet says it was a private affair for family and friends, but when a reporter from a local weekly newspaper showed up, she talked.
?He acted like it was the scoop of the century, but I?ve always been open and honest about my relationship with my family and friends,? says Drolet, who is Team Canada?s third all-time leading scorer but was a curious last-minute scratch from the 2002 Olympic roster. ?But this gave me an opportunity to clarify some false impressions.?
Why Drolet came out
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Michelle Dumaresque
Mountain Biking
This came into Outsports: My name is Karen Duthie and I am a filmmaker from Vancouver, British Columbia (BC), Canada. Michelle Dumaresque is a transgendered (male to female) mountain bike racer whose provincial downhil mountain biking race license was taken away from her when Cycling British Columbia found out she was not born a woman. Michelle took the case to the international level: the UCI (International Cycling Union - based in Switzerland). The UCI told her that she was allowed to race the downhill professionally, in the women's category.
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Andre Espaillat
Motorcycle racing
Espaillat, 47, lives in the Dallas, Texas, area and road-races motorcycles with Championship Cup Series and WERA motorcycle roadracing. He is a three-time regional racing champ.
We received this update from Andre:
I've retired from active competition for a number of
reasons. At 47, I'm basically getting too old to crash as I have before. With a list of 14 broken bones and a pair of shoulders that don't really work as originally intended, it just makes sense to back away from the asphalt a bit.
As you may recall, I was teaching WERA New Racer Schools for some time. I enjoyed this thoroughly and would have gladly done it again in 2003, however I was offered a position as Race Director for WERA's SouthCentral Region. Thus, I'll be the top onsite official at WERA races held in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Arkansas.
Espaillat in his own words
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Justin Fashanu
English professional soccer
As well as playing for Torquay and Nottingham Forest, he played for Brentford and Heart of Midilothian in the Scottish Premier League. Fashnau committed suicide in 1996.
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Rick Feeney
Curling
Feeney is a past Canadian Junior Champion and world silver medalist.
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Gigi Fernandez and Conchita Martinez
Tennis
Fernandez's relationship with onetime Wimbledon champion Martinez ``has long been an open secret on the woman's tour among other players,'' the Associated Press wrote in 1995. Fernandez retired in 1997. Martinez is still active. One source says he doesn't think the two have been together for years. In 2002, she was named head coach of the women's tennis team at the University of South Florida.
The Conchita Martinez photo gallery
The Gigi Fernandez photo gallery
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Rudy Galindo
Figure skating
The 1996 national men's skating champion. Galindo's autobiography is a compelling read with much more information about him, and is called "Icebreaker: the autobiography of Rudy Galindo." Published by Pocket Books in 1997, with an updated paperback version issued in 1998, it was written with Eric Marcus, who also co-authored Greg Louganis' Breaking the Surface. Icebreaker also is available in a Spanish edition. Galindo reveals he is HIV-positive in April 2000.
Rudy's official website
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Ed Gallagher
Football
From ESPN: Gallagher ``an offensive lineman for the University of Pittsburgh from 1977-79,jumps from a dam in 1985 12 days after his first sexual encounter with another man. He survives but is left a paraplegic. Gallagher says that before his suicide attempt, he had become unable to reconcile his image of himself as an athlete with gay urges. He later admits that the incident forced him to come to grips with his sexuality: "I was more emotionally paralyzed then, than I am physically now."
Gallagher, 48, founder of Alive to Thrive (alivetothrive.org/), died on May 4, 2005 of heart complications.
Profile of Gallagher
Gallagher's obit
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Ramona Gatto
Kickboxing
A nine-time champion, Gatto regularly spars with men heavier than she is. Gatto is very out and very proud, telling Lesbianation: ``I?m so proud that I?m able to help change people?s perspectives on gays and lesbians. I used to be unnerved and unsure about how [my sexuality] would come across. Now I don?t think about it?it?s just who I am."
Gatto tells Outsports: ``I have a daughter, Marina, who I have raised myself. Marina and I are both very involved in the gay and lesbian community. Marina belongs to COLAGE (Children Of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere) and lectures all over Northern California about the wonderful life she has had as a child of an alternative family. We march every year in the San Francisco Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade. We have been featured on television specials on Sportschannel and ESPN among others. I have traveled to various countries to defend my world titles, including Moscow, where I defended and won another world title against the Russian national champion in front of 30,000 people at the Moscow Olympic Stadium. I am most often referred to by my ring name and professional reputation, "Kickboxing's Bad Girl."
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Missy Giove
Mountain Biking
An out and proud lesbian, Giove, 28, has been called the Michael Jordan of her sport and has won world mountain biking championships. She also has competed on ESPN's X-games. In 1997 she shocked the lesbian world by declaring she had fallen in love with an older man. Anybody know what Missy's into these days?
We received this from a reader in November 2000: "I attended a Halloween dance in Durango (Colorado) this past October. Missy was there with longtime girlfriend Kristen Wilson. She must have gone through short term confusion in regards to relationship with 'the older man.' She is very happy and very lesbian.''
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Billy Glover
Cross-country running
Glover, 24, ran cross-country for Eastern Oregon and then Portland State University. His coach at Portland State tried to keep him off the team, but Glover persisted. He told his coming out story in a terrific column for Outsports.
Glover's account of coming out
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Andrew Goldstein
Lacrosse
In an article in 2004, the Dartmouth College lacross goalie said: "When I considered coming out to everyone, close friends reminded me that I had an obligation to be a positive role model for gay people who are struggling with their identity, especially in sports. This wasn?t the reason for me, though. I am an athlete. I have always been an athlete. I just wanted a chance to go out there and play the sport that I love without having to hide my sexuality from my teammates who are most of my closest friends.
Goldstein's column on coming out
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Jordan Goldwarg
Cross-country skiing
Goldwarg, 22, grew up in Montreal and competed in Williams College in Massachusetts on the men's Nordic ski team. He majored in History and Environmental Studies. In a letter to Outsports, he wrote: "Before I came out, I sometimes didn't even realize that I was hiding something from my team, but now I see how liberating it is to be totally open and honest with people. Sometimes when I'm out training with the team, I can't help but smile when I think about the fact that they all know who I really am."
Read Jordan?s excellent piece on coming out
Jordan seeks fellow collegiate jocks
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Jim Graham
Equestrian
Graham is a United States Equestrian Team 3-Day Event Rider, having represented the U.S. in the 1994 World Equestrian Games in de Hague, Netherlands. He is currently a selector for the United States Equestrian Team and was responsible for helping select the 2000 team in Sydney.
Graham's website
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Pat Griffin
Coach, author, educator
Griffin played basketball and field hockey at the University of Maryland and coached at the high school level. She is also a prolific author on issues of sexism and homophobia in sports. From her bio: Griffin is a professor in Social Justice Education at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She leads classes and workshops on sexism, racism, ableism, heterosexism/homophobia, and other forms of social injustice in education. Her research and writing interests focus on heterosexism and homophobia in education, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender teachers and students, and heterosexism and homophobia in athletics, with a particular interest in women's sports. Dr. Griffin has written a book entitled, Strong Women, Deep Closets: Lesbian and Homophobia in Sports, published by Human Kinetics, 1998. She is also co-editor of Teaching For Diversity and Social Justice: A Sourcebook for Teachers and Trainers, Routledge, 1997.
Griffin's home page
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Gina Guidi
Boxing
Gudi is a talented boxer who is totally out. As her partner Diane Butler told Curve Magazine: "People accept Gina as a boxer, not as a woman boxer, and our relationship is accepted as well. She tends to break all the stereotypes."
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Matthew Hall
Figure skating
Hall, a Canadian, came out in 1992 as an active competitor. Won gold medal at Gay Games IV in 1994.
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Matthew Hall
Australian Rules Football, amateur
Hall came out as gay in an interview with Blue magazine in Australia. He made headlines Down Under in 1998 when he sued after being barred from playing Aussie Rules football because he was HIV-positive. He was diagnosed in 1996. His claim for compensation was denied because he was an amateur. However, the team he sued was "ordered to immediately register him as a player and implement educational programs about HIV and AIDS in contact sports."
Hall played again in 2000, his first game since 1994. He was in the game only 10 minutes when he took himself out after he started bleeding from a scratched face. He also cracked a rib during the game. Despite it all, Hall said he was well treated by the other players. "I wasn't treated any differently to my teammates by the opposition," Hall said.
Hall's case raised awareness of athletes with HIV being allowed to play contact sports. As columnist Andrew Bolt wrote last year in the Herald-Sun: "The fact is that not a single athlete in any sport in the entire world is known to have contracted HIV - or any other blood-borne disease - through injuries on the sporting field. Not one. Just driving to the ground is far more dangerous. So is playing in a storm, being tackled, running around in the ... humidity or wearing a Carlton [jersey] in front of Collingwood fans."
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Bruce Hayes
Swimming
Olympic gold medallist in 1984 and spokes-model for Gay Games IV in his hometown on New York, Hayes has long been a fixture on the gay swimming scene and has set several Masters swimming records.
Hayes featured as an openly gay man in beer ad
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Carl Hester
Equestrian
Hester competed in the 2004 Athens Games, and this is from his official bio: He has been described as 'bringing dressage to the people' by making everyday riders believe they too can achieve success in a sport which has been traditionally seen as the exclusive domain of the privileged. He has achieved 'pin up' status with horse-loving teenagers which has made him the biggest name in British dressage today.
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Tyler Hoffman
Professional Baseball Umpire
professional baseball umpire for five years, Hoffman left the game and came out of the closet in 2002. In a first-person article for the Advocate, he wrote: "Nothing could have prepared me for the lifestyle of professional baseball. Professional umpiring, like your local police force, has a paramilitary structure with a definite code of conduct as well as an ego-based pecking order. To get ahead, it?s imperative to assimilate and be accepted. I know many straight guys who changed their personalities and values for a shot at the big time. An openly gay guy wouldn?t have had a chance."
Tyler's first-person account
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Andrew Holder
Swimming
Holder swam for Lewis and Clark College in Oregon. In 2000, he wrote the following to the NCAA: "Collegiate and professional athletics remain unsafe and unwelcoming for many gay and lesbian athletes: the locker rooms and playing fields of team sports are littered with homophobic rhetoric and a pervasive "don't ask don't tell" atmosphere. As a result, gay and lesbian student-athletes are encouraged to cloister their true selves, many hiding in shame and self-contempt from their coaches and teammates."
Holder's letter to the NCAA
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Drew Holland
Rowing
Holland rowed for George Washington University and came out in an April 2, 2002 letter to the Advocate.
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Savoy Howe
Boxing
Pioneer in women's boxing. The Canadian said her appearance in a 1993 documentary about gay athletes, "was probably the best thing that ever happened to me. I had no choice, I'd outed myself and people had to deal with it."
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Helen Hull Jacobs
Tennis
Won nine Grand Slam titles in the late 1920s and '30s. ``When she dies in 1997 at the age of 88, her obituary lists her longtime female companion, Virginia Gurnee, as her survivor,'' The Advocate reports.
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Ryan Hunka
Figure skating
Hunka was the 1992 US Junior Men's Champion. He also skated at the 1998 Gay Games.
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Billy Innes
Stock Car Racing
Innes, 38, competes in Canada's top Stock Car Racing Series " CASCAR (Canadian Association of Stock Car Auto Racing).
Innes' website
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Billie Jean King
Tennis
One of the greatest tennis players of all-time. King is a seven-time Wimbledon singles champion and four-time U.S. Open champion. The Billie Jean King Tennis Center in Long Beach, Calif., honors the hometown hero.
BJK remembers life as an outsider
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Patrick Jeffrey
Diving
Openly gay, Jeffrey competed in the 1988 and 1996 Summer Olympics. Named Florida State's head diving coach in 1999.
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Corey Johnson
Football
Johnson, while not considered an elite athlete, has inspired many with his story of coming out as an openly gay high school football captain. You can read his story on Outsports.
Corey's inspiring story
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Rosie Jones
Golf
Jones came out publicly in March 2004, when she signed a sponsorship agreement with Olivia, a lesbian travel service. ?Inherent in this sponsorship is my coming out. It's a bit of a curiosity, because I've never been in the closet,? Jones wrote in the New York Times. ?For more than 25 years, I've been very comfortable with the fact that I'm gay. I came out to my family when I was 19, and my friends and associates on the Tour are all aware that I am gay. I have never, until now, felt the need to discuss it in the news media. I have reached a point in my life, at age 44, when I have the financial stability and emotional and intellectual wherewithal to make this leap.?
Golfer Jones comes out publicly
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Charles Jones
Boxing
From the BBC: Forget the Dark Destroyer, the Hitman and the Real Deal, there's a new kid in town. Step forward the Pink Pounder, billed as Britain's first out and proud gay boxer. It's not a nickname that would strike fear into the hearts of seasoned pros, but Charles Jones insists he will be no pushover.
"I'm not a gay man who happens to box," he told London's Evening Standard newspaper. "I'm a boxer who happens to be gay and doesn't give a toss who knows it."
Jones, 44, first fought in a tournament designed for white-collar workers who wanted to let off some steam. ?Each bout of three, two-minute rounds was tightly supervised with a referee ensuring a fair fight,? the Evening Standard said.
BBC story on Jones
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Johan Kenkhuis
Swimming
This Dutch swimmer came out in 2004, and won a silver in the men's 4x100 freestyle relay at the Athens Summer Games for the Netherlands.
Kenkhuis comes out of the pool
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Pirinya Kiatbusaba
Kickboxing
From Asia Week magazine in 1999: "With a string of victories to his name, the 18-year-old Thai transvestite had shown his taunters that you can have a fondness for lipstick and nail varnish and still survive in the brutal world of kickboxing." Pirinya underwent a sex-change operation at the end of 1999. "I am so happy," she said. "Unlike before, I can say with confidence that I am a woman,"
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David Kopay
Football
His book "The David Kopay Story: An extraordinary self-revelation'' has long inspired gays who struggle with their sexuality. Kopay played pro football for the 49ers, Lions, Redskins, Saints and Packers from 1964-72 and came out in 1975. He still is active as a speaker and lives in Los Angeles.
Kopay is still going strong
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Alex Kostich
Swimming
Kostich is an accomplished swimmer and openly gay. In September 2002, Kostich won the 33rd annual Waikiki Roughwater Swim (2.4 miles) on Labor Day and a week later, the 72nd annual La Jolla, Calif., Roughwater Swim (3 miles). These are the two biggest and most prestigious open water races in the country, and Kostich, 32, became the first man to win them back to back the same year.
After the Waikiki swim, Kostich, a creative advertising executive for Warner Brothers Studio in Burbank, told the Honolulu Star-Bulletin:
"I was hoping to see turtles because everyone always asks what I saw. They don't care about my time. They care about the sea life. I'm happy to report I didn't see any jellyfish. My mother was concerned. She had heard about them all the way back in Boston."
Kostich also holds several Masters records and is a three-time gold medalist at the Pan-Am Games. He lives in Burbank, Calif.
Kostich's swimming history
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Nicole LaViolette
Cycling
LaViolette, an accomplished competitive cyclist, is an assistant professor of law at the University of Ottawa.
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Mark Leduc
Boxing
Won the silver medal for Canada at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona.
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Ilana Lobet
Cycling
An acomplished cyclist, Lobet was featured as part of a gay and lesbian team in the ECO Challenge endurance event in Fiji.
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Dave Lohse
College athletics administrator
Since 1977, Lohse has worked as the associate athletic communications director at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to that he worked as a student assistant in the athletic communications office at Purdue University while an undergraduate.
Lohse: It's time to come out
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Greg Louganis
Diving
Won four gold medals in diving at the 1984 and '88 Olympic Games. Publically came out in 1994 at Gay Games IV where he served as a spokesman. Wrote best-seller "Breaking the Surface'' in 1995.
Louganis' website
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Margo Machen
Sled-dog mushing, multisport athlete
Machen was a track and field standout at Michigan State. She has since become a sled-dog musher and has competed in ultra-adventure races like the Ecco Challenge.
Machen's website
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Mary Margaret Towey
Track and field
Towey, from Oberlin, Ohio, was the 2002 national champion in the shot put and javelin in Masters track, women over 50. She was runnerup in the discus and hammer. She was the 2001 National Champion in the women's masters over 50 for shot put and hammer, and runnerup in the discus.
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Brian Marshall
Track and field
Marshall's career highlights:-
1988 Canadian Olympic Team (Seoul)
- Pac-10 Championship meet record holder
- NCAA All-American in 1986 and 1988
- Pac-10 Champion in 1986 and 1988
- Standford school record-holder at 7'6"
- Overall winner of the Gay Games decathalon in 1990
- Came out publically in Canada in 1993 by
accompanying Svend Robinson (openly gay Member of
Parliament) to the Governor General's Ball for the
newly elected federal government.
Marshall now lives in Los Angeles.
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Doug Mattis
Figure skating
Mattis came out in 1996 shortly after national champion Rudy Galindo.
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Amelie Mauresmo
Tennis
This French tennis player is out and proud. After a tournament win in 1999, Mauresmo talked about how comforting it was to look up in the stands and see her girlfriend, Sylvie Bourdon, 31. "Looking up at Sylvie during the match was that little extra support that I needed," Mauresmo was quoted in USA Today. "Finding Sylvie and having such a good personal life now has made the difference in my tennis. It had been the missing part of my life."
A Mauresmo fan page
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Ryan Miller
Snowboarding
Miller is a professional snowboarder, originally from Pennsylvania. As he writes on his Web site: ``2000/2001 was also the season that I decided to come "out" as a snowboarder. In the past, I had kept my sexuality a secret, fearing retaliation/repercussions from the industry and competitors. The industry is in some ways still very much tied to old world Europe and the competitors are not always the most open to diversity, just as the rest of society is not always accepting.''
Profile of Miller
Miller's website
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Jen Moore
Softball
Moore is an out and proud athlete for the University of Pennsylvania (she graduated in 2002). As she wrote to Outsports in January 2002: ``It is important that we make this world easier to live in for future generations. We have a legacy we have to carry on; the courage of past queer individuals clearly has had an influence on all of our lives . . . and we need to carry on that tradition."
Moore's coming-out story
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Chris Morgan
Powerlifting
Morgan, 31, competes for England in Elite Powerlifting.
He is currently ranked No 2. in the World in Drug Free Powerlifting No.2 in Britain and No.1 in London in powerlifting.
He started lifting in 1998, just before Gay Games Amsterdam and is very proud to be a direct product of Gay Games. He?s completely open and unapologetic about his sexuality and loves breaking stereotypes through lifting heavy weight. He is a Silver Medalist at World and British Championship level. He is a champion at Divisional level in Britain and has coached the British Bench press team at both European and World Championships.
He has Gold from the 2002 Sydney Gay Games in the 75-kilo class (165 pounds), and performed the largest Squat and Deadlift on percentage to bodyweight in the competition.
Chris? personal record lifts, as of the end 2004, are Squat 237.5 kilo, Bench Press 115 kilo and Deadlift 252.5 kilo.
He is an Ambassador to the Federation of Gay Games and Chicago 2006.
Making it in a man's world
Chris' website
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Mike Muska
College athletic director
Muska was the athletic director at Oberlin (Ohio) College until resigning in 2002. He is now Assistant Headmaster and Director of College Counseling at Poly Prep Country Day School in Brooklyn. He still lectures and does workshops addressing issues of homophobia in sport at both colleges and high schools, and helped write "It Takes a Team" for the Women's Sports Foundation with Pat Griffith and Laurie Priest.
He also serves as Meet Director for the Ivy League Track Championships in cross country, indoor and outdoor track and counsel numerous student-athletes in the coming out process.
ESPN chat session with Muska
Reflections of a gay athletic director
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Martina Navratilova
Tennis
Navratilova has won more professional tennis matches than any other player, male or female, and is still active on the professional doubles circle. Notable for having been out most of her professional career.
Salon profile of Navratilova
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New Jack Nelson
Cross-country skiing
Nelson skis for the Williams College nordic team in Massachusetts. ?I knew there would be no bad reaction,? said Nelson, whose coach, Jordan Goldwarg, is openly gay and came out on the Williams team two years ago. Nevertheless, Nelson described the time leading up to his coming out as ?stressful? and he put off telling his teammates until a training camp over Christmas.
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Rob Newton
Track and field
Newton was a hurdler for Great Britain during the 2004 Athens Games; he did not medal. In a pre-Olympic interview he told Instinct magazine, ?I don?t know any other gay athletes, if there are any.? And he decried the very closeted nature of sports, attributing it to ?stigma. It?s 2004, for God?s sake. I?m not treated differently, so other athletes should see me as an inspiration.?
In an interview with gay.com at the 2004 Olympics, Newton said: "There are a few athletes who I think are a bit homophobic. They don?t really express their feelings to me, I think they chat behind my back. But I'm not really bothered to be honest with you."
Read an Interview With Newton
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Diana Nyad
Long-distance swimmer
Longtime television and National Public Radio commentator, Nyad in 1979 swam 102.5 miles from Florida to the Bahamas, setting a record that still stands. A quote: ``I am willing to put myself through anything; temporary pain or discomfort means nothing to me as long as I can see that the experience will take me to a new level. I am interested in the unknown, and the only path to the unknown is through breaking barriers, an often-painful process.''
Bio of Nyad
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Brian Orser
Figure skating
From ESPN: "Orser, former world figure skating champion and two-time Canadian Olympic silver medallist, is revealed in 1998 as gay in an palimony suit filed by an ex-boyfriend. In an affidavit in which he argued to keep the suit's documents sealed, Orser says, "Other skaters, both Canadian and American, guard their gayness closely because of the likely impact of public disclosure on their careers."
Orser's website
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Dave Pallone
Major League Baseball umpire
Fired in 1988 for alleged involvement in a teenage sex ring, charges that were proved to be groundless. Pallone said the real reason he was fired was for being gay. Wrote ``Behind the Mask,'' his story of life as an umpire.
Profile of Pallone
Pallone's website
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Bob Paris
Bodybuilding
Mr. Universe contest winner, author of several books. Had celebrated and very public relationship with Rod Jackson. The two have since broken up.
Paris' bodybuilding career
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Pat Patterson
Professional Wrestling
Yeah, we know pro wrestling is entertainment, but we'll take openly gay people where we can get them. We found numerous references to Patterson being out.
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Jon Pauole
Swimming, Triathlon
Hall of Fame inductee at the University of Alaska at Anchoragem which said: ?Jon Pauole established himself as the greatest swimmer in UAA history. The Seawolves? only four-year All-American, he garnered 14 total certificates, including an amazing seven in his senior campaign. The Hilo, Hawaii, native set five individual school records and was a member of three school-record relay teams. Pauole was a classroom success as well, earning the swim team?s highest grade point average all four years.?
Since leaving college, Pauole has excelled in the triathlon. He competed in Ironman World Championships (2.4 miles Swim/ 112 mile Bike/ 26.2 miles Run) in Hawaii in 2000, 2001, and 2002. At the 2002 Gay Games in Sydney, he won the Sprint Triathlon, got four silver medals in swimming and a bronze in the marathon. He lives in Seattle.
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David Pichler
Diving
Openly gay, Pichler competed in the 1992, 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympics. Competing in his final Olympics in Sydney, the 34-year-old from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., had an uneven competition. In his individual event Pichler finished ninth in the 10-meter platform. In two synchronized events he and Troy Dumais finished just two points from a bronze medal in the 3-meter springboard; while he and Mark Ruiz were a disappointing seventh in the 10-meter platform.
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LisaAnne Pleban
Basketball coach
Pleban is head women?s basketball coach at Skidmore College in upstate New York. Prior to Skidmore, Pleban taught and coached at Montclair State where she led that program to a 15-11 record and second-round appearance in the ECAC Championships. Before her stint at Montclair State, she served as head coach at Eastern College and Adelphi University, where both of her teams set program win records.
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Laurie Priest
NCAA Athletic Director at Mt. Holyoke College
Is active in combating homophobia in sport by joining NCAA committees to address the topic, participating in panels and being a strong student-athlete advocate. Laurie is one of the authors of the Women's Sports Foundation's Educational Kit: IT TAKES A TEAM: Making Sports Safe for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Athletes and Coaches.
Homophoia in sports
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Peter Prijdekker
Swimming
Dutch swimmer, competed at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. At Gay Games V in Amsterdam in 1998 set a European masters record at age 50 in men's freestyle. Also set two Masters marks in his age group at Gay Games IV in New York in 1994. Has swam at meets of the International Gay and Lesbian Aquatics.
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Ryan Quinn
Nordic skiing
The Alaskan native skied for the University of Utah. Earned all-America status for five consecutive years at Junior Nationals and raced in Sweden with Junior Olympic Team in 1999. He was also a member of the National Honor Society.
Quinn wrote a compelling article for Outsports on coming out (click on link).
Coming out earns team's respect
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Kelly Robbins
Golf
The American has been involved in a relationship with Australian golfer Karrie Webb. We?re not sure if they?re still together. Webb has gone to great pains to keep her private life private. A story in the Australian illustrates this: ?When a Sports Illustrated journalist arrived at Webb's home ? for an interview, unaware it had been rescheduled, he found Robbins in the house. Webb became incensed even though the reporter assured her he had no intention of writing about the relationship.? On the course, Robbins last won an LPGA event in 1999.
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Ian Roberts
Rugby
A star in the ultra-macho rugby league world in Australia, Roberts has been out since 1991. He retired in 1999. At one point he was the highest-paid rugby league player in the world. Roberts told an interviewer in 1996: "I take offense at the old locker room argument which assumes a man cannot, in any circumstances, control his urges. Any self-respecting human being can respect the rights and ways of another human being. The idea, then, that gays can convert, or want, heterosexual guys, is ludicrous. We want to play the game, not the field."
Tribute to Roberts
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Craig Rogerson
Diving
Australian diver finished 12th in the 10-meter event at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.
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Lauren Ruffin
Basketball
Ruffin was a three-year varsity starter for Mount Holyoke College. In 2002 before the NCAA, she discussed necessary steps needed to create an environment that is tolerant of diverse sexual orientations from a lesbian student-athlete perspective.
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Gunther Seidel
Equestrian
Seidel is an openly gay rider who competed in the Athens '04 Summer Games. He won a bronze medal as part of the U.S. squad in team dressage.
Profile of gay equestrian athletes
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Patty Sheehan
Golf
Hall of Famer on the LPGA tour with 35 victories, Sheehan came out in a 1998 Golf World column when she detailed the adoption of her daughter with her partner, Rebecca Gaston.
"I didn't really know how well others would deal with the idea of Bryce having two moms, but I've decided if they have a problem with it, it's their problem, not mine," Sheehan wrote in the column. "There are too many children in this world who don't have an equal chance in life and who aren't loved to worry about what other people think. We have the means to provide Bryce with a comfortable upbringing and, more importantly, we have the desire to be loving and devoted mothers....Bryce knows that she's loved and wanted now."
"I think there are a lot of men and women like me-people who spent much of their 20s and 30s devoting themselves to their careers, and put off starting a family until their 40s. After years of believing we would make ideal parents-and having many of our friends and family tell us the same thing-it's been wonderful to finally take on this new challenge."
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Roy Simmons
Football
Played as an offensive lineman for the New York Giants and Washington Redskins from 1979-83. He resurfaced in a 2004 New York Times article (link below).
Simmons breaks his silence
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Jimmy Sjodin
Diving
Sjodin was an Olympic diver for Sweden in 1996. He now lives in New York and is in the fashion industry.
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Dwight Slater
Football
Slater played on the Stanford football team but left after coming out.
Slater's story
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David Slattery
Football
Slattery was the general manager of the NFL's Washington Redskins in the early 1970s and came out in 1993.
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Jerry Smith
Football
Star tight end for the Washington Redskins from 1965-77. Caught 421 passes in his career and scored 60 touchdowns. Never publicly acknowledged he was gay. In 2002, Smith was voted one of the 70 greatest Redskins. Died of AIDS in 1987.
David Kopay talks about Smith
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