Month: July 2011

Sheryl Swoopes, who came out as a lesbian to much fanfare in 2005, is now engaged to marry a man. Mechelle Voepel of ESPN uncovers the news and says she first learned of Swoopes’ new relationship status last autumn. She writes in a recent piece on Swoopes turning 40: Yet when Swoopes’ agent mentioned to […]

Part of Outsports’ series on our 100 most important moments in gay sports history. Kickboxing, 1998. Thailand is well-known for its “lady boys,” but when one of them starts beating bigger men in the Kickboxing ring…even in Thailand it causes a stir. That’s what happened when Nong Toom stepped foot in the ring for the […]

GLSEN’S Sports Project, which launched earlier this year, got some amazing news when their San Diego chapter announced the San Diego Padres have signed the group’s Team Respect Challenge. In the pledge, created by project director Pat Griffin, the team promises to avoid slurs, remind teammates who use bullying language that it’s “not ok,” and […]

Portland State basketball coach Sherri Murrell When you get Pat Griffin, Lisa Howe, Lauren Lappin, Sherri Murrell and Mechelle Voepel together to discuss the problems facing lesbians in sports, you know the subject will be addressed with honesty, great insight and clarity. The five were on the "Rainbow Ceiling" panel recently sponsored by the Association […]

Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker says he meant no offense when he called NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell a “faggot” (among other things), saying it was a “careless use of a slang word.” I also need to make clear that the comment about Roger Goodell was not intended to be derogatory against gay people in any way. It […]

Part of Outsports’ series on our 100 most important moments in gay sports history. Various sports, 2008. While the rights of transgender athletes to play sports has been fought over in courts and board rooms for nearly four decades, it wasn't until April 2007 that any state high school sports association adopted any policy opening […]

Pittsburgh Steeler James Harrison, who should be up for an ESPY tonight for “jerk of the year,” has already submitted his application for a repeat performance in 2011 by calling NFL commissioner Roger Goodell the “devil” and using a gay slur directed his way. (I’ve tried to find which gay slur, but I haven’t seen […]

Add Alexis Palisson to the list of gay-friendly rugby players. The 23-year-old French star poses for the July-August cover of the gay magazine TETU. There is also a making of video (below) that is typically French in its bizarreness. The article is in French, but an online translation finds Palisson being cool with gay fans […]

While a good portion of the thousands of comments across the Internet about Michael Irvin’s appearance in Out magazine are hateful, most have been positive and supportive. “Michael Irvin” is a top-5 trending term on Twitter today as thousands of people have taken to the site to share their thoughts. Among them some of the […]

Michael Irvin opened up for the first time about his gay brother, Vaughn, and his love for his brother and Christianity.

Part of Outsports’ series on our 100 most important moments in gay sports history. Equestrian, 2000: Robert Dover competed in six consecutive Olympics and holds a slew of riding titles. In 2000, at the Sydney Olympics, he captained the U.S. equestrian team and helped it win a team bronze, his third straight bronze medal. He […]

Part of Outsports’ series on our 100 most important moments in gay sports history. Sports, 1998: Michael Muska remembers how he was less than thrilled by being inadvertently outed by the Chronicle of Higher Education. As he wrote in 2000: A Chronicle reporter had been talking to a former Oberlin College employee and had been […]

Pat Griffin has been an athlete, a coach, an advocate and an author.

David Pichler Part of Outsports’ series on our 100 most important moments in gay sports history. Diving 1996, 2000: Greg Louganis is by far the most famous openly gay Olympic diver, but David Pichler and Pattick Jeffrey also take their place in gay sports history. Pichler came out in 1996 and competed in the Atlanta […]

Buster Posey The Major League Baseball All-Stars have been announced so that means if you wear Yankee pinstripes then you are going to the game whether you deserve it or not. More importantly, the All-Star game marks the halfway point of the season so what better time to evaluate the league and highlight some of […]

Last year we ran the story of Akil Patterson, the former University of Maryland football player who is now an elite-level Greco-Roman wrestler. Today his hometown paper, the Baltimore Sun, ran a terrific front page story in sports recounting how Patterson substance abuse and anger issues were related to him dealing with his sexuality. What […]

Chicago White Sox second baseman Gordon Beckham is the latest to catch some heat after calling someone gay. It was during a game against the Kansas City Royals last week and Beckham inexplicably scrawled in the dirt: GETZ IS GAY! GB. The message referred to former teammate Chris Getz, who is now with the Royals. […]

Muffin Spencer-Devlin was a three-time tournament winner with the LPGA Tour.

Reacting to criticism for calling a listener to a radio show a “gay-ass faggot,” Philadelphia Eagles receiver DeSean Jackson says he’s sorry. His statement, via NFL.com: “In a recent radio interview a caller got really confrontational with me,” Jackson said through a spokesman. “I got very heated with the caller, took it a bit too […]

Part of Outsports’ series on our 100 most important moments in gay sports history. Figure skating 1996: Prior to the U.S. figure skating championships in 1996, Rudy Galindo had a rough few years. His father died of heart attack, and a brother and a coach died of AIDS. Galindo was himself openly gay (rare in […]