Allison Jones, the athlete selected as the flagbearer for Team USA in tonight's Paralympic Opening Ceremony in Rio, is an out LGBT woman.
Jones is married to her wife, Sara Jarrell, which she proudly displays on her Facebook page. The two were married in 2014, according to her Team USA profile, and live together in Colorado Springs.
This will be Jones' eighth Paralympics, and it may be her last. She has already won eight Paralympic medals, including two golds. In the Winter Paralympic Games she competes as a skier.
"Being able to consider ending my Paralympic career with this honor is just amazing," Jones told U.S. Paralympics. "Only one person gets chosen out of almost 300 hundred athletes on the team. That enough people believed in me, my story and my legacy, it's just a real honor."
Look for Jones carrying the American flag tonight in the Opening Ceremony of the Paralympic Games in Rio. The competition runs from September 7-18. Outsports will cover the performances of the publicly out lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender athletes at the Games.