Love Champions: LGBTQ athletes who have something to celebrate

June 26 is the closest thing the LGBTQ community gets to its own national holiday in the United States.

It was 16 years ago that the U.S. Supreme Court voted 6-3 to overturn the “Homosexual Conduct Law” that criminalized gay sex, in Lawrence v. Texas. Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote that the rights of John Lawrence and Tyron Garner to “liberty under the Due Process Clause gives them the full right to engage in their conduct without intervention of the government.”

Six years ago, the Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, the discriminatory 1996 legislation signed into law by President Bill Clinton, in United States v. Windsor. Justice Kennedy again wrote the decision for the 5-4 majority, saying DOMA’s sole purpose was to impose a “disadvantage, a separate status, and so a stigma” on same-sex couples in violation of the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection. This decision directly impacted widow Edie Windsor who was charged $363K in federal taxes because of DOMA.

Obergefell v. Hodges was the Supreme Court case that made it illegal for any state to ban same-sex marriage. James Obergefell sued the director of Ohio’s Department of Health to have his marriage to the late John Arthur legally recognized. Once again, Justice Kennedy wrote the decision for the 5-4 majority, announced four years ago:

“The right to marry is a fundamental right inherent in the liberty of the person, and under the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment couples of the same-sex may not be deprived of that right and that liberty. The Court now holds that same-sex couples may exercise the fundamental right to marry. No longer may this liberty be denied to them.”

“Love Wins” said many of the headlines reporting this historic decision, and to commemorate the anniversary, we honor all the LGBTQ athletes who are truly Love Champions. They are American couples who are either already wed or engaged to be married, and out athletes from around the world, too.

Grid View

• UFC fighter Nina Ansaroff got engaged to UFC champion Amanda Nunes in August 2018. WMMA Rankings
• Jake Barreau wed Hunter Bishop on May 12, 2018. The Knot
• Anya Battablino and Madison Packer got engaged in Boston Public Garden in July 2018. Christine Hurley
• Phoenix Mercury guard DeWanna Bonner and Indiana Fever forward Candice Dupree wed on November 5, 2016. They are raising twin girls. Twitter
• Olympian Tom Bosworth, right, and Harry Dineley, plan to wed before the next Summer Olympics. Instagram
• Jen Rudolph and Katie Brenny (right) were married on September 30, 2017. Katie Brenny
• Bobbi Jo Lamar Brunson and her wife, Rebekkah Brunson, with their baby, Graham. Minnesota Lynx
• 400m National Champion Craig Burns and Luke Sullivan wed on January 9, 2018, the first day same-sex marriage was legal in Australia. ABC News: Michelle Rafferty
• Andres Bustani, left, stands with his husband, Adam Ziering, at New York City Pride in June 2017. They wed on December 27, 2016. Instagram
• Brazil’s rugby player Isadora Cerullo, right, kissed her partner Marjorie Enya, after getting engaged at the end of the medal ceremony for the women’s rugby sevens match at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Monday, Aug. 8, 2016. AP Photo/Themba Hadebe
• Connecticut Sun guard Layshia Clarendon wed Jessica Dolan in November 2018 at her alma mater, the University of California, Berkeley. Jessica Dolan
• Olympic swimmer Tom Daley wed Oscar-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black on May 6, 2017. They are raising a son, Robbie Ray Black-Daley. Instagram
• WNBA Mystics forward Elena Della Donne wed Amanda Clifton on November 3, 2017. Rebecca Yale Photography
• Olympic women’s hockey rivals Meghan Duggan (right) of Team USA and Gillian Apps (left) of Team Canada at their September 2018 wedding in Pownal, Maine. Instagram
• Jamie Duneier is married to lacrosse trailblazer turned UCLA scientist Andrew Goldstein. Courtesy Rodney Regala
• Pro bowler Liz Johnson wed Kasia Kaufman at their home outside Chicago on January 8, 2018. Facebook
• Wrestler and pro strongman Rob Kearney and Joey Aleixo tied the knot at Half Moon Bay Beach, Australia, on March 17, 2019. Instagram
• WNBA Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve, right, with her wife, Lynx team vice president Carley Knox, and their son Oliver, on the orange carpet. Aaron Lavinsky, Star Tribune
• Ali Krieger and Ashlyn Harris of USWNT are planning a December wedding following their engagement on Clearwater Beach, Fla., in September 2018. Instagram/ashlynharris24
• Competitive swimmer turned coach Abi Liu wed KR Liu on Maui’s Makena Beach on August 8, 2015. Abi Liu
• Olympian Greg Louganis married his partner, Johnny Chaillot, in Malibu, Calif. on Oct. 12, 2013, six months after becoming engaged. Photo by Myles David Jewell/Courtesy of Louganisdoc.com
• X Games gold medalist Stine Brun Kjeldaas and snowboarding legend Cheryl Maas have two children together, Lara and Mila. Photo by Espen Solli and NTB Scanpix
• Olympic medalist and Canadian goalkeeper Erin McLeod wed Houston Dash teammate Ella Masar July 6, 2015. Twitter Erin McLeod
• Retired Olympic gold medalist Diver Matthew Mitcham got engaged to Luke Rutherford in June 2019. Instagram Matthew Mitcham
• Team USA duathlon athlete Chris Mosier and his wife Zhen Heinemann wed in 2012. They met in college. Chris Mosier/Instagram
• Martina Navratilova married her long-term partner Julia Lemigova in New York on December 15, 2014. YouTube
• Pro Bowler Scott “Iceman” Norton and Craig Woodward were married Oct. 22, 2011, at the Surf & Sand Resort in Laguna Beach, Calif. Scott Norton via Windy City Times
• Pro wrestler Mike Parrow (right) is engaged to his fiancé Morgan Cole. Twitter Mike Parrow
• Former Univ. of Utah skier Ryan Quinn (right) and soccer player Chris Fajardo married in Los Angeles April 27, 2017. Ryan Quinn Facebook
• Olympic figure skaters Eric Radford and Luis Fenero plan to wed in July 2019. Twitter Eric Radford
• Former Dallas Cowboys linebacker Jeff Rohrer married Joshua Ross at the Wattles Mansion in Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles on November 18, 2018. Sondra C. Baker Instagram
• Soccer player Robbie Rogers and his longtime partner producer/director Greg Berlanti were married in December 2017 with their son Caleb.  Instagram Robbie Rogers
• Former rugby player Sam Stanley and Laurence Hicks were engaged in 2017.
• In May 2017, Phoenix Mercury guard Diana Taurasi wed Penny Taylor who works as the team’s director of player development. People Magazine photo by Melissa Jill Photography
• Chicago Star player Gabby Williams attended the Seattle wedding of her teammates Courtney Vandersloot and Allie Quigley in December 2018. Facebook
• Electra Viveros and her wife Angela Viveros coach boys basketball at La Quinta High School in La Quinta, Calif. and are moms to triplet boys Facebook
• Taylor Vanderlaan is a rugby player and activist for LGBTQ rights in Grand Rapids and the Michigan regional board member for You Can Play and is engaged to fellow Outsports athlete Brenden Moon. Taylor Vanderlaan
• Abby Wambach tied the knot with author Glennon Doyle in 2017. Instagram/@glennondoylemelton
• Oklahoma University pole vaulter Tanner Williams married his fiancé Scott Williams on June 19, 2014. Outsports File
• Olympic gold medalist field hockey players Kate and Helen Richardson-Walsh were married in 2013. Photographer Robert J. Wilson for The Times
• English cricketer Lynsey Askew, left, married Alex Blackwell, the Australian national cricket team’s vice-captain, in September 2015. Getty

Check out our video on Facebook, too, by clicking here or below:

We still would like to add more athletes to our gallery! Did we miss anyone? If you think so, tag us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and be sure to use the hashtag #LoveChampions or email us at outsports@gmail.com