All posts filed under: Sport

6 Queer Athletes Who are Totally Winning (Medals) at Rio 2016

Published by thequeerav

So it turns out the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics holds a record number of publicly out LGBTI athletes, approximately 50, depending on which publication you read. There’s no doubt this number will continue to grow in coming Olympic Games as the stigma of being LGBTI in sports and in life generally continues to decrease. In honour of this record number, we’ve decided to compile a list of all the queer athletes who are winning medals at Rio 2016, so far anyway! We’re sure there’s more to come! 1. Rafaela Silva (Brazil) – She defeated Mongolian Sumiya Dorjsuren to win gold in the judo 57kg weight division. 2. Carl Hester (Great Britain) – Won a silver medal in equestrian team dressage alongside Fiona Bigwood, Charlotte Dujardin and fellow out athlete Spencer Wilton. Germany won gold while the USA took bronze. 3. Spencer Wilton (Great Britain) – Won a silver medal in equestrian team dressage alongside Fiona Bigwood, Charlotte Dujardin and fellow out athlete Carl Hester. Germany won gold while the USA took bronze. 4. Rachele Bruni (Italy) – Won silver in …

Ian Thorpe: "I’m comfortable saying I’m a gay man"

Published by thequeerav

Ian Thorpe, former Australian Olympic swimmer, has come out as gay in an interview with Michael Parkinson. If you haven’t heard already, you’ve probably been living under a BIG GAY rock. “I’m comfortable saying I’m a gay man and I don’t want young people to feel the same way that I did,” said Thorpe, who also discussed his battle with depression and suicidal ideation. “You can grow up, you can be comfortable, and you can be gay.” Thorpe has been in the spot light from a young age, and has been asked about his sexuality right from the get go. “I concealed this and I think that I’ve held this as such a weight and there’s so much pain in this,” he said. “I had anger around this because I felt like I shouldn’t have been asked about it. If I wasn’t asked I feel as though I would have been much younger when I came out as being comfortable about this.” I think a lot of people would agree, coming out shouldn’t be this …

Australian Open: A Call for Margaret Court's name to be cut from Melbourne Park

Published by thequeerav

Gay activist Kerryn Phelps is pushing for tennis great Margaret Court’s name to be cut from Melbourne Park because of her continued opposition of homosexuality. Phelps proposed the name change to the Australian Open using twitter, along with other comments such as ” If Margaret Court didn’t want gay politics at the Aus Open she should not use her tennis fame to spread her offensive views.” Organisers of the Australian Open (an annual event due to commence next week) have released a statement, distancing themselves from the anti gay views of Court because of the pressure from a protest in the works. Gay activists are encouraging people to protest Court’s views at the arena by waving their rainbow flags in support of the LGBTQ community. Court, 24 grand slam singles champion, founder and current pastor at the Victory Life Centre church, Perth told The Australian that she won’t back down on her views and still plans to attend the tournament. “Are they not wanting me to come to the Australian Open? Is that what they are trying to do? I don’t run from anything,” Court told …