With so much attention on gay-sports issues over the last couple months we at Outsports have started looking at everything that came before it. In our humble opinion, not enough people know the rich history of the gay sports movement that started 40 years ago.
To help fix that we’re compiling a list of the most important moments in gay-sports history, and we want your help. What do you think have been the most important moments in this movement? We’re not just looking for issues like “negative recruiting in women’s sports,” but rather moments that have helped define the movement. These can include moments from the entire LGBT community. While we could spend hours debating how someone like Bill Tilden can be included in the list, we are looking at moments that happened after the Stonewall Riots in 1969.
So share below particular moments you think are important, your top 3, top 5, top 10 lists. In the coming days we’ll compile the lists from readers and some experts to build what we believe are the most important moments in gay-sports history.
on Jun 13th, 2011 at 4:51 PM
Some may claim I’m biased, and I am.
My personal top three:
1) Gay Games I, 1982: The start of the modern LGBT sport movement, bringing together lesbian and gay sport, taking them beyond recreational sport, launching a worldwide phenomenon.
2) Gay Games II, 1986: From a one-off to a tradition. The pioneers from Gay Games I took Gay Games II as the opportunity to launch real city teams, institutions that remain key to nurturing LGBT sport.
3) Gay Games III, 1990: The Game left San Francisco, became truly international, gave rise to the FGG as the steward of the event for the future.
And…
1977, publication of The David Kopay Story. David Kopay remains incredibly influential for other gay athletes.
I’m sure there will be more, just from me!
on Jun 13th, 2011 at 5:35 PM
1. Glenn Burke being the first out major league athlete while he was playing (1970s).
2. The David Kopay Story, published in 1977, where Kopay outed himself after completing his football career.
3. Billie Jean King coming out in 1981.
4. Martina Navratilova coming out in 1981.
on Jun 13th, 2011 at 7:18 PM
These are great, guys. Now think a little deeper. What is the MOMENT that was important? E.g., Gay Games I is a great candidate, but think about what incident or hour or day (at the longest) that was important. The opening ceremonies comes to mind. Or maybe it’s the closing ceremony (was there one?) signaling the event had completed.
Kelvin, Glenn Burke is interesting, but what is the moment? He never came out. Could be the first high-five, but is that really an important moment in gay-sports history?
So again, think about the moments. That’s what we’re looking for. And keep leaving your thoughts and ideas!
on Jun 13th, 2011 at 8:29 PM
How about Rudy Galindo’s moment when he completed his routine and realized he had won the Gold Medal?
on Jun 13th, 2011 at 11:59 PM
One that stands out for me is openly gay Olympian Matthew Mitcham executing a perfect dive and earning the highest score ever awarded for a dive in Olympic history, and as a result coming from behind to win the gold medal in the 10 meter platform at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. And of course, the following celebration when he realizes that he won the gold and his adorable interviews alongside his mother and partner.
on Jun 14th, 2011 at 1:36 AM
For me, number one has to be Greg Louganis’ head slitting moment during the 1988 summer Olympics and the fallout that occurred afterward.
Number two: the loss of Marc Bingham on 9/11.
Lastly, the coming out of Gareth Thomas.
on Jun 14th, 2011 at 2:29 AM
Not the most important moment, but an important benchmark, was “Take Me Out”‘s arrival on Broadway.
on Jun 14th, 2011 at 3:35 AM
Gregory “Greg” Efthimios Louganis (born January 29, 1960) an American Olympic diver. Multi Gold Medalist. The World’s Greatest Diver Ever! I have not purchased a box of “Wheaties” since they would not put him on the box because he gay. And we should all continue to boycott Wheaties!
on Jun 14th, 2011 at 8:41 AM
While not a sporting event, I think the commandeering of the plane that went down in Shanksville PA by Mark Bingham marked an important milestone in catapulting a gay man who was a hero and an athlete into the public consciousness.
on Jun 14th, 2011 at 8:52 AM
1. Creation of Outsports
Wait – should I have prefaced that with “spoiler alert”?
on Jun 14th, 2011 at 9:46 AM
To this already very good list I want to add the coming out of the NFL’s Esera Tuaolo, we had the pleasure of hearing him speak in person once, he is a great athlete and a fine human being. Also creation of Gay Rodeo, real live cowboys who happen to be gay showing their skills
on Jun 14th, 2011 at 10:19 AM
For me, it was Gay Games 1994 in NYC, which coincided with the 25th anniversary of the Gay Pride march in Manhattan. The crowds were expected to be so huge that the route of the parade was altered so that it went UP Fifth Avenue, and then across 57th Street. We stood on 57th street, and when the various athletes from all around the world made the turn on to 57th street they were greeted by a wall of sound from a huge throng that was clearly overwhelming and emotional for many of them. I was equally floored – floored to realize for the first time that so many of my queer brethren played sports, liked sports, and were sports fans. It was quite the revelation for me, a realization that my sexuality and my love of sports were not mutually exclusive, and that many others shared my mutual passions. I’ve met a couple of guys since then who participated in those Games, who told me that experience that Sunday, coupled with the Closing Ceremony held in Yankee Stadium, were a lifetime highlight for them.
on Jun 14th, 2011 at 11:04 AM
I pick the founding of the gay games by Tom Waddell. Tom Waddell was a very successful athlete and doctor and apparently admired by virtually all of his colleagues in both arenas. He was a great role model, proud of and comfortable being gay, and his estabishment of the gay games was a great contribution to glbt people especially those involved or interested in athletics.
on Jun 14th, 2011 at 11:06 AM
Cyd… Sounds like you’re looking for more specific “events” or “moments in time”. How about these, in no particular order:
1. SF D2 DQ’d from Gay Softball World Series for too many straight players
2. Greg Louganis hitting his head on the diving board at the Olympics
3. Matthew Mitcham nailing his final dive for Olympic gold
4. The big rally at the first “Gay Olympics”, as it was first known
5. USOC files suit against the “Gay Olympics”
6. Taiwanese TV give gay softball lawsuit the CGI treatment
7. Billie Jean defeats Bobby Riggs
8. Release of the Dave Kopay story
9. Magic Johnson announces he is HIV+ (not gay, but certainly had people speculating)
10. Magic Johnson returns to basketball (not gay, but certainly a landmark in public perception about living with HIV)
on Jun 14th, 2011 at 11:14 AM
I think Charles Barkleys comment that he has played with gay basketball players was significant because it starts to peel the wrap off of the most homopheobic sport in the US. They are as gay if not more so than anyone. Com on NBA be real.
on Jun 14th, 2011 at 12:23 PM
I’m going to say, as a martial arts instructor who was lucky enough to spend many years in an accepting Martial Arts Association which was just that way by happenstance, it was the formation of the Triangle Martial Arts Association which specifically provides training for and guidance to locating LGBT friendly, accepting and supportive schools for martial arts training.
Also the formation of the Pink Pistols which provide training and supportive places for shooting sports.
I also really wish that this organization would stop just saying “gay-sports” and start being inclusive of B & T in LGBT maybe even Q. There are plenty of bi and trans athletes out here who have been proudly out for a long time. I was not part of a big four sports team but I was always out.
on Jun 14th, 2011 at 12:27 PM
Rob, we use the term “gay” to include everyone in our community. We understand some people don’t identify with “gay,” but we don’t identify with “LGBTQI.” Each publication has its own way of expressing the same thing – the important thing is the sentiment behind it – and this list is intended to include everyone in the community – we already have many great moments including lesbian and transgender people!
on Jun 14th, 2011 at 1:15 PM
Not to sound nit-picky, but was Greg Louganis already out when he hit his head? I don’t think he was, in which case I don’t feel that moment – great an achievment though it was – can really count in this tabulation.
on Jun 14th, 2011 at 1:27 PM
Perhaps when the US Supreme Court ruled that Tom Waddell could not use the term Olympics and he realized that the name did not matter but that bringing glbt athletes together to participate and to break stereotypes was the important thing. It was that understanding that allowed him to move forward.
on Jun 14th, 2011 at 1:32 PM
Actually, Glenn Burke WAS out. He wasn’t on the cover of The Advocate or write a book but many of his former teammates will tell you that he was, indeed out. That is a huge moment, though I concede not a “hit ‘em over the head” one.
on Jun 14th, 2011 at 2:20 PM
So many good ideas already. Here’s my two cents worth:
Professional athletes, who came out when their careers were done paved the way for many today who have come out while still actively playing their sport. For team sports David Kopay, Roy Simmons, Esera Tuaolo in football, Billy Bean in baseball, John Amaechi in basketball all have had tremendous impacts. Can you point to one moment for them. I don’t think so. Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova have done the same for individual sports, like tennis. They are very different from the men, in that they were active players still when their sexuality became public knowledge.
Ian Roberts in the nineties became the first male pro athlete to come out while he was still playing. That is a great moment in Gay Sports history.
LGBT individuals and issues have had a much greater impact on the world of sports in the past five years or so. Gareth Thomas’s coming out was a true watershed moment for us. Several other pro athletes, both active and retired, have followed his example. The experiences of Thomas along with Matt Mitcham and Steven Davies will help to shape a sports world in which being gay is no big deal. And the coming out of athletes has prompted others in the sports world to tell their stories.
Pro athletes, though, are not the ones who are creating the most important moments for gay sports history. High School and collegiate athletes are. Coaches, umpires, and referees are, as well. You have featured their stories numerous times at Outsports. And they deserve our accolades. Just to name a few, they are Brendan Burke, Brian Sims, Mari Burningham, Anthony Castro, and Greg Congdon.
My list of important moments must also include the high school bloggers that you have so rightly acclaimed in the past year.
And lastly, Cyd and Jim, deserve a place in this pantheon for creating a community here for LGBT individuals who love sports.
on Jun 14th, 2011 at 2:33 PM
I LOVE Greg Louganis, the most medaled man in he Olympics. Greg won 4 gold and 1 silver medals in 3 Olympics. He came out as a gay man and then as a man who is HIV+, as am I. I was watching the Ellen show recently. A young man who fell in love with Greg when he lived in St. Louis. As they talked, Greg Louganis came in and the man simply melted with delight at his hero visiting with him and Ellen. Greg, you ARE my hero and will always be, intelligent, incredibly handsome, humble and a winner! God bless you, Greg Louganis!
on Jun 14th, 2011 at 3:05 PM
The greatest moment is yet to happen. It will come when the first star in a major American team sport comes out during his career.
on Jun 14th, 2011 at 7:54 PM
Greg Louganis wasn’t out when he hit his head. It wasn’t even known publicly that he had HIV.
I think the Brendan Burke story is one of the most important. Not sure you can pinpoint just one moment. It was pretty significant when his coming-out story appeared on ESPN’s website, and his death and all that came subsequently — Brian Burke at the Toronto Pride parade, the Stanley Cup in Chicago’s parade, etc. — was equally significant.
on Jun 14th, 2011 at 9:34 PM
For me, a defining moment arrived at Yankee Stadium last September. It was the 7th inning stretch, and a man-to-man marriage proposal was displayed up on the big screen. I never thought I would see this in my lifetime.
on Jun 15th, 2011 at 10:45 AM
Renee Richards barred from US open 1976 and her successful challenge of the ban.
Brendan Burke coming out, his tragic death, and his family’s determination to complete what he started.
on Jun 15th, 2011 at 12:31 PM
In my opinion there’s one moment that stands out… Brendan Burke publically coming out. Not sure whether the moment would be the article or his TV interview alongside his father Brian on TSN… but it was a moment I’ll never forget.
A moment that stopped the hockey world. A moment that got people thinking… If Brian Burke can support his gay son, why shouldn’t we support an openly gay hockey player?
It opened dialogue and most importantly, it inspired people – like myself.
Lookin forward to seein this list.
on Jun 15th, 2011 at 3:28 PM
I’d add the Cubs and the Stanley Cup participating in Pride parades (the Cubs have done 2, correct?)
on Jun 15th, 2011 at 6:38 PM
Great everyone – keep it coming! We have over 80 items on the list, many of them mentioned here! Thank you!!
What we’re looking for most specifically now are events from the 1970s and 1980s. They can be US-based or from abroad. All of your insights are welcome!!
on Jun 15th, 2011 at 8:18 PM
Here’s an obscure one….. September 22, 1976. CBS premieres a new situation comedy called “Ball Four” written by and starring Jim Bouton. Bouton authored the famous book by the same name. The show centered around the Washington Americans – a minor league baseball team. The cast of characters included a gay rookie player — one of the first regular characters on TV who was gay. Sadly, it only lasted 5 episodes but still a milestone.
on Jun 15th, 2011 at 9:22 PM
Jim, that’s a great one! Those obscure moments in the 1970s and 1980s were very important! And Jim Bouton – love to include him in the piece! Thanks!
on Jun 16th, 2011 at 1:20 PM
Slovakia naming Ondrej Nepela, three time world figure skating champion and Olympic gold medalist, Slovakian athlete of the 20th century.
on Jun 16th, 2011 at 2:41 PM
Mark Tewksbury coming out…
Taken from Wikipedia…
In December 1998, Tewksbury announced to the Canadian media and people that he was gay. He was the first Canadian athlete to voluntarily state his homosexuality and his announcement drew great public attention. In 1998, he lost a six-figure contract as a motivational speaker because he was “too openly gay.”
on Jun 16th, 2011 at 5:53 PM
How about Isiah Thomas and Magic Johnson sugar-coating each other on the basketball court? During the AIDS scare, no less!
on Jun 17th, 2011 at 9:38 AM
brendan burke publicly coming out on espn.. his tragic death… the amazing story that has unfolded with his college hockey team, his dad, and especially his brother patrick…
boys.dont.cry.
on Jun 17th, 2011 at 9:44 AM
oh, and an honorable mention for everyone of us.. lgbt amateur athletes.. beer leaguers… weekend warriors… former h.s. and college jocks.. we put up with so much to play the sports we love, and every time one of us comes out to our team or to just one straight teammate or competitor, we move the puck up the ice that much further to make sports and the locker room a safe place for everyone regardless or sexual orientation or gender identity..
~cheers….
on Jun 17th, 2011 at 4:23 PM
I have to go with Steven Davies. Not because it caused waves, but because it didn’t. It really didn’t mean much which to me said, “We have arrived and can feel free to be ourselves.” His reception said that all the other events mentioned had been for the good of all. Now lets get back to the sports and leave the personal lives at home.
on Jun 17th, 2011 at 4:54 PM
Sorry, just saw the note about looking for the 70′s and 80′s. Dave Kopay and Billy Jean King. My cousins were apoplectic over Kopay, refusing to believe it was true. Rocked their world.
on Jun 20th, 2011 at 10:57 PM
Sean Avery doing the marriage equality video and Biznasty seconding it on twitter.
Ok not really, but as a huge hockey fan, those were awesome moments for me.
on Jun 24th, 2011 at 8:22 PM
Additional items that should/could be added. (May need some verification/research.)
-The NCAA and Canadien University Sport adding sexual orientation to their non-dsicrimination clauses. (Around the year 2000 for both, I think.) {Might be others here.}
-The IOC ruling that anyone who has been transitioned for two or more years can compete in the Olympics. (Not really sure on this one.)
-AfterEllen.com covering the out women athletes for the 2010 olympics. (Maybe as a visibility note?) {Best Lesbian Week Ever-021210}
on Jun 25th, 2011 at 10:51 AM
One has to include the coming out of Jared Max, one of the most eloquent and well respected figures in NY sports media.
on Jul 7th, 2011 at 3:41 PM
Coming late to this, but will add a couple of things specific to aquatics after a quick mention that I hope the founding of Cologne’s gay volleyball team — first organized gay team in Europe — should make the overall list.
First, what I consider “the moment” in aquatics. Gay Games I in 1982 spurred the formation of swim teams on the North American west coast, but the next time swimmers gathered for an open gay competition wasn’t until Gay Games II. We had already formed a contact network among swimmers that had come to the Games from around the world but 1986 was the first time most of us from Gay Games I had seen each other again.
At a meeting of team reps and other individuals in the stands at the Laney College pool in Oakland during Gay Games II we decided we enjoyed being back in the water and were having too much fun to wait four years to be together again. We planned the first of annual competitions at that meeting, looking forward to a day when those competitions would be held around the world. The San Diego group volunteered to host the first annual competition in March 1987.
That meet in 1987 was the first of the International Gay & Lesbian Aquatics (IGLA) championships that take place each year between the Gay Games. By the third IGLA championship in 1989 teams had formed in New York and Washington, D.C., and during the next decade dozens more swimming and water polo teams started in North America, Australia and Europe.
IGLA’s existence and its leaders have directly influenced the passage of nondiscrimination clauses in aquatics organization bylaws. This is not something the Federation of Gay Games or Gay Games host committees could dedicate themselves to — it takes an organization specific to aquatics to network with the national governing bodies in a regular ongoing basis to achieve such goals.
IGLA team membership is now in the thousands, ranging from beginners to gold medal Olympians, with championships held in four sports at numerous world class aquatic centers, including Olympic facilities. And it bears mention that the many swimming records set and silliness of the Pink Flamingo event have been positive eye-openers among local mainstream aquatics officials wherever the IGLA championships have been held.
As I write, IGLA XIX is taking place in Honolulu with 2012′s IGLA XX set for Reykjavik. Gay aquatics now happens every day all the time around the world, and that can be directly traced back to the 1986 meeting when we decided to take our sports beyond the Gay Games.
Second, I hope it’s being acknowledged that Bruce Hayes was the first Olympic gold medal participant at the Gay Games, at Vancouver in 1990. Numerous Olympians have come out and joined us since, but Bruce was the first. Bruce received much national U.S. television and press attention when he promoted Gay Games IV in New York, but what I particularly like about his story is Bruce’s regular participation ever since at the Gay Games, IGLA championships and regional gay swimming meets. It’s not been a one-time thing, nor tied into personal publicity efforts — he enjoys the camaraderie and exercise on the gay teams, all the better to admire him for his place as a trailblazer in LGBT sport history.
on Jul 7th, 2011 at 3:53 PM
And while I’m at it, Michael Mealiffe’s two masters world records in the 50 and 100 m. butterfly at 1990′s Gay Games III in Vancouver showed we weren’t just kidding around.
on Jul 7th, 2011 at 9:39 PM
for me it was David Kopay’s book-I remember sneaking it from the public library-have no idea who would have purchased it for my little BFE town
it shows that we can do anything we want