It's been 10 years since 1996
U.S. champion Rudy Galindo became the first big-name skater
to be out while still competing at the Olympic-eligible
level. But when you tune in to the Winter Olympics, not one
of the figure skating contenders in any discipline (singles,
pairs, dance) will be an out gay man.
There will be gay men competing
in Turin, to be sure -- including some who consider
themselves to be out in their personal lives -- but not one
who will say so on the public record. What percentage of
male figure skaters is gay? Unofficial insider estimates
range from 25% to nearly 50%. But unbelievably, in 2006,
Galindo remains the only top-level skater to
have come out while Olympic-eligible. Why? And does that
mean nothing has changed in what Jon Jackson, an openly gay
skating judge, calls "the gayest sport in America"?
Well, yes and no. What
hasn't changed is that many of the officials, judges, and
skating federations, especially in the U.S., make it clear
that they prefer male skaters to look "masculine" and will
be harsher on effeminate-looking skaters when it comes to
giving marks or desirable competitive assignments.
"One
thing that sticks in my mind from back then was the way the
'out' ones got treated," says Vancouver resident Chad
Conley, (left) 27, who was a Canadian national medalist in
the early 1990s, and is now out. "I never skated to anything
like 'Swan Lake.' I was a bit of a truck driver on the ice,
I was a jumper. But I remember when Rudy Galindo started
saying that the judges treated him differently because he
was gay ... so I kinda made sure that I stuck to my usual
and tried not to do anything that would've been deemed
'gay.'"
Trying not to be deemed gay
in skating requires behavior ranging from the overt, such as
dating women, to details so subtle that they affect the very
way the skater moves his limbs while putting himself out
there to be judged.
Jackson, author of the
just-released "On
Edge: Backroom Dealing, Cocktail Scheming, Triple Axels,
and How Top Skaters Get Screwed," said that judges
might say of a male skater, "Does he have to do a layback
spin? Can't he do something else?"
There are some moves, such as
laybacks and spirals, that are more frequently done by women
and considered effeminate on men. Obviously, skaters like to
include their strongest moves in their programs, but a male
skater who is strong in these moves knows that to perform
them is to risk prejudice.
"I think it prevents them
from fully developing as individuals," said Jackson of this
anti-femme prejudice. "Figure skating is such an
individual, expressive sport. Until you're fully
comfortable with who you are and have complete confidence in
yourself, you can't express yourself on the ice. This holds
them back."
And skating is such a mental
game that when a skater's mind holds back in one area, like
choreography, this tends to cause problems in other areas as
well, such as jumps.
Jackson confirmed that the
homophobia of judges and federations affects the athletes.
Unfortunately, he said he does not believe homophobic
officials are in the minority.
"The skaters absolutely feel
that pressure. This comes across in every discussion I've
had with a gay skater, that they really feel that they have
to present themselves as a 'passable' masculine skater,"
said Jackson. "They don't want to be the skater that hurts
figure skating's image and TV contracts."
So gay skaters either come
out long after their competitive careers are over, as 1979
world champion Randy Gardner (with pair partner Tai
Babilonia) just did in January, or when they're so far off
the radar screen that their federations aren't monitoring
them, as happened withRudy Galindo in 1995 when he was
considered a has-been.
What's changed since 1996,
though, is that many of the Olympic-eligible gay skaters
consider themselves to be fully out in their personal lives.
More Acceptance Seen
"Within the rink environment,
for the most part, I'm noticing more and more that the
coaches, the fellow skaters are all very accepting and
comfortable and not the least bit bothered by gay men.
Hopefully it will slowly creep up to the level of the
officials and judges, and I do see that happening," said
Jackson. He sees changes even among closeted gay coaches of
older generations, who can be some of the most vocal critics
of any skating that appears the least bit femme.
"Those coaches, who were
accustomed to having to pass [as straight], were
uncomfortable maybe 20 years ago with too much of the coming
out of gay skaters, because it threatened what they created
to make a safe environment for themselves," said
Jackson. "But I've seen more and more coaches come around to
the acceptance that this is part of our sport and these
young gay men are valuable to the sport."
The gay skaters Jackson
knows, he says, "know where their support is and they're
getting it already. If they thought the organizational side
of the sport would be there for them, I think a number of
them would already have come out. I think it's U.S. Figure
Skating's responsibility to step up and say that this is not
harmful to our image, acknowledge the fact that everybody
else knows that there are gay men in figure skating, and
they love it."
And if that happened, the air
would be cleared enough for straight male skaters to feel
more welcomed and acknowledged as well, something that would
surely please the federation. Chad Conley sees that
beginning to happen already.
"Over the last five years, I
have noticed more straight guys in that sport, particularly
in pairs and dance," said Conley. "Some people may think
that is a shock, but being a figure skater doesn't hold the
stigma that myself and others felt 10 or 12 years ago."
Nor is it all about being
gay, of course; it's first and foremost a sport. "I wasn't
even old enough to know what gay was when I started
skating," said Conley. "I was in kindergarten."
But as skaters grow older and
more aware, they can find that figure skating is a wonderful
sport for the male athlete who may not fit traditional
masculine roles, but is strong, competitive, and determined.
Every year the sport's network of coaches and judges who
mentor young gay athletes becomes stronger and better
informed. Conley says he still keeps in touch with gay
judges who advised him in his competitive days. Jackson, who
competed in the 1980s, said, "When a young man is involved
in the sport, 99% of his time is spent in that environment.
I did see this as a safe haven."
So, what might happen,
hypothetically, if this "safe haven" were blown open and an
Olympic-level skater were to come out publicly today?
"Maybe the sport is ready and
the floodgates might open, and that might be a good thing,"
said Jackson. "I think that when Rudy came out, it wasn't
ready. And so you didn't have 20 or 30 or 50 -- or any --
skaters follow his lead in the eligible ranks. I think if
it happened at a very high level now, given the environment
that has been created in many of our rinks, others would
follow suit."
Lorrie Kim has
maintained
Rainbow Ice, a site about gay issues in figure
skating, since 1998, and has talked to dozens of gay figure
skaters in her work as a skating journalist. In 2003 she
worked for the short-lived World Skating Federation,
co-founded by Jon Jackson in response to figure skating's
corruption after he blew the whistle on cheating French
judge Marie Reine le Gougne at the 2002 Salt Lake City
Olympics.
Related:
Outsports profile of Lorrie Kim and Rainbow Ice from 2001
Winter Olympics preview
Feb. 9,
2006
