Yesterday we posted a great e-mail from a former male Winter Olympian who is gay, writing that gay athletes see no upside in coming out publicly. This is certainly true of the men, where no one is publicly out* (*Johnny Weir is a whole other story). But there are at least five out lesbians, though none is an American.
The five, as identified by After Ellen and Eurout, are Ireen Wüst (photo right, a Dutch speedskater) and her Dutch girlfriend Sanne van Kerkhof (short track speedskating), Sarah Vaillancourt (Canadian ice hockey), Erika Holst (Sweden hockey) and Vibeke Skofterud (Norway cross-country skiing).
Wüst is upset that she is asked about her relationship as much as her skating.
“I want to talk about ice skating”, Wüst said in a recent interview. “You are not asking Sven Kramer (Dutch, European and World All-round Champion, Ed.) about how his relationship is going. So why would you ask me? If I would’ve had a relationship with a guy, you wouldn’t have asked me either.”
I find her comment baffling. Straight athletes get asked all the time about whom they’re dating or about their spouse. Kramer, who won speed-skating gold Saturday, has a girlfriend who is an Olympic field hockey player. I know that because their relationship made the lead of AP’s coverage of Kramer’s race.
The always-excellent Pat Griffin in her blog had a nice take on the whole issue of out athletes being role models:
Clearly, it isn’t that Ireen Wüst is closeted. She is open about being a lesbian. She just doesn’t want that to be the lead story during the Olympics. Fair enough.
The problem is that we are so hungry for LGBT role models and visibility in athletics. We know that the more openly, publicly out LGBT people there are in sport and everywhere else, the more things change for the better. We just have to remember that openly lesbian or gay athletes are not necessarily interested in being public spokespeople or interested in making their personal lives public or at least not making their personal lives the focus when they’d rather focus on their athletic accomplishments.
Until every Olympian and every pro or collegiate athlete has the privilege of talking freely about their sexual orientation and their relationships and their families without fear of financial or competitive reprisals, we will have to be grateful for the LGBT athletes who choose to be public and use their visibility as a platform for social change. We also must understand the decisions of others not to.
While it is still marginally easier for women to come out publicly, five is not a big number. However, with both men and women, we don’t know who might be out in their immediate sphere but not publicly. Maybe no one has asked them the question or no one in their circle cares enough to make it an issue, or they adopt a don’t ask don’t tell policy. Whatever the case, being an out Olympian is still a rarity.
- By Jim Buzinski
6 responses so far ↓
1
Ted
// Feb 17, 2010 at 1:03 am
Haha, I thought that said Johnny Weir is a whore for a second there.
Anyway, since (right or wrong) most people suspect athletically talented women of being lesbians in the first place, I don’t think it’s the same thing. It’s like a male stage actor coming out, not so remarkable.
2
Dan
// Feb 17, 2010 at 11:36 pm
Most people are probably more interested in how they represent their country in their respective sport than we are in their disordered lives.
3
Marcel
// Feb 22, 2010 at 8:07 am
I can imagine how Ireen thinks, in Holland being gay in sports is no big deal when it is restricted to woman. You wonder why. Well, take an average pornmovie. No one will object if two women are having sex with each other, the movie can still be called straight!
With two men having sex that same movie is called bisexual at least.
I think it has to do that most people project them selfs at a player in a movie. No men will object trading places with one of the women having sex together. That will be totally different with two men having sex.
That same projection will take place in real life, maybe unintentional, but it does. That is the main cause of accepting gay women sooner then men, in my humble opinion.
Marcel, Amsterdam, Holland.
4
Peter, Netherlands
// Feb 22, 2010 at 8:33 am
Why is Ireen’s comment baffling? You are there for an interview about sports, not about riot-unleashing hot gossip! what’s wrong with you people always asking around with so much bias it’s written on their foreheads..
5
Katarina
// Feb 24, 2010 at 8:25 am
What is interesting about Ireen (to us, her compatriots) is the fact that she is a terrific skater and now an Olympic gold medalist again! Not the fact that she is a lesbian. That is considered strictly a private matter. Unfortunately I think Marcel is correct in his analysis. Even in this part of the world it is still men who dominate the sports and the information about sports. The fans also are subject to the same form of projection as he described. Therefore in would make a much bigger impact if a male athlete were to come out. And therefore we are still lacking footballplayers as rolemodels…
6
feistyamazon
// Feb 26, 2010 at 7:01 am
Well we pegged several of the Olympians as Dykes, two of the women above. Especially Ireen Wust and Erika Holst..I pegged Holst this afternoon watching her play. I notice how all the American women have makeup on, playing ice hockey of all things! But the European and Canadian women are permitted to be more dykey. Even the Finland team where there were several very obvious Butches, that as soon as the bronze medal was placed on the most obvious Butch’s neck, the camera immediately panned away from her, like happens to most of us Butches, making us entirely invisible, while giving air time to those not blatant or more femmey.
They ARE rolemodels, and it is important that they be as out as they can be..for those of us Dykes and Gays watching. I admire Jonny Weir for being so ‘flamboyant’, so fucking gay. I also admire the tuffy women hockey players for being in their strength and power, and the German women especially who seem to be far more comfortable in their skin, and more Butch appearing…obviously Dykey…it’s the good ole U.S.A. where homophobia especially in the media, and playing to the media reigns supreme and the athletes are oh so carefully monitored and ‘femmed up’. I’m sure the same is true of some of the most conservative countries if they allow Lesbian athletes on their teams at all…
But I give kudos to Canada, Germany, Finland, Sweden for allowing Lesbians to be themselves and not having to be ‘femmed up’ to compete.
We CRAVE these role models and as much as they may want to be in the closet or only focus on their sport, I’m sick to death of hearing about Lindsey Vonn and Mancuso and their little girly tiff while so many superior female athletes including Lesbian athletes get such little air time. I dont’ care what either of those twits has to say….I want to hear what the true strong Amazons have to say who also medalled and well represented their sport..and I crave even more so those like the obviously dykey latenight female sports announcer who wore her construction outfit while logging, and even went to become a Mountie for a day…wow, I was hot watching her! Such an obvious Dyke…let’s get over Lesbianism or Gayness being such a tawdry secret that it can never be mentioned, and that Evan Lysechek is indeed just as gay as Jonny Weir, he just expresses his maleness somewhat differently, but NEITHER is as masculine as myself! They’re both queens!
Leave a Comment