Let's hope the Olympic Village was deisgned with adequate closet space...
July 16, 2012 12:45 PM Subscribe
The Advocate has compiled a list of all of the openly LGBT athletes who will be competing in the 2012 Olympics. Considering that 10,500 competitors will be traveling to London this summer, it's a very short list. (Warning: gratuitous pagination)
In related news: Australian Olympian-- I Can’t Stay With My Wife But Gay Athletes Can Shack Up!
posted by ericb at 12:59 PM on July 16, 2012
posted by ericb at 12:59 PM on July 16, 2012
Megan Rapinoe (in the slideshow) was just interviewed about this.
posted by ChuraChura at 1:00 PM on July 16, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by ChuraChura at 1:00 PM on July 16, 2012 [1 favorite]
Olympic Village Sex Fest: Athletes Tell All In ESPN Report That Reveals 70,000 Condoms Just Isn't Enough.
posted by ericb at 1:00 PM on July 16, 2012
posted by ericb at 1:00 PM on July 16, 2012
Pride House 2012 -- "a welcoming space for all athletes, staff, spectators and friends of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games."
posted by ericb at 1:04 PM on July 16, 2012
posted by ericb at 1:04 PM on July 16, 2012
So, is publicizing names for a worldwide audience, some of whom are violently anti-gay, a good idea?
posted by Melismata at 1:09 PM on July 16, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by Melismata at 1:09 PM on July 16, 2012 [3 favorites]
Better to publish names of out athletes than perpetuate the idea that sports are not a welcoming place for queer folk.
posted by munchingzombie at 1:13 PM on July 16, 2012 [7 favorites]
posted by munchingzombie at 1:13 PM on July 16, 2012 [7 favorites]
Melismata: "So, is publicizing names for a worldwide audience, some of whom are violently anti-gay, a good idea?"
Nobody was 'outed' in this article, and violently anti-gay folks probably aren't going to be reading The Advocate.
posted by schmod at 1:13 PM on July 16, 2012 [9 favorites]
Nobody was 'outed' in this article, and violently anti-gay folks probably aren't going to be reading The Advocate.
posted by schmod at 1:13 PM on July 16, 2012 [9 favorites]
I can't help myself. Every time I see Olympic athletes now all I can think about is how much sex they are having.
posted by josher71 at 1:16 PM on July 16, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by josher71 at 1:16 PM on July 16, 2012 [1 favorite]
I picture them diving into a giant silo of condoms and frolicking like Scrooge McDuck in his money bin.
except hot and naked.
posted by elizardbits at 1:17 PM on July 16, 2012 [8 favorites]
except hot and naked.
posted by elizardbits at 1:17 PM on July 16, 2012 [8 favorites]
Every time I see Olympic athletes now all I can think about is how much sex they are having.
Yeah -- read the aforementioned ESPN article which is getting a lot of press this week:
Yeah -- read the aforementioned ESPN article which is getting a lot of press this week:
Will You Still Medal In The Morning? -- "The real games in the Olympic Village will not be televised."posted by ericb at 1:24 PM on July 16, 2012
A little OT but I do declare that we should protest this heinous, ad-amplifying, click-counting standard of ridiculous pagination. I know the internet is not about ads but I refuse to support the segmentation of information in obnoxious ways for the benefit of the advertiser!
posted by sibboleth at 1:27 PM on July 16, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by sibboleth at 1:27 PM on July 16, 2012 [3 favorites]
Single Page main link
posted by the man of twists and turns at 1:35 PM on July 16, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 1:35 PM on July 16, 2012 [3 favorites]
Ewww I saw Russell Mark and his wife interviewed on morning TV yesterday. What an embarrassing, awful couple of bogans. In regards to his allegations regarding gay Olympians "shacking up", Mark repeated the following mealy-mouthed comment over and over again: "I mean, fair go to them, good on them, it's not often they get one over on us straight folk, all I'm asking for is some fairness!"
Meanwhile his wife, at the end of the interview, said something along the lines of "You'd think they'd let a couple like us do what we like in the village, when we're walking around with .22 rifles!"
Seriously hoping security regard that comment as a threat and send the annoying bastards packing.
posted by Jimbob at 2:00 PM on July 16, 2012
Meanwhile his wife, at the end of the interview, said something along the lines of "You'd think they'd let a couple like us do what we like in the village, when we're walking around with .22 rifles!"
Seriously hoping security regard that comment as a threat and send the annoying bastards packing.
posted by Jimbob at 2:00 PM on July 16, 2012
Jessamyn replaced the link with the less-spammy one that the man of twists and turns found. Thanks!
posted by schmod at 2:17 PM on July 16, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by schmod at 2:17 PM on July 16, 2012 [1 favorite]
Seriously hoping security regard that comment as a threat and send the annoying bastards packing.
Security? Good luck finding any.
posted by afx237vi at 2:34 PM on July 16, 2012
Security? Good luck finding any.
posted by afx237vi at 2:34 PM on July 16, 2012
Olympic Village Sex Fest: Athletes Tell All In ESPN Report That Reveals 70,000 Condoms Just Isn't Enough.
What's the phrase ... make hay while the sun shines?
Wait a minute? 5?
posted by mrgrimm at 3:00 PM on July 16, 2012
What's the phrase ... make hay while the sun shines?
Wait a minute? 5?
posted by mrgrimm at 3:00 PM on July 16, 2012
Tatchell, the head of the Peter Tatchell Foundation.
I'm kind of disappointed in the Advocate that they couldn't think of some better description for Peter Tatchell.
Also, Germany's women's football team features a couple out women, but they failed to qualify for the Olympics. (I also don't know if women's football is also U-23 (plus three) at the Olympics--UEFA qualification for women was done via the World Cup*, so there presumably isn't an age restriction and perhaps it's of more interest than the men's Olympic tournament is.)
That last paragraph was a roundabout way of saying I'm willing to bet they missed some people, possibly a good number.
*If Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland got their acts together enough to qualify for the women's World Cup, this could lead to some amusing qualification results. But perhaps if the Olympics weren't in London, there would have been a separate UEFA Olympics-specific qualifier which they wouldn't be allowed to enter. But I think it would be hilarious if England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland finished 1-4 and couldn't qualify because they don't have Olympic committees. Just like how Guadeloupe can't qualify for the Confederations Cup should they ever become a CONCACAF powerhouse.
posted by hoyland at 3:26 PM on July 16, 2012
I'm kind of disappointed in the Advocate that they couldn't think of some better description for Peter Tatchell.
Also, Germany's women's football team features a couple out women, but they failed to qualify for the Olympics. (I also don't know if women's football is also U-23 (plus three) at the Olympics--UEFA qualification for women was done via the World Cup*, so there presumably isn't an age restriction and perhaps it's of more interest than the men's Olympic tournament is.)
That last paragraph was a roundabout way of saying I'm willing to bet they missed some people, possibly a good number.
*If Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland got their acts together enough to qualify for the women's World Cup, this could lead to some amusing qualification results. But perhaps if the Olympics weren't in London, there would have been a separate UEFA Olympics-specific qualifier which they wouldn't be allowed to enter. But I think it would be hilarious if England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland finished 1-4 and couldn't qualify because they don't have Olympic committees. Just like how Guadeloupe can't qualify for the Confederations Cup should they ever become a CONCACAF powerhouse.
posted by hoyland at 3:26 PM on July 16, 2012
representaiton--esp. transgendered representation, does anyone know what the IOC policy is for that kind of work?
posted by PinkMoose at 5:26 PM on July 16, 2012
posted by PinkMoose at 5:26 PM on July 16, 2012
There's probably a lot more from countries where being out about having any sort of sexual interest in anybody is considered verboten, and some whom don't feel the need to make any public declaration about their sexuality even if it's OK for them to do so. I'm guessing that "sexual orientation" isn't a thing asked for in Olympic sign-up sheets.
posted by divabat at 5:31 PM on July 16, 2012
posted by divabat at 5:31 PM on July 16, 2012
representaiton--esp. transgendered representation, does anyone know what the IOC policy is for that kind of work?
So, this blog post suggests that, contrary to my assumption, the IOC's answer isn't 'ha ha ha ha, no'. This is interesting, given the amount of gender policing of women that goes on (see Caster Semenya and others). Some more googling (producing some fairly ill-informed quasi-offensive articles) suggests that the rule is you have to have genital surgery (because that matters to your athletic ability obviously) and then wait two years.
Google turns up mostly trans women able to compete with women and trans men postponing medical transition in order to stay in their sport. My presumption is that the rules regarding exogenous testosterone are not written to take them into account. Balian Buschbaum retired a few years back in order to transition. He did compete at the Olympics in 2000 but wasn't out to the public. (The women also seem to tend to be in sports where people have longer careers, so they can lose two years to transitioning, though Google did turn up a trans cyclist. This trend will presumably change as people have access to medical transition earlier than they did in the past, though even transitioning as defined by the IOC at 18 would be career-ending in many sports.)
posted by hoyland at 5:47 PM on July 16, 2012 [2 favorites]
So, this blog post suggests that, contrary to my assumption, the IOC's answer isn't 'ha ha ha ha, no'. This is interesting, given the amount of gender policing of women that goes on (see Caster Semenya and others). Some more googling (producing some fairly ill-informed quasi-offensive articles) suggests that the rule is you have to have genital surgery (because that matters to your athletic ability obviously) and then wait two years.
Google turns up mostly trans women able to compete with women and trans men postponing medical transition in order to stay in their sport. My presumption is that the rules regarding exogenous testosterone are not written to take them into account. Balian Buschbaum retired a few years back in order to transition. He did compete at the Olympics in 2000 but wasn't out to the public. (The women also seem to tend to be in sports where people have longer careers, so they can lose two years to transitioning, though Google did turn up a trans cyclist. This trend will presumably change as people have access to medical transition earlier than they did in the past, though even transitioning as defined by the IOC at 18 would be career-ending in many sports.)
posted by hoyland at 5:47 PM on July 16, 2012 [2 favorites]
More like warning, gratuitous cute-hot guy.
posted by polymodus at 6:14 PM on July 16, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by polymodus at 6:14 PM on July 16, 2012 [1 favorite]
Schmod, just came in here to post that. Pretty clearly illustrates that the out gay athletes are the tip of the iceberg, not crazy exceptions.
posted by en forme de poire at 8:22 AM on July 23, 2012
posted by en forme de poire at 8:22 AM on July 23, 2012
So....
As a result of the outage Grindr giving a free week of service to their paid members.
posted by ericb at 12:37 PM on July 23, 2012
As a result of the outage Grindr giving a free week of service to their paid members.
posted by ericb at 12:37 PM on July 23, 2012
Turns out the number is up to at least 20 openly gay athletes, plus one coach. Most are women.
posted by schmod at 4:54 PM on July 24, 2012
posted by schmod at 4:54 PM on July 24, 2012
Good news everyone! The number is up to 22, 19 of whom are female.
posted by schmod at 12:12 PM on July 27, 2012
posted by schmod at 12:12 PM on July 27, 2012
Photographer Jeff Sheng Presents 'Fearless', His Epic Portrait Project of More Than 150 Out LGBT Athletes: VIDEO.
posted by ericb at 3:53 PM on August 3, 2012
posted by ericb at 3:53 PM on August 3, 2012
Outsports counts 23 now.
(I feel kind of weird about the "Softball's gone and there went all the lesbians" comment. Unless there really were a zillion out softball players.)
posted by hoyland at 7:43 AM on August 7, 2012
(I feel kind of weird about the "Softball's gone and there went all the lesbians" comment. Unless there really were a zillion out softball players.)
posted by hoyland at 7:43 AM on August 7, 2012
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posted by mudpuppie at 12:55 PM on July 16, 2012