Eleven Olympians Who Get Our Gold Medals For Being Proud and OUT Athletes in Bejing!

OUT of 11,028 athletes who are competing in the Olympics that are going on right now, there are 11 who are out and proud members of our GLBTQ community. (Percentage-wise, that's a paltry .1 %)

For being role models - not just for their athleticism - but for living their truths and letting the world know that Gay men and Lesbians and Bisexuals** can excel in ANY arena, including the Olympics, "I'm Here. I'm Queer. What the Hell do I Read?" hereby awards these heroes with our very own symbolic Gold Medals!

Congratulations to all!


The Gay Man

Okay, this is frustrating, but believe it or not, there is only ONE out gay man who is an athlete at this summer's XXIX Olympic Games!

And our gold medal goes to...

Matthew Mitcham, Diver

representing Australia, and all of us!

(He was also on the cover of the August 26, 2008 Advocate newsmagazine.)

The Lesbians

Okay, biggest category. 8 Gold Medals go to...

Judith Arndt, cycling

representing Germany, and all of us!

Imke Duplitzer, fencing
representing Germany, and all of us!

Natasha Kai, soccer
representing the USA, and all of us!

Lauren Lappin, softball
representing the USA, and all of us!

Victoria Svensson, soccer
representing Sweden, and all of us!

Rennae Stubbs, tennis
representing Australia, and all of us!

The Lesbian Couple who compete together,
Gro Hammerseng and Katja Nyberg, handball,

representing Norway, and all of us!

The Bisexuals

There are two openly OUT Bisexual athletes at the Olympics.

And our Gold Medals go to...

Vicky Galindo, Softball

representing the USA, and all of us!

And Linda Bresonik, Soccer

representing Germany, and all of us!

Okay, now I can't wait to watch more of the Olympics, see more great athleticism and sports, and root for my favorites (yup, our very own "I'm Here. I'm Queer. What the Hell do I Read?" Gold Medalists - the heroes above!!!)


Namaste,

Lee


Thanks to Jim Buzinski's great article over at Outsports blog for the most comprehensive list I've come across!

Also thanks to Malinda Lo's great roundup of Queer Women athletes at this summer's Olympic games at afterellen.com!

**Someday maybe we'll get Transgender athletes at the Olympics, too. Though the Olympics has rules in place to allow Transgender athletes to compete, there have been no openly transgender Olympians... yet. There's an interesting article about it here at gay.com.