The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other non-heterosexual or non-cisgender (LGBTQ+) community is prevalent within sports across the world.
There have been several notable outspoken homosexual athletes, including John Curry, Billie Jean King, boxer Orlando Cruz and Jason Collins. In the 1980s, Tom Waddell, an Olympic decathlete, hosted the first Gay Games in San Francisco. Since then, many homosexual sporting organizations have been founded along with sporting events that feature homosexual athletes.
While overall, the trend is towards open acceptance of LGBTQ+ athletes, the level of acceptance can vary due to factors such as the athlete's age, sport, and location. As a consequence of the existing homophobia in the sports community, there have been notable lawsuits fighting against this discrimination.
Notable LGBTQ+ athletes
John Curry
Born in 1949, John Curry was a successful British figure skater. Using his unique skating style, Curry won the Gold Medal in the 1976 Olympic Games in Innsbruck, Austria. Two days after his victory, Curry confirmed a newspaper report about his sexuality, becoming one of the first openly gay gold medalists. Less than three weeks later, and amid the fallout from the revelations, Curry won gold again at the World Figure Skating Championships in Gothenburg. He had completed a "grand slam" of European, Olympic and World championships in under fifty days. Curry died at the age of 44 after a fight with AIDS.
Billie Jean King
Billie Jean King is a former number one women's tennis player in the world and, according to KK Ottesen of the Washington Post, is known as a feminist icon. She was born in the United States in 1943 and competed professionally throughout the 1960s and 1970s. More than a decade after her athletic career, King was outed as lesbian by a former lover, something King had not yet openly announced. After this revelation, King took a stronger stance on the push for gay rights and continued to vouch for gender equality, specifically equal pay. In 2009, she was awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom by the White House in recognition of her involvement in pushing for gender equality and the fact she was a notable and successful openly lesbian athlete.
Jason Collins
Jason Collins, born in 1978, was a US collegiate and professional basketball player. Collins played Division One basketball at Stanford University where he received First Team All-Pac10 honors in the 2000-2001 season. Later, he was drafted in the first round of the National Basketball Association (NBA) draft where he played 13 seasons. In 2013, Collins came out as gay in a Sports Illustrated article written in the first person with the help of a journalist, which officially made him the first openly gay NBA player. Although his reveal did not come without its critics, Collins received positive support and was pictured on the cover of Time Magazine's Top 100 Most Influential People.
Michael Sam
Michael Sam, born in 1990, was a US collegiate football player at the University of Missouri. At Missouri, in his final season in 2013, Sam was named the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Defensive Player of the Year, and he was also named an All-American. Following his collegiate career, in an interview with ESPN, Sam openly came out as gay. In April 2014, Sam was selected in the seventh round of the National Football League (NFL) draft by the St. Louis Rams, becoming the first openly gay athlete ever to be drafted into the NFL. Subsequently, Sam was awarded the 2014 ESPYS Arthur Ashe Courage Award for "courageously announc[ing] he was gay prior to the NFL draft."
Megan Rapinoe
Megan Rapinoe, born in 1985, is a notable women's soccer player. Rapinoe is a two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion with the United States women's national soccer team, the latter of which she was awarded the Golden Boot and Golden Ball award for her performance in the tournament. Rapinoe is openly lesbian, and in 2013 she received the Board of Directors Award by the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center for her role in activism for the LGBTQ+ community. The world champion is also well known for her activism in other sectors, such as gender and racial inequality.