Arts & Entertainment
Out at the Olympics
Basketball player says being open was an easy decision for her
Out athlete Seimone Augustus is already a gold medal-winning Olympian. She hopes to add to her medal count in London. (Photo by Neil Enns; courtesy Dane Creek Photography)
With 12,602 athletes set to compete in the London 2012 Summer Olympics, it’s hard to believe that so few are openly gay or lesbian. Despite newfound presidential support for same-sex marriage and growing LGBT media visibility, the number of out athletes is really no more impressive than in the past two Summer Olympic games (11 in Athens 2004, 10 in Beijing 2008). Estimates this year range from nine to 20.
Some Olympic athletes decide to stay in the closet. However women’s basketball player Seimone Augustus is one openly gay Olympian whose reasons for going public with her identity outweigh those for keeping it concealed.
“Everybody’s been real receptive and real positive. To me it’s a big relief because people want to know who you are as an athlete and now as a person,” Augustus says during a phone interview. “It’s a big part of who I am.”
Augustus, a Baton Rouge, La., native, has shown tremendous talent in basketball since she was 3 years old and started playing on a junior team for 5-year-old boys. By 2006, she was the No. 1 WNBA draft pick for the Minnesota Lynx after playing for Louisiana State University. With her phenomenal record she was then named to the 2007-2008 USA Basketball Women’s Senior National Team. At the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics, she became a gold medalist.
Other openly LGBT athletes who will compete in London this summer include German fencer Imke Duplitzer, American soccer player Megan Rapinoe, Australian diver Matthew Mitcham, Dutch field hockey players Marilyn Agliotti and Maartie Paumen, German cyclist Judith Arndt, Dutch equestrian Edward Gal and Swedish soccer player Jessica Landström. The U.S. women’s soccer head coach, Pia Sundage, is also openly gay.
“It’s 2012. Things are changing. People are more open-minded now. For your sanity and comfort it’s time to let people know who you really are,” Augustus says. “It’s a hard thing to do but you want to get that weight off the shoulder.”
Pride House 2012, a festival hosted by a number of LGBT sports organizations including Pride Sports UK and the LGBT consortium, will provide a gay-friendly venue for all athletes, staff and spectators of the London 2012 Olympics to celebrate LGBT involvement in sports from Aug. 3-7 at the CA House overlooking the Limehouse Basin Marina in London.
Pride House was a success at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and this year will feature live music from local LGBT organizations, exhibits, video presentations and various sports programs, including the “Football vs. Homophobia” football tournament. The event is an attempt to foster greater LGBT visibility in the Olympics and provide a comfortable space for Olympic athletes who are in or out of the closet and to educate anyone who is curious how the LGBT community has impacted sports.
“Being gay is just one part of being a human, and being able to be out in the sport that you really love and enjoy shows how complete a person you are,” Kurt Dahl, co-president of the Federation of Gay Games, says. “[Coming out] really allows a person to do what they love and put everything into it.”
The Federation of Gay Games is another of the organizations hosting Pride House 2012 to highlight LGBT Olympic involvement.
“The more people who are visible and participating, the easier it is for people who don’t have the rights and ability to do that,” Emy Ritt, the Games’ other co-president, says on coming out. “It shows that LGBT people are everywhere and is bringing the public to a better place.”
Seimone is happy to have found that place in her life where she feels ready to be out publicly as an athlete. Her engagement to girlfriend LaTaya Varner in May was one factor that facilitated this sense of comfort.
“She made me feel more comfortable with who I am. When someone gets engaged and they’re happy with their life it’s time,” Augustus says. “I’m really happy with where I am playing basketball and on the Olympic route. So many great things have happened in my life. I want everyone to know about it.”
The opening ceremony for the London 2012 Summer Olympics airs today (Friday) at 4 p.m. on NBC, and the games continue through Aug. 12.
Sports
New IOC policy bans trans women from Olympics
New regulation to be in effect at 2028 summer games in Los Angeles
The International Olympic Committee on Thursday announced it will not allow transgender women from competing in female events at the Olympics.
“For all disciplines on the Sports Program of an IOC event, including individual and team sports, eligibility for any Female Category is limited to biological females,” reads the new policy.
The policy states “eligibility for the Female Category is to be determined in the first instance by SRY Gene screening to detect the absence or presence of the SRY Gene.”
“On the basis of the scientific evidence, the IOC considers that the SRY (sex-determining Region Y) Gene is fixed throughout life and represents highly accurate evidence that an athlete has experienced or will experience male sex development,” it reads. “Furthermore, the IOC considers that SRY Gene screening via saliva, cheek swab or blood sample is unintrusive compared to other possible methods. Athletes who screen negative for the SRY gene permanently satisfy this policy’s eligibility criteria for competition in the Female Category.”
The policy states the test “will be a once-in-a-lifetime test” unless “there is reason to believe a negative reading is in error.”
The new regulation will be in place for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
“I understand that this a very sensitive topic,” said IOC President Kirsty Coventry on Thursday in a video. “As a former athlete, I passionately believe in the rights of all Olympians to take part in fair competition.”
“The policy that we have announced is based on science and it has been led by medical experts with the best interests of athletes at its heart. The scientific evidence is very clear: male chromosomes give performance advances in sport that rely on strength, power, or endurance,” she added. “At the Olympic Games, even the smallest margins can be the difference between victory and defeat. So, it is absolutely clear that it would not be fair for biological males to compete in the female category. In addition, in some sports it would simply not be safe.”
(Video courtesy of the IOC)
Laurel Hubbard, a weightlifter from New Zealand, in 2021 became the first trans woman to compete at the Olympics.
Imane Khelif, an Algerian boxer, won a gold medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Khelif later sued JK Rowling and Elon Musk for cyberstalking after they questioned her gender identity.
Ellis Lundholm, a mogul skier from Sweden, this year became the first openly trans athlete to compete in any Winter Olympics when he participated in Milan Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy.
President Donald Trump in February 2025 issued an executive order that bans trans women and girls from female sports teams in the U.S.
The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee last July banned trans women from competing in female sporting events. Republican lawmakers have demanded the IOC ban trans athletes from women’s athletic competitions.
“I’m grateful the Olympics finally embraced the common sense policy that women’s sports are for women, not for men,” said U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) on X.
An IOC spokesperson on Thursday referred the Washington Blade to the press release that announced the new policy.
a&e features
Introducing the Torchbearers Awards honoring queer, trans women and nonbinary people
Meet the Legends and Illuminators lighting new paths
The Torchbearers Awards are more than recognition—they are a continuation of legacy. They honor the quiet architects of progress in our community: those who organize, advocate, build, and protect, often without fanfare but always with purpose. Rooted in a belief in intentional recognition, this honor names those who carry our movements forward—those who make room for others, who remind us that change is both generational and generative. In a time marked by uncertainty and challenge, these leaders push forward with courage, clarity, and an unwavering commitment to expanding opportunity and equity.
This year’s honorees reflect the full breadth of our community, spanning generations, backgrounds, identities, and industries. From Legends, with decades of leadership and having created pathways for others, to Illuminators, who are lighting new paths with creativity and innovation, each Torchbearer represents the power of intergenerational leadership and the strength found in our diversity. They are organizers, advocates, artists, policy leaders, healers, and changemakers whose lived experiences shape a shared vision for equity and liberation.
This award is our love letter to queer and trans women and nonbinary people who carry the flame when it would be easier to let it dim. To those who consistently show up, who use their voice and visibility and stand firm, often without recognition, so that others may live more freely and fully. The Torchbearers Awards celebrates not just what has been done, but the enduring spirit, responsibility, and collective care that ensure the work continues, and that the flame is always passed forward.
Co-Creators of the Torchbearers Awards: Shannon Alston, June Crenshaw, Heidi Ellis
Torchbearers Awards Advisory Board: Aditi Hardikar, Lesley Bryant, Jasmine Wilson-Bryant, Stephen Rutgers
ILLUMINATOR AWARDEES
- Representative Sharice Davids (she/her), (D, KS-03)
— U.S. House of Representatives - Greisa Martinez Rosas (she/her/ella)
— Executive Director, United We Dream - Paola Ramos (she/her)
— Journalist & Correspondent - Meagan A. Fitzgerald (she/her)
— Journalist & Correspondent - Jessica L. Lewis (she/her)
— Founder / Producer, Play Play DC - Savannah Wade (she/her)
— Founder, OAR Agency - Suhad Babaa (she/her)
— Filmmaker/ Former Executive Director of Just Vision - Ashlee Davis (she/her)
— Global Head of Inclusive Outcomes, Ancestry - Jazmine Hughes (she/her)
— Journalist and Former Editor at New York Times Magazine - Queen Adesuyi (she/they)
— Policy Advisor & Organizer, ReFrame Health & Justice - Michele Rayner, Esq. (she/her)
— Civil Rights Attorney, State Representative (Florida House of Representatives) - Gaby Vincent (she/her)
— Sports/Cultural Commentator and Community Leader - Jenny Nguyen (she/her)
— Founder & Owner, The Sports Bra - Denice Frohman (she/her)
— Independent Artist, Poet / Performer - Vida Rangel (she/her)
— Founder, Our Trans Capital - Roxanne Anderson (they/them)
— Executive Director, Our Space - Ann Marie Gothard (she/her)
— Co-Founder & President, Pride Live (Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center) - Diana Rodriques (she/her)
— Co-Founder & CEO, Pride Live (Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center) - Wendi Cooper (she/her)
— Founder / Executive Director, Transcending Women - Toya Matthews (she/her)
— City of San Antonio, Texas - Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones (she/her)
— Sports/Cultural Commentator and Community Leader - Charity Blackwell (she/her)
— Poet, LGBTQ Advocate & Community Leader - Wilhelmina Indermaur (she/her)
— Director of Communications, Tyler Clementi Foundation - Em Chadwick (she/her)
— CMO, For Them & Autostraddle - Kylo Freeman (they/he)
— CEO, For Them & Autostraddle
LEGEND AWARDEES
- Sheila Alexander-Reid (she/her)
— Executive Director, PHL Diversity, Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau - Cassandra Cantave Burton (she/her)
— Interim Director of Thought Leadership & Senior Research Advisor, AARP - leigh h. mosley (she/her)
— Photographer / Educator, PhotoFlo Photography - Jenn M. Jackson, PhD (they/them)
— Assistant Professor of Political Science; Author & Columnist, Syracuse University - Jordyn White (she/her)
— COO, Washington Prodigy / VP of Leadership Development & Research, HRC Foundation - AJ Hikes (they/them)
— Deputy Executive Director, ACLU - RaeShanda Lias (she/her)
— Digital Creator, RL Lockhart - Donna Payne-Hardy (she/her)
— Educator, EEO Specialist, Former Leader at the Human Rights Campaign - Courtney R. Snowden (she/her)
— Principal, Blueprint Strategy Group - Gaye Adegbalola (she/her)
— Musician & Activist, Musician / Inductee of the Blues Hall of Fame - Cheryl A. Head (she/her)
— Independent Author, Novelist (Crime Fiction) - Letitia Gomez (she/her)
— The American LGBTQ+ Museum, Formerly of Voto Latino - Lynne Brown (she/her)
— Publisher, Washington Blade - Shay Franco-Clausen (She/Her/Ella/Queen)
— Political Strategist and Organizer - Melissa L. Bradley (she/her)
— Founder & Managing Partner, New Majority Ventures - Meghann Burke (she/her)
— Executive Director, NWSL Players Association - Victoria Kirby York, MPA (she/they)
— Director of Public Policy & Programs, National Black Justice Coalition - Joli Angel Robinson (she/her)
— CEO, Center on Halsted - Jeannine Frisby LaRue (she/her)
— CEO, Moxie Strategies - Alice Wu (she/her)
— Film Director (Saving Face, The Half of It) / Screenwriter - Storme Webber (she/her)
— Interdisciplinary Artist / Educator, University of Washington - Kim Stone
— CEO of the Washington Spirit, Washington Spirit - Mickalene Thomas
— American Visual Artist, Mickalene Thomas Studio - Erika Lorshbough (any/they/she)
— Executive Director, interACT - J. Gia Loving (she/ella)
— Co-Executive Director, GSA Network
Celebrity News
D.C. goes gaga for Gaga
Bisexual icon brought ‘The Mayhem Ball’ tour to Washington this week
Lady Gaga this week took D.C. by storm.
The bisexual icon and LGBTQ rights champion brought “The Mayhem Ball” tour to Capital One Arena on Monday and Tuesday.
“Abracadabra,” “Paparazzi,” “Applause,” and “Bad Romance” are among the songs Lady Gaga performed during the 2 1/2-hour long concert. Lady Gaga also celebrated her many queer fans.
“You are precious to us,” she said on Tuesday night before she performed “Born This Way.”
‘No Kings’ protests set for D.C.
Border to border: modern slavery and human trafficking in refugee movements across East Africa
New IOC policy bans trans women from Olympics
Introducing the Torchbearers Awards honoring queer, trans women and nonbinary people
Pa. House passes bill to codify marriage equality in state law
PHOTOS: Capital Stonewall Democrats 50th anniversary
‘Inherit the Wind’ isn’t about science vs. religion, but the right to think
Small is beautiful: subcompact SUVs
Polish court rules country must recognize same-sex marriages from EU states
Capital Stonewall Democrats 50th anniversary gala draws sold out crowd
-
Photos3 days agoPHOTOS: Capital Stonewall Democrats 50th anniversary
-
Theater4 days ago
‘Inherit the Wind’ isn’t about science vs. religion, but the right to think
-
Autos4 days ago
Small is beautiful: subcompact SUVs
-
Poland3 days ago
Polish court rules country must recognize same-sex marriages from EU states
