Sports
Twisting and twirling
Local gay daredevils can get an adrenaline rush on the trapeze
MYOB Adventures is offering flying trapeze lessons on two Saturdays in February at the Navy Yard. (Photo courtesy of Kevin Majoros)
Even though the days have been cold and the nights even colder, the local LGBT sports groups are still finding ways to be active.
“Forget fear – Worry about the addiction” is the motto for MYOB Adventures series of flying trapeze lessons at the Navy Yard. The next sessions are scheduled for Feb. 12 and 19. Each session is $80 and is limited to 10 people. Contact [email protected] for more information.
MYOB Adventures is also offering a snow tubing day trip at Whitetail Ski Resort on Jan. 29. The package will include luxury bus transportation, two hours of snow tubing and lunch. Contact [email protected] to sign up.
The D.C. Ice Breakers will be joined by the Federal Triangles Soccer Club on Feb. 16 from 8:15 to 9:15 p.m. at the Kettler Capitals Iceplex in Arlington, Va. Skating is $8 and skate rental is $3. After the skate, join the group at Bailey’s Pub for socializing. Details can be found here.
The D.C. Gay Flag Football League (DCGFFL) has just closed registration for its spring season which begins Feb. 6. The second season registration topped out at a jaw-dropping 180 players. Members play at the Carter Barron fields and you can still get on the wait list at www.dcgffl.org.
Join the Adventuring Outdoors Group for its annual trek to Pennsylvania for the Gettysburg Battlefield Hike on Sunday. The hike through Gettysburg will feature the area northwest of town where the first day’s battle was fought on July 1, 1863, an action ending with a deceptively convincing Rebel triumph that planted the seeds for their ultimate defeat.
Total length of the hike should not exceed 8 miles over gently rolling and potentially icy and/or muddy terrain. Bring beverages, lunch and about $12 for fees. The group will carpool at 9 a.m. from the Grosvenor-Strathmore Metro Station and will be back by dinnertime. Contact [email protected] for more information.
The Adventuring Outdoors Group is also offering a much shorter hike on Jan. 30. The hike at Scott’s Run Nature Preserve is near the Capital Beltway’s American Legion Bridge. Total length of the hike will not exceed 3 miles and will go past the waterfall on Scott’s Run and along the Potomac River as well as up and down the palisades of the Potomac. Bring beverages, lunch and $3 trip fee as well as fees for non-drivers. The group will at 10 a.m. at a place to be determined near the Pentagon City Metro to carpool to the site and will return by 3:30 p.m. Contact [email protected].
The organizers of the Capital Queer Prom will be hosting a Wizards Night Out on Feb. 5 versus the Atlanta Hawks at 7 p.m. Tickets are $32 with $10 of each ticket going to the Capital Queer Prom which helps benefit the Capital Youth Alliance. The after party is at Nellies Sports Bar. Tickets can be purchased here.
Team D.C. is hosting a casino night on Feb. 19 from 9 p.m. to midnight at Buffalo Billiards. Members will be joined by the Washington Wetskins (water polo), Federal Triangles Soccer Club, D.C. Gay Flag Football, District of Columbia Aquatics Club (swimming), D.C. Strokes (rowing), Capital Area Rainbowlers Association (bowling) and the D.C. Ice Breakers (ice skating).
There will be blackjack tables, poker tables and a billiards tournament. Buffalo Billiards is located at Dupont Circle where you will find four 10-foot TV screens, 40 flat screens, seven dart boards, 18 pool tables, nine table shuffleboards, three full bars and lots of great food. Check it out at buffalobilliards.com/dc.
Sports
Attitude! French ice dancers nail ‘Vogue’ routine
Cizeron and Fournier Beaudry strike a pose in memorable Olympics performance
Madonna’s presence is being felt at the Olympic Games in Italy.
Guillaume Cizeron and his rhythm ice dancing partner Laurence Fournier Beaudry of France performed a flawless skate to Madonna’s “Vogue” and “Rescue Me” on Monday.
The duo scored an impressive 90.18 for their effort, the best score of the night.
“We’ve been working hard the whole season to get over 90, so it was nice to see the score on the screen,” Fournier Beaudry told Olympics.com. “But first of all, just coming out off the ice, we were very happy about what we delivered and the pleasure we had out there. With the energy of the crowd, it was really amazing.”
Watch the routine on YouTube here.
Italy
Olympics Pride House ‘really important for the community’
Italy lags behind other European countries in terms of LGBTQ rights
The four Italian advocacy groups behind the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics’ Pride House hope to use the games to highlight the lack of LGBTQ rights in their country.
Arcigay, CIG Arcigay Milano, Milano Pride, and Pride Sport Milano organized the Pride House that is located in Milan’s MEET Digital Culture Center. The Washington Blade on Feb. 5 interviewed Pride House Project Manager Joseph Naklé.
Naklé in 2020 founded Peacox Basket Milano, Italy’s only LGBTQ basketball team. He also carried the Olympic torch through Milan shortly before he spoke with the Blade. (“Heated Rivalry” stars Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie last month participated in the torch relay in Feltre, a town in Italy’s Veneto region.)
Naklé said the promotion of LGBTQ rights in Italy is “actually our main objective.”
ILGA-Europe in its Rainbow Map 2025 notes same-sex couples lack full marriage rights in Italy, and the country’s hate crimes law does not include sexual orientation or gender identity. Italy does ban discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment, but the country’s nondiscrimination laws do not include gender identity.
ILGA-Europe has made the following recommendations “in order to improve the legal and policy situation of LGBTI people in Italy.”
• Marriage equality for same-sex couples
• Depathologization of trans identities
• Automatic co-parent recognition available for all couples
“We are not really known to be the most openly LGBT-friendly country,” Naklé told the Blade. “That’s why it (Pride House) was really important for the community.”
“We want to use the Olympic games — because there is a big media attention — and we want to use this media attention to raise the voice,” he added.
Naklé noted Pride House will host “talks and roundtables every night” during the games that will focus on a variety of topics that include transgender and nonbinary people in sports and AI. Another will focus on what Naklé described to the Blade as “the importance of political movements now to fight for our rights, especially in places such as Italy or the U.S. where we are going backwards, and not forwards.”
Seven LGBTQ Olympians — Italian swimmer Alex Di Giorgio, Canadian ice dancers Paul Poirier and Kaitlyn Weaver, Canadian figure skater Eric Radford, Spanish figure skater Javier Raya, Scottish ice dancer Lewis Gibson, and Irish field hockey and cricket player Nikki Symmons — are scheduled to participate in Pride House’s Out and Proud event on Feb. 14.
Pride House Los Angeles – West Hollywood representatives are expected to speak at Pride House on Feb. 21.
The event will include a screening of Mariano Furlani’s documentary about Pride House and LGBTQ inclusion in sports. The MiX International LGBTQ+ Film and Queer Culture Festival will screen later this year in Milan. Pride House Los Angeles – West Hollywood is also planning to show the film during the 2028 Summer Olympics.
Naklé also noted Pride House has launched an initiative that allows LGBTQ sports teams to partner with teams whose members are either migrants from African and Islamic countries or people with disabilities.
“The objective is to show that sports is the bridge between these communities,” he said.
Bisexual US skier wins gold
Naklé spoke with the Blade a day before the games opened. The Milan Cortina Winter Olympics will close on Feb. 22.
More than 40 openly LGBTQ athletes are competing in the games.
Breezy Johnson, an American alpine skier who identifies as bisexual, on Sunday won a gold medal in the women’s downhill. Amber Glenn, who identifies as bisexual and pansexual, on the same day helped the U.S. win a gold medal in team figure skating.
Glenn said she received threats on social media after she told reporters during a pre-Olympics press conference that LGBTQ Americans are having a “hard time” with the Trump-Vance administration in the White House. The Associated Press notes Glenn wore a Pride pin on her jacket during Sunday’s medal ceremony.
“I was disappointed because I’ve never had so many people wish me harm before, just for being me and speaking about being decent — human rights and decency,” said Glenn, according to the AP. “So that was really disappointing, and I do think it kind of lowered that excitement for this.”
Puerto Rico
Bad Bunny shares Super Bowl stage with Ricky Martin, Lady Gaga
Puerto Rican activist celebrates half time show
Bad Bunny on Sunday shared the stage with Ricky Martin and Lady Gaga at the Super Bowl halftime show in Santa Clara, Calif.
Martin came out as gay in 2010. Gaga, who headlined the 2017 Super Bowl halftime show, is bisexual. Bad Bunny has championed LGBTQ rights in his native Puerto Rico and elsewhere.
“Not only was a sophisticated political statement, but it was a celebration of who we are as Puerto Ricans,” Pedro Julio Serrano, president of the LGBTQ+ Federation of Puerto Rico, told the Washington Blade on Monday. “That includes us as LGBTQ+ people by including a ground-breaking superstar and legend, Ricky Martin singing an anti-colonial anthem and showcasing Young Miko, an up-and-coming star at La Casita. And, of course, having queer icon Lady Gaga sing salsa was the cherry on the top.”
La Casita is a house that Bad Bunny included in his residency in San Juan, the Puerto Rican capital, last year. He recreated it during the halftime show.
“His performance brought us together as Puerto Ricans, as Latin Americans, as Americans (from the Americas) and as human beings,” said Serrano. “He embraced his own words by showcasing, through his performance, that the ‘only thing more powerful than hate is love.’”
U.S. Attorney’s Office drops hate crime charge in anti-gay assault
N.Y. lawmaker vows ‘Pride flag will fly again’ at Stonewall Monument
Attitude! French ice dancers nail ‘Vogue’ routine
Philippines Supreme Court rules same-sex couples can co-own property
Disney’s Gay Days ‘has not been canceled’ despite political challenges
D.C. bar Rush facing eviction on charge of failing to pay rent
LGBTQ Venezuelans in Colombia uncertain about homeland’s future
Blade, Pride House LA announce 2028 Olympics partnership
Calendar: February 6-12
