Sports
In sync
D.C. Strokes celebrate 20th anniversary with Regatta
The D.C. Strokes in action. (Photo by Kevin Majoros)
If you have had the pleasure of strolling along the banks of the Anacostia River, then you have probably been witness to the members of the DC Strokes Rowing Club. The beauty and mystique of the athletes rowing in sync can be mesmerizing.
I recently asked a Strokes member how he got started with the club and his response did not surprise me. He frequently rode his bike along the Anacostia and became transfixed with watching the rowers. With no previous rowing experience, he became a member and is now competing in regattas.
The Club began in 1991 with eight gay runners looking for a cross-training activity. It has grown into a multifaceted LGBT sports club offering all sorts of programs for all levels of rowers. The club is based at the Anacostia Community Boathouse and is entering its 20th season boasting over 150 members with more than 2,000 alumni.
On Sunday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., the Strokes will host the 18th annual Stonewall Regatta. In 1994 during preparations for the New York Gay Games, the Club discovered there were no other competitions for LGBT rowers. They quickly organized a regatta in New York’s Pelham State Park and named it in honor of the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall riots. The event was such a success that it was brought home to D.C. where it has since been held every June.
This year’s event will feature athletes from as far away as Chicago competing in 32 events. The Women’s Masters 4+ race alone has 24 entries and the Men’s Master 4+ has 22 entries. The Pennsylvania Ave SE Bridge as well as the Anacostia Boathouse launching platform offer ideal viewing of the races. Parking is available at the Washington Navy Yard.
The programs maintained by the D.C. Strokes include something for everyone. There is Winter Erg training, a Pre-Season camp, a Learn to Row program, a Novice program, a Club program and a Competitive program. With the Eastern seaboard colleges being chock-full of crew teams, the Strokes also established a program for rowers who are in D.C. for the summer. The College Rower program offers the athletes a chance to take advantage of their time off from studies. Many of the alumni from this program have returned to college and posted their best times.
The Club is a member organization of the United States Rowing Association (USRowing) which is 16,000 members strong and recognized as the governing body for the sport of rowing in the United States. This weekend’s Stonewall Regatta does not just promote rowing in the LGBT community, it also kicks off the circuit of adult sprint race competitions in the mid-Atlantic region.
Community outreach has been a longstanding tradition for the D.C. Strokes. Brian Heath, president, says 2011 brings three new ventures for the rowers. The Strokes, along with USRowing and the Anacostia Community Boathouse Association has formed a partnership with Athletes Without Limits. The program is called “America Rows” and will be a launching pad for athletes with intellectual disabilities and Paralympic dreams. Volunteers from the Strokes are training the athletes for several 2011 regattas. More information on the program can be found at www.athleteswithoutlimits.us.
This year saw the Club offer scholarships to economically challenged individuals who were granted access to their Learn to Row program. Awards were granted to two members of the LGBT community which enabled them the opportunity to row with the Strokes.
Also on the docket for the Strokes this summer is a partnership with the D.C. Department of Parks & Recreation. Coming on the heels of filling all 80 slots in their own Learn to Row program, the Strokes will be volunteering instruction for city youths in a week long Learn to Row program.
Watch the Strokes in action this weekend on the Anacostia. For anyone who doubts the competitiveness of this group, they won a gold and two bronze medals at the 2009 US Masters Nationals and are always looking to better themselves.
For more information, go here.
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.’”
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