Sports
An athlete and an ally
Hudson Taylor continues his LGBT advocacy on and off the mats
Hudson Taylor and his wife were wed in D.C., because they wanted to get married in a place where their gay friends enjoy the same opportunity. (Blade photo by Pete Exis)
When you listen to Hudson Taylor speak, you hear words like “diversity,” “respect,” “inclusion” and “safe space.” Those may be common words for LGBT rights advocates, but Taylor is anything but common. He is a recently married 24-year-old straight man who spent most of his life going to the mats to hone his skills in the sport of wrestling. Now, he is going to the mat for us, the LGBT community.
We have been lucky in the past year to see a growing list of straight sports allies speaking out against bullying and discrimination in sports. Ben Cohen, Charles Barkley, Brian Burke and Paul Tagliabue are just a few to grab national headlines recently.
With all the attention that Taylor has been generating lately, I found myself curious as to why one person was making such a difference. Hudson and his wife Lia were at the Team DC Champions Awards/College Scholarship reception in October at the HRC Building, with Taylor being the keynote speaker. After several hours of mingling with the guests and award recipients, the duo had managed to charm the socks off of everyone in attendance. Both are sincere and charismatic.
Taylor’s journey to LGBT advocacy began at the University of Maryland where he was a theater major and a three-time All-American in wrestling. Over the course of his collegiate career, he noticed the difference between the welcoming atmospheres of the theater community and the homophobic environment of the locker room.
After HRC came to the campus looking for supporters and volunteers, Taylor began wearing an HRC sticker on his wrestling headgear that made national headlines. Outsports wrote an article about him in February 2010 and Taylor subsequently received more than 2,000 emails from supporters and young, closeted teens.
When asked about the responsibility that comes with having troubled teens asking for direction, Taylor responds, “It is a difficult responsibility and I am not a trained professional. I am, however, a good listener and capable of pointing people to a safe space.”
With all the attention that he was generating, Taylor decided to put law school on hold and create his own non-profit organization, Athlete Ally. The organization encourages people to make a pledge to respect and welcome all types of athletes. In the future the organization hopes to become a resource to connect young people with others like them.
Taylor and Lia have finished up their schooling at the University of Maryland and George Washington University respectively, and are currently living in New York City where Taylor is an assistant wrestling coach at Columbia University and Lia is practicing law.
Taylor continues to speak nationally about diversity, inclusion and respect to high schools, colleges and corporations such as Nike and Walmart. Lia said, “The reception has been huge with some of the venues holding up to 3,000 people.”
Taylor was recently named to the advisory board of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network’s (GLSEN) new sports initiative, “Changing the Game.” The mission of the initiative is to assist K-12 schools in creating and maintaining an athletic and physical education climate that is based on the core principles of respect, safety and equal access for all. “We will be creating programs to educate coaches, administrators, parents, students and fans,” Hudson said.
Why do we need groups like Athlete Ally and GLSEN? There are hundreds, probably thousands, of LGBT teenagers in America who are not playing sports because they fear the repercussions of joining a community that is historically unwelcoming. Try to imagine what would happen if the sports community was as welcoming as say, the theater community.
In the middle of all the changes going on in their lives, Taylor and Lia were married in Washington, D.C., in September of 2011. When I asked why they were married in D.C. (they are from New Jersey and New York respectively), the response was incredibly touching.
“When we first started planning the wedding, the Marriage Equality Act in New York had not yet passed,” Taylor said. “We wanted to stay true to our values as many of our friends were unable to get married in New York.”
In the coming months, Taylor will also make a run at the 2012 Olympic wrestling team. “I have been wrestling since I was 5 years old and I still love to compete,” he said. “I will participate in a few upcoming tournaments to see if a run at the 2012 Olympics is plausible.”
Based on what he has accomplished in his life so far, I wouldn’t bet against him. Hudson Taylor, you rock. You can make the pledge and/or donate to this worthy cause at athleteally.org.
Sports
Blade, Pride House LA announce 2028 Olympics partnership
Media sponsorship to amplify stories of LGBTQ athletes
The Los Angeles Blade and Washington Blade on Friday announced a media partnership with the Out Athlete Fund, which will produce Pride House LA for the 2028 Summer Olympics.
Pride House is the home for LGBTQ fans and athletes that will become a destination during the L.A. Summer Games in West Hollywood in partnership with the City of WeHo. This 17-day celebration for LGBTQ athletes and fans will include medal ceremonies for out athletes, interactive installations, speakers, concerts, and more.
The Los Angeles Blade will serve as the exclusive L.A.-area queer media sponsor for Pride House LA and the Washington Blade will support the efforts and amplify coverage of the 2028 Games.
The Blade will provide exclusive coverage of Pride House plans, including interviews with queer athletes and more. The parties will share content and social media posts raising awareness of the Blade and Out Athlete Fund. The Blade will have media credentials and VIP access for related events.
“We are excited to partner with the Washington Blade, the oldest LGBTQ newspaper in the United States and the Los Angeles Blade, already a strong supporter of Out Athlete Fund and Pride House LA/West Hollywood,” said Michael Ferrera, CEO of Pride House LA. “Our mission is about increasing the visibility of LGBTQ+ athletes and fans to challenge the historical hostility toward our community in the sports world. Visibility is what publications like the Washington and Los Angeles publications are all about. We know they will play a key part in our success.”
“LGBTQ visibility has never been more important and we are thrilled to work with Out Athlete Fund and Pride House LA to tell the stories of queer athletes and ensure the 2028 Summer Games are inclusive and affirming for everyone,” said Blade Editor Kevin Naff.
Out Athlete Fund is a 501(c)3 designed to raise money to offset the training cost of out LGBTQ athletes in need of funding for training. The Washington Blade is the nation’s oldest LGBTQ news outlet; the Los Angeles Blade is its sister publication founded nine years ago.
More than 40 openly LGBTQ athletes are expected to compete in the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics that open on Friday.
Outsports.com notes eight Americans — including speedskater Conor McDermott-Mostowy and figure skater Amber Glenn — are among the 44 openly LGBTQ athletes who will compete in the games. The LGBTQ sports website also reports Ellis Lundholm, a mogul skier from Sweden, is the first openly transgender athlete to compete in any Winter Olympics.
“I’ve always been physically capable. That was never a question,” Glenn told Outsports.com. “It was always a mental and competence problem. It was internal battles for so long: when to lean into my strengths and when to work on my weaknesses, when to finally let myself portray the way I am off the ice on the ice. That really started when I came out publicly.”
McDermott-Mostowy is among the six athletes who have benefitted from the Out Athlete Fund, a group that has paid for their Olympics-related training and travel. The other beneficiaries are freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy, speed skater Brittany Bowe, snowboarder Maddy Schaffrick, alpine skier Breezy Johnson, and Paralympic Nordic skier Jake Adicoff.
Out Athlete Fund and Pride House Los Angeles – West Hollywood on Friday will host a free watch party for the opening ceremony.
“When athletes feel seen and accepted, they’re free to focus on their performance, not on hiding who they are,” Haley Caruso, vice president of the Out Athlete Fund’s board of directors, told the Los Angeles Blade.
Four Italian LGBTQ advocacy groups — Arcigay, CIG Arcigay Milano, Milano Pride, and Pride Sport Milano — have organized the games’ Pride House that will be located at the MEET Digital Culture Center in Milan.
Pride House on its website notes it will “host a diverse calendar of events and activities curated by associations, activists, and cultural organizations that share the values of Pride” during the games. These include an opening ceremony party at which Checcoro, Milan’s first LGBTQ chorus, will perform.
ILGA World, which is partnering with Pride House, is the co-sponsor of a Feb. 21 event that will focus on LGBTQ-inclusion in sports. Valentina Petrillo, a trans Paralympian, is among those will participate in a discussion that Simone Alliva, a journalist who writes for the Italian newspaper Domani, will moderate.
“The event explores inclusivity in sport — including amateur levels — with a focus on transgender people, highlighting the role of civil society, lived experiences, and the voices of athletes,” says Milano Pride on its website.
The games will take place against the backdrop of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee’s decision to ban trans women from competing in women’s sporting events.
President Donald Trump last February issued an executive order that bans trans women and girls from female sports teams in the U.S. A group of Republican lawmakers in response to the directive demanded the International Olympics Committee ban trans athletes from women’s athletic competitions.
The IOC in 2021 adopted its “Framework on Fairness, Inclusion and Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity and Sex Variations” that includes the following provisions:
• 3.1 Eligibility criteria should be established and implemented fairly and in a manner that does not systematically exclude athletes from competition based upon their gender identity, physical appearance and/or sex variations.
• 3.2 Provided they meet eligibility criteria that are consistent with principle 4 (“Fairness”, athletes should be allowed to compete in the category that best aligns with their self-determined gender identity.
• 3.3 Criteria to determine disproportionate competitive advantage may, at times, require testing of an athlete’s performance and physical capacity. However, no athlete should be subject to targeted testing because of, or aimed at determining, their sex, gender identity and/or sex variations.
The 2034 Winter Olympics are scheduled to take place in Salt Lake City. The 2028 Summer Olympics will occur in Los Angeles.
Sports
‘Heated Rivalry’ stars to participate in Olympic torch relay
Games to take place next month in Italy
“Heated Rivalry” stars Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie will participate in the Olympic torch relay ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics that will take place next month in Italy.
HBO Max, which distributes “Heated Rivalry” in the U.S., made the announcement on Thursday in a press release.
The games will take place in Milan and Cortina from Feb. 6-22. The HBO Max announcement did not specifically say when Williams and Storrie will participate in the torch relay.
Spanberger signs bill that paves way for marriage amendment repeal referendum
Blade, Pride House LA announce 2028 Olympics partnership
D.C. non-profits find creative ways to aid the unhoused amid funding cuts
Celebrate Black History Month
Calendar: February 6-12
Unconventional homes becoming more popular
Out dancer on Alvin Ailey’s stint at Warner Theatre
D.C. Council urged to improve ‘weakened’ PrEP insurance bill
LGBTQ Minnesotans speak out amid ICE crackdowns
