Sports
Teaming up
U.S. Tennis Association continues partnership with gay group
Jonathan O’Brien on his way to the finals at a recent Gay and Lesbian Tennis Alliance tournament, the Capital Classic XXII, hosted by the Capital Tennis Association. (Photo courtesy Chris Burch Photography)
The last three years have seen much attention on the diversity training and programs that are in place in professional sports in the United States.
In 1993, the United States Tennis Association began an initiative to focus on minority participation in the tennis community. By 2003, the initiative became a department known as USTA Diversity & Inclusion.
They have established five targeted guides to reach out to key minority communities across the United States that include African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, Hispanics and the LGBT community.
The guides are distributed to local programs and clubs and community tennis associations throughout the 17 established geographical Association sections in the United States with the goal that anyone from anywhere should be able to compete and play the sport of tennis.
“This outreach program has been built to attract and retain members in the USTA,” says D.A. Abrams, chief diversity officer of the Association. “Diversity is fine, but you need the inclusion.”
Back in 2010, the Gay and Lesbian Tennis Alliance met with the Association for the first time to discuss how they could both benefit from collaborating together.
The Alliance is the international governing body for the LGBT tennis community and sponsors about 65 tournaments for its 10,000 members throughout the world. Just last month, the two governing bodies signed a partnership agreement which will create a formal link between the two entities.
“The fact that a national governing body such as the USTA has partnered with the international GLTA speaks volumes about their commitment to us,” says Dan Merrithew, Alliance commissioner/secretary.
The Association was established in 1881, has 700,000 members and invests 100 percent of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tennis, from the grassroots level to the professional levels.
The only tennis organization the United States Tennis Association has ever partnered with before this agreement is the American Tennis Association, which is the oldest African-American sports organization in the United States.
“We don’t normally sponsor or partner with tennis organizations,” says Abrams of the United States Tennis Association. “This partnership was a mixture of a good business decision and the right thing to do.”
The partnership agreement will involve tournament support, advertising, media associated with tours, press releases, logos, merchandise and more.
The Alliance hosts an annual tour championship where the top eight ranked players in each division (Open, A, B, C, D singles and doubles) compete for the respective world titles, becoming essentially an LGBT Grand Slam of tennis.
The event rotates between two consecutive years in North America followed by one year in Europe. At the championship in Palm Springs, CA from Feb. 6-8, the event will be titled the GLTA World Tour Championships sponsored by the United States Tennis Association.
According to Merrithew, the partnership is going to offer more exposure for LGBT tennis clubs around the United States and encourage more players to join.
“Tennis is still very much a white country club sport in the United States and many people don’t feel welcome in the USTA leagues,” Merrithew says. “This partnership sends a clear message to kids that it is OK to be gay and play tennis.”
Another area that will be addressed in the outreach is the pockets of the U.S. where there are no LGBT tennis clubs such as North Dakota and South Dakota along with outreach in other countries around the world.
The Alliance now has a tournament and club in Cape Town, South Africa and is in the process of developing clubs in South America.
There is still one more thing that the Alliance is hoping to achieve.
“LGBT Day at the U.S. Open is something that many of us have been thinking about for a long time,” Merrithew says.
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.
More than a dozen LGBTQ athletes won medals at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics that ended on Sunday.
Cayla Barnes, Hilary Knight, and Alex Carpenter are LGBTQ members of the U.S. women’s hockey team that won a gold medal after they defeated Canada in overtime. Knight the day before the Feb. 19 match proposed to her girlfriend, Brittany Bowe, an Olympic speed skater.
French ice dancer Guillaume Cizeron, who is gay, and his partner Laurence Fournier Beaudry won gold. American alpine skier Breezy Johnson, who is bisexual, won gold in the women’s downhill. Amber Glenn, who identifies as bisexual and pansexual, was part of the American figure skating team that won gold in the team event.
Swiss freestyle skier Mathilde Gremaud, who is in a relationship with Vali Höll, an Austrian mountain biker, won gold in women’s freeski slopestyle.
Bruce Mouat, who is the captain of the British curling team that won a silver medal, is gay. Six members of the Canadian women’s hockey team — Emily Clark, Erin Ambrose, Emerance Maschmeyer, Brianne Jenner, Laura Stacey, and Marie-Philip Poulin — that won silver are LGBTQ.
Swedish freestyle skier Sandra Naeslund, who is a lesbian, won a bronze medal in ski cross.
Belgian speed skater Tineke den Dulk, who is bisexual, was part of her country’s mixed 2000-meter relay that won bronze. Canadian ice dancer Paul Poirier, who is gay, and his partner, Piper Gilles, won bronze.
Laura Zimmermann, who is queer, is a member of the Swiss women’s hockey team that won bronze when they defeated Sweden.
Outsports.com notes all of the LGBTQ Olympians who competed at the games and who medaled.
Sports
US wins Olympic gold medal in women’s hockey
Team captain Hilary Knight proposed to girlfriend on Wednesday
The U.S. women’s hockey team on Thursday won a gold medal at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.
Team USA defeated Canada 2-1 in overtime. The game took place a day after Team USA captain Hilary Knight proposed to her girlfriend, Brittany Bowe, an Olympic speed skater.
Cayla Barnes and Alex Carpenter — Knight’s teammates — are also LGBTQ. They are among the more than 40 openly LGBTQ athletes who are competing in the games.
The Olympics will end on Sunday.
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