Sports
Row, row, row your boat
Strokes members discovered athletic passion later in life
Sue Jacoby and Christine Wirth, a veteran and a rookie respectively, of the D.C. Strokes Rowing Club. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
In the continuing Blade series on the veterans and rookies that make up the LGBT sports teams in Washington, we take a look at two rowers from the D.C. Strokes Rowing Club.
The Strokes have wrapped up their winter dryland training and took to the Anacostia River for the first time this year just last week. The two women spotlighted here did not have sports backgrounds before joining the Strokes and have since redefined themselves as competitive athletes.
Christine Wirth, who is 25 and from Columbia, Md., noticed the Strokes at the Capital Pride parade and after graduating from the University of Maryland, decided to register for their Learn to Row program in the spring of 2014.
“I tried one semester of rugby in college, but other than academics, I had never been on a team,” Wirth says. “My only sports activities were recreational biking and running.”
Following the completion of her Learn to Row classes, Wirth attended a Strokes barbeque where the veterans were on hand to encourage the rookies to join the novice program.
Wirth signed on and during the first month of the novice program, the veterans serve as volunteer coxswains to help navigate the rookies in their boats so there are no crashes.
“The Strokes offer a lot of interaction with the veterans, which was important because I had so many questions,” says Wirth. “I also enjoyed the women of D.C. Strokes practices on Sundays.”
During the first year of the novice program, the rowers compete in one sprint race and three head races (longer distance). Wirth found that the sport agreed with her in several ways.
“It has been a crazy transition into being an athlete but it suits me really well,” Wirth says. “You use all your muscles in the sport of rowing. Everything burns.”
Wirth completed her first year of winter training and will continue in the novice program this year and compete in four sprint races once the sprint series begins in June at the Stonewall Regatta which is hosted by the Strokes.
“It’s been great meeting people outside of the bar scene,” Wirth says. “I also just ran in my first Rock ‘n’ Roll half marathon and I could definitely feel the benefits of the extra cardio from the Strokes winter dryland training.”
Sue Jacoby also noticed the Strokes in the Capital Pride parades. When she was working on her doctorate, she also looked for them training as she crossed the river bridge. As a gift to herself for completing her Ph.D., she registered for the Learn to Row program in 2007, became hooked on the sport and never looked back.
Jacoby was raised in Florida, moved to D.C. 25 years ago and works as an educational administrator. She also had no experience as an athlete in high school or college.
“I had a phenomenal novice coach who helped me fall in love with rowing,” Jacoby says. “It is a combination of an individual and team sport. In the boat, you can be in sync with three or seven people only to have it change in a moment depending on the water or the team.”
Jacoby went on to join the competitive team and has since raced at USRowing Masters Nationals, the World OutGames and the prestigious Head of the Charles Regatta.
Jacoby is quick to point out that the sport requires a huge commitment. Practices are at 5:30 a.m. and it is often cold and dark. As a veteran, she knows it’s important to welcome rookies, teach them the basics and show them the things that will encourage them to remain in the sport.
“The rookies are the future life blood of the team,” says Jacoby. “They will play a critical role in the growth of the team and furthering the team.”
Jacoby goes on to say that the rookies bring a level of energy, enthusiasm and curiosity that reminds her of all the great things that come from the sport and how lucky she is to be a part of it.
“I am 50 years old and I am mentally, physically and strategically stronger and faster than I have ever been,” says Jacoby. “What I get from this discipline also includes those small moments in practice and racing that I will remember forever.”
Last year at the Head of the Charles, Jacoby watched 86-year-old Mary Stone from California compete in the Senior-Veteran Singles Division and felt some added inspiration.
“I think this is going to be my most competitive summer yet,” Jacoby says. “I love being an athlete.”
(Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Sports
Jason Collins dies at 47
First openly gay man to actively play for major sports team battled brain cancer
Jason Collins, the first openly gay man to actively play for a major professional sports team, died on Tuesday after a battle with brain cancer. He was 47.
The California native had briefly played for the Washington Wizards in 2013 before coming out in a Sports Illustrated op-ed.
Collins in 2014 became the first openly gay man to play in a game for a major American professional sports league when he played 11 minutes during a Brooklyn Nets game. He wore jersey number 98 in honor of Matthew Shepard, a gay college student murdered outside of Laramie, Wyo., in 1998.
Collins told the Washington Blade in 2014 that his life was “exponentially better” since he came out. Collins the same year retired from the National Basketball Association after 13 seasons.
Collins married his husband, Brunson Green, in May 2025.
The NBA last September announced Collins had begun treatment for a brain tumor. Collins on Dec. 11, 2025, announced he had Stage 4 glioblastoma.
“We are heartbroken to share that Jason Collins, our beloved husband, son, brother and uncle, has died after a valiant fight with glioblastoma,” said Collins’s family in a statement the NBA released. “Jason changed lives in unexpected ways and was an inspiration to all who knew him and to those who admired him from afar. We are grateful for the outpouring of love and prayers over the past eight months and for the exceptional medical care Jason received from his doctors and nurses. Our family will miss him dearly.”
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Collins’s “impact and influence extended far beyond basketball as he helped make the NBA, WNBA, and larger sports community more inclusive and welcoming for future generations.”
“He exemplified outstanding leadership and professionalism throughout his 13-year NBA career and in his dedicated work as an NBA Cares Ambassador,” said Silver. “Jason will be remembered not only for breaking barriers, but also for the kindness and humanity that defined his life and touched so many others.”
“To call Jason Collins a groundbreaking figure for our community is simply inadequate. We truly lost a giant today,” added Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson in a statement. “He came out as gay — while still playing — at a time when men’s athletes simply did not do that. But as he powerfully demonstrated in his final years in the league and his post-NBA career, stepping forward as he did boldly changed the conversation.”
“He was and will always be a legend for the LGBTQ+ community, and we are heartbroken to hear of his passing at the young age of 47,” she said. “Our hearts go out to his family and loved ones. We will keep fighting on in his honor until the day everyone can be who they are on their terms.”
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.
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