Sports
‘I’m going to be myself’
Lacrosse player happy to be role model for gay youth
From left are Andrew Goldstein, Braeden Lange and Nick Welton at the Courage Game match. (Photo courtesy Goldstein)
During a 2005 segment on ESPN’s SportsCenter, Dartmouth lacrosse goalie Andrew Goldstein uttered the words, “I’m gay, this is me. I’m going to be myself. I’m not going to hide because you like it.”
Goldstein had come out to friends and teammates in 2003, but those were courageous words to speak publicly considering the climate of sports culture at the time, especially team sports.
Goldstein was a two-time all-American lacrosse player and after graduating from Dartmouth in 2005, he was drafted by the Boston Cannons and became the first openly gay team-sport athlete to be signed by a professional sports team.
The following summer he was picked up by the Long Island Lizards and played one season with them before ending his lacrosse career to pursue his Ph.D. in molecular biology.
Sports were a big part of Goldstein’s life as a youth in Milton, Mass., and he grew up playing soccer, football, ice hockey and lacrosse. Before leaving for UCLA to begin his doctoral studies, he returned to his first sport of ice hockey and played with the LGBT team, Boston Pride Hockey.
After arriving in the Los Angeles area, Goldstein joined the L.A. Blades ice hockey team and played with them at the 2010 Gay Games in Cologne, Germany. His return to lacrosse happened in 2013 when he was recruited by the Israeli national lacrosse team where he found himself in the spotlight again.
A year and a half later, across the country in Philadelphia, a 12-year-old lacrosse player came out as gay and found himself struggling with the process. Braeden Lange’s father remembered Goldstein’s story and reached out to him.
“Braeden’s story brought up so many memories about my own experience,” Goldstein says. “I had been through the same struggles he was going through. I had been there.”
Goldstein filmed a video of support to send to Braeden and asked four other gay lacrosse players to do the same. The pair ended up meeting in person in Philadelphia in April.
“When I first met him, we simply played catch with lacrosse sticks for two hours,” Goldstein says. “Meeting him gave all those years of holding it inside a purpose. That I could share that with Braeden meant a lot.”
The game of catch that day sparked a seed that had been planted in Goldstein’s head the prior year by Seattle-based lacrosse player and coach, Nick Welton, who had reached out to Goldstein about starting a high-performance LGBT lacrosse team that would represent the LGBT community and its allies. They then realized they only knew three other gay players.
The idea evolved into organizing a “Courage Game” for Braeden and any other young athlete who deserves to know that there is LGBT support in the lacrosse community. Welton took the lead on the project and brought on Lacrosse All Stars and You Can Play as sponsors.
“It started as an adult pick-up game and grew from there to include kids,” Welton says. “We knew the Division I National Championship lacrosse game would be in Philadelphia so we planned the event for the same weekend in May. We wanted to present the game of lacrosse as it is played.”
Idaho native Welton grew up playing lacrosse, continued in college at Lehigh University and now plays with Cooper’s Lacrosse Club in the Seattle-area. He coaches youth through high school lacrosse at Bellevue.
The resulting Courage Game and the subsequent special on Goldstein and Lange on ESPN’s SportsCenter, was a testament to what can be accomplished through support, community and role models.
“It’s important for young players to have positive reinforcement from older players,” Welton says. “We are planning to hold the Courage Game again next year with the intent to bring on female lacrosse players for a game.”
Andrew Goldstein can be found these days, happily married to husband Jamie Duneier in L.A., involved in his research with prostate cancer and working towards being a professor at UCLA. He is also back playing ice hockey and speaks at high schools to raise awareness.
“The game is where all that other stuff gets left behind,” says Goldstein referring to the power of sports. “I wanted Braeden to know that sports will always be there for him.”
Goldstein will be speaking at the Team DC’s Night of Champions Awards Dinner at the Washington Hilton on Nov. 7.
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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