Sports
‘Game Face’ explores out athletes
Clemens, Fox share stories in new doc
Michiel Thomas introducing a screening of his film ‘Game Face.’ (Photo courtesy Thomas)
When Michiel Thomas was planning his first feature documentary, he wanted to create a better understanding about the athletes in the LGBT sports community. As a gay athlete, it’s topic he’s passionate about.
The resulting film is powerful. “Game Face” ollows the path of MMA fighter Fallon Fox and college basketball player Terrence Clemens. Both athletes began their sports careers in the closet before revealing that they were transgender (Fox) and gay (Clemens).
The film is an emotional rollercoaster as it showcases the inner conflicts, highs and lows that happen as the two athletes try to be the best they can be with the obstacles they face.
“I wanted to show that Fallon and Terrence are people just like everyone else. There are still so many misunderstandings,” Thomas says. “The LGBT teen suicide rate is through the roof and I have LGBT friends who have lost scholarships, friends and teammates. I wanted to educate in a compelling way.”
Thomas was born and raised in Neerpelt, Belgium and ran track and field until he became fixated on basketball at age 12. At 16, he was selected to be a junior player with Bree, a Belgian First Division professional team.
He left the team after three years realizing that at a height of 6’1” he was not tall enough to have a professional career. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in filmmaking in Brussels, Thomas headed to the Los Angeles area to pursue broadcasting and journalism and received another degree from Santa Monica College.
At 29, he now makes his living doing freelance camera work and editing. He found it tough as a first-time filmmaker getting his feature documentary picked up by film festivals. For the first five months there was no response and then it finally opened at the Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival in April. It has been screening ever since almost every weekend in film festivals all over the world.
“It has been a very satisfying year,” Thomas says. “The film has won several awards and was even screened by the Olympic Committees in Oslo, Norway and Rio de Janeiro.”
Thomas says the most satisfying thing to come from the film has been the evolution of his subjects. Fox and Clemens who were both nervous when the movie came out.
“The first Q&A with Terrence was in Miami and he was very shy. It has been very cool to see both him and Fallon blossom into doing speaking engagements,” Thomas says. “I was hoping all along that this would create opportunities for both of them. I think they will inspire many people.”
As for Thomas, he has been happily a part of the National Gay Basketball Association’s tournaments playing for five years with the L.A. Dream and now playing with 3 the Hard Way. He will be competing in the Daytona tournament next month.
“We are currently in talks to have the film distributed to the public and I look forward to more people to seeing my work,” he says.
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.
The Washington Capitals will host Pride Night on Saturday, Jan. 17, when they host the Florida Panthers at Capital One Arena. A special ticket offer featuring a Pride-themed Capitals rainbow jersey is available at washcaps.com.
Fans are invited to a pre-game Block Party at District E beginning at 5 p.m. The event will feature a performance by the band NovaKane. Specialty happy hour food and beverages will be available, as well as giveaways. There will also be a presence by several local LGBTQ+ community organizations.
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