Sports
Lambda Divers relaunch gay scuba group
Organization planning more events
Ross Yerger, left, and Brian Goldthorpe of Lambda Divers in Belize. (Photo courtesy Yerger)
After being formed in 1989 by David Bress, Lambda Divers enjoyed a long period of success promoting recreational scuba diving to the LGBT community in the D.C. area.
Over the years, their participation at the international Diving for Life event has raised more than $200,000 for local LGBT charities with a focus on HIV/AIDS prevention.
That all ended in 2014 when everyone involved in the organization found themselves at a crossroads in terms of their interests and direction.
Toward the end of last year, they reconvened and conducted a survey as to what the members wanted to accomplish going forward. They found there was enough interest to relaunch the group.
In January of this year, a new board was formed and the divers rejoined Team D.C. Their first focus was to kick-off a membership drive with their first two big pushes at Team D.C. SportsFest and Capital Pride. The Pride Festival resulted in 68 new email addresses from interested parties.
Their next course of action was to partner with Blue Planet Scuba to launch their Discover Scuba Splash Party at Gallaudet University followed by a happy hour at H Street Country Club.
“We had instructors working poolside to introduce people to the experience of scuba diving,” says Vice President Ross Yerger. “It’s important to show them what they need to be comfortable under the water.”
The group is planning more Discover Scuba events and happy hours to continue the push for new members. They were expecting to sponsor their first dive in 2017 but that changed when they were approached by David Bress, one of the original founders of Lambda Divers.
“David has completed 998 dives,” Yerger says, “and he wanted Diving for Life to be his 1,000th dive.”
In the diving community, multiple clubs sponsor the same trip to obtain group rates and defray costs. The local divers have attached themselves to two international events coming up later this year.
Yerger, who works as a federal agent in D.C., received his diving certification right after graduating from Penn State University. After several years of not diving, he rediscovered his love for scuba diving on a trip to Puerto Rico. He met the Lambda Divers through a friend in 2009 and is looking forward to the future of the club.
“The happy hours we are going to host in between the diving trips helps to keep people engaged,” Yerger says. “We are going to target quieter settings for the get-togethers so people have a better chance to talk and share photos from prior trips.”
They have trips planned to Bonaire (Sept. 10-17), Lake Phoenix (Aug. 19-21), the Phillipines (Nov. 5-12) and to Cozumel, Mexico in 2017.
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.
Sports
Attitude! French ice dancers nail ‘Vogue’ routine
Cizeron and Fournier Beaudry strike a pose in memorable Olympics performance
Madonna’s presence is being felt at the Olympic Games in Italy.
Guillaume Cizeron and his rhythm ice dancing partner Laurence Fournier Beaudry of France performed a flawless skate to Madonna’s “Vogue” and “Rescue Me” on Monday.
The duo scored an impressive 90.18 for their effort, the best score of the night.
“We’ve been working hard the whole season to get over 90, so it was nice to see the score on the screen,” Fournier Beaudry told Olympics.com. “But first of all, just coming out off the ice, we were very happy about what we delivered and the pleasure we had out there. With the energy of the crowd, it was really amazing.”
Watch the routine on YouTube here.
The global cost of Trump’s foreign aid ideology
Two very different views of the State of the Union
Va. activists preparing campaign in support of repealing marriage amendment
PHOTOS: Queen of Hearts
New book profiles LGBTQ Ukrainians, documents war experiences
D.C. police arrest man for burglary at gay bar Spark Social House
PHOTOS: Cupid’s Undie Run
Going for gold: Ford Bronco Sport vs. Toyota RAV4
US Embassy in Mexico issues shelter in place order for Puerto Vallarta
