Sports
Solidarity in the water
Gay Ugandan swimmers embraced at Canadian championships
Clare Byarugaba, Kevin Muehleman, Didi Baks, Shoshanna Ehrlich, Nate Freeman and Adebayo Katiiti at the IGLA world championships in Edmonton (Photo by Kevin Majoros)
The rapid progression of LGBT rights and support for the LGBT sports movement in the United States over the past few years has ignited a hope in many of us that the same progression will happen in other countries around the world.
When I arrived at the pool two weeks ago in Edmonton, Canada for the International Gay & Lesbian Aquatics world championships (IGLA), I was excited to meet the five members of the Uganda Kuchus Aquatic Team who would be competing with us over five days of competition. Kuchu is Ugandan slang for “gay.”
I was greeted with hugs and shy smiles at our meeting which evolved into a kinship over the week through the commonality of sports.
Just six months earlier, Nate Freeman, an American human rights lawyer working in Kampala, Uganda had begun the process of obtaining visas and funding to bring the swimmers to Canada to compete.
The IGLA Board, led by co-presidents Kris Pritchard and Elisabeth Turnbull-Brown, stepped forward with funding along with the host team, Edmonton’s Making Waves Swim Club providing free meet registration and housing. Several of the swim teams under the IGLA umbrella also donated money to the cause.
Uganda is one of the countries that criminalizes same-sex sexual acts and just a few days before the meet, two of the swimmers were sitting in a Ugandan jail cell after being arrested at a Pride event.
One thing that probably surprised many people at the swim meet was that the presence of the Ugandan swimmers changed the atmosphere of the entire event.
“Having the Uganda Kuchus at IGLA this year was inspiring for many of us at the meet. The very existence of teams like the Kuchus is an act of bravery that deserves our support,” says Evan Cobb of Team New York Aquatics. “One of the best outcomes of their participation was how it changed the conversation at the meet itself. To me it seemed like more than ever before, IGLA participants were talking about how sports play a role in the struggle for LGBT rights and dignity around the world and that we as athletes have a big role to play.”
It’s hard to say why any of us get involved in particular causes, but I like to point to the “Popcorn Theory” that was presented in the book, “In a Heartbeat: Sharing the Power of Cheerful Giving” by Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy of “Blind Side” fame.
“It’s about noticing others and assigning that person value and potential,” they write. “You can’t help everyone, but you can try to help the hot ones who pop up in front of you. It requires that you perceive the person standing right in front of you and extend a hand in kindness.”
That speaks to what one of the Ugandan swimmers stated during a discussion panel when the moderator asked what people in the West could do to help the Ugandan cause. She replied, “We don’t need your help, we need your solidarity.”
One person who embodied that solidarity was swimmer Shoshanna Ehrlich of Liquid Assets New England Swimming in Boston. Not only did she spearhead the drive to raise $3,000 with her teammates, she was also seen poolside on a daily basis encouraging the Ugandan swimmers and offering tips on their swimming techniques.
“We have a lot of privilege here in the United States and we have a moral responsibility to contribute to the human rights of others,” Ehrlich says. “I wanted to offer as much swimming and emotional support as I could. They have risked so much just being here.”
Indeed. One Ugandan swimmer said that members of his family had asked him not to return and warned that he could be killed if he did. His future remains unclear.
As the week progressed, I bristled as the Ugandan swimmers were inundated with daily interviews from Canadian news outlets, often about deep topics and often right before they were stepping up on the blocks to compete.
I also smiled as I watched swimmers from all over the world engage with them on a human level. The week was filled with a mix of emotions as we enjoyed what we were experiencing, but also knew that it would be coming to an end. The Ugandans would be returning to an environment of persecution.
On night three of the competition, 20 members of the D.C. Aquatics Club hosted the Ugandan delegation for dinner and the two teams spent time enjoying a meal and watching the Olympic swimming together. I smiled again as my teammates engaged the Ugandans in typical swimmer conversations.
“Their presence at the meet really made me think about the human rights I have been afforded in the United States,” says D.C. Aquatics swimmer Kevin Muehleman. “Our conversation was light and I asked how their swims were going and what they would be swimming the next day. It was important not to make a spectacle of them.”
While it was clear that everyone was affected by the presence of the Ugandan swimmers, it really hit home on the final day when we were joined at the pool by M.P. Randy Boissonnault and his caseworker, Nathalie Gahimbare. They had been instrumental in obtaining the visas to allow the swimmers to travel to Canada.
At the end of the competition, the Uganda Kuchus Aquatic Team had won the world title in the small-team category. After they received their victory plaque, they performed a rap to the song “I Know Who I Am” that left the audience in tears.
Saying goodbye is never easy but we will remain connected in solidarity through social media. My heart is heavy, but it is filled with hope.
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.
Italy
Olympics Pride House ‘really important for the community’
Italy lags behind other European countries in terms of LGBTQ rights
The four Italian advocacy groups behind the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics’ Pride House hope to use the games to highlight the lack of LGBTQ rights in their country.
Arcigay, CIG Arcigay Milano, Milano Pride, and Pride Sport Milano organized the Pride House that is located in Milan’s MEET Digital Culture Center. The Washington Blade on Feb. 5 interviewed Pride House Project Manager Joseph Naklé.
Naklé in 2020 founded Peacox Basket Milano, Italy’s only LGBTQ basketball team. He also carried the Olympic torch through Milan shortly before he spoke with the Blade. (“Heated Rivalry” stars Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie last month participated in the torch relay in Feltre, a town in Italy’s Veneto region.)
Naklé said the promotion of LGBTQ rights in Italy is “actually our main objective.”
ILGA-Europe in its Rainbow Map 2025 notes same-sex couples lack full marriage rights in Italy, and the country’s hate crimes law does not include sexual orientation or gender identity. Italy does ban discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment, but the country’s nondiscrimination laws do not include gender identity.
ILGA-Europe has made the following recommendations “in order to improve the legal and policy situation of LGBTI people in Italy.”
• Marriage equality for same-sex couples
• Depathologization of trans identities
• Automatic co-parent recognition available for all couples
“We are not really known to be the most openly LGBT-friendly country,” Naklé told the Blade. “That’s why it (Pride House) was really important for the community.”
“We want to use the Olympic games — because there is a big media attention — and we want to use this media attention to raise the voice,” he added.
Naklé noted Pride House will host “talks and roundtables every night” during the games that will focus on a variety of topics that include transgender and nonbinary people in sports and AI. Another will focus on what Naklé described to the Blade as “the importance of political movements now to fight for our rights, especially in places such as Italy or the U.S. where we are going backwards, and not forwards.”
Seven LGBTQ Olympians — Italian swimmer Alex Di Giorgio, Canadian ice dancers Paul Poirier and Kaitlyn Weaver, Canadian figure skater Eric Radford, Spanish figure skater Javier Raya, Scottish ice dancer Lewis Gibson, and Irish field hockey and cricket player Nikki Symmons — are scheduled to participate in Pride House’s Out and Proud event on Feb. 14.
Pride House Los Angeles – West Hollywood representatives are expected to speak at Pride House on Feb. 21.
The event will include a screening of Mariano Furlani’s documentary about Pride House and LGBTQ inclusion in sports. The MiX International LGBTQ+ Film and Queer Culture Festival will screen later this year in Milan. Pride House Los Angeles – West Hollywood is also planning to show the film during the 2028 Summer Olympics.
Naklé also noted Pride House has launched an initiative that allows LGBTQ sports teams to partner with teams whose members are either migrants from African and Islamic countries or people with disabilities.
“The objective is to show that sports is the bridge between these communities,” he said.
Bisexual US skier wins gold
Naklé spoke with the Blade a day before the games opened. The Milan Cortina Winter Olympics will close on Feb. 22.
More than 40 openly LGBTQ athletes are competing in the games.
Breezy Johnson, an American alpine skier who identifies as bisexual, on Sunday won a gold medal in the women’s downhill. Amber Glenn, who identifies as bisexual and pansexual, on the same day helped the U.S. win a gold medal in team figure skating.
Glenn said she received threats on social media after she told reporters during a pre-Olympics press conference that LGBTQ Americans are having a “hard time” with the Trump-Vance administration in the White House. The Associated Press notes Glenn wore a Pride pin on her jacket during Sunday’s medal ceremony.
“I was disappointed because I’ve never had so many people wish me harm before, just for being me and speaking about being decent — human rights and decency,” said Glenn, according to the AP. “So that was really disappointing, and I do think it kind of lowered that excitement for this.”
Puerto Rico
Bad Bunny shares Super Bowl stage with Ricky Martin, Lady Gaga
Puerto Rican activist celebrates half time show
Bad Bunny on Sunday shared the stage with Ricky Martin and Lady Gaga at the Super Bowl halftime show in Santa Clara, Calif.
Martin came out as gay in 2010. Gaga, who headlined the 2017 Super Bowl halftime show, is bisexual. Bad Bunny has championed LGBTQ rights in his native Puerto Rico and elsewhere.
“Not only was a sophisticated political statement, but it was a celebration of who we are as Puerto Ricans,” Pedro Julio Serrano, president of the LGBTQ+ Federation of Puerto Rico, told the Washington Blade on Monday. “That includes us as LGBTQ+ people by including a ground-breaking superstar and legend, Ricky Martin singing an anti-colonial anthem and showcasing Young Miko, an up-and-coming star at La Casita. And, of course, having queer icon Lady Gaga sing salsa was the cherry on the top.”
La Casita is a house that Bad Bunny included in his residency in San Juan, the Puerto Rican capital, last year. He recreated it during the halftime show.
“His performance brought us together as Puerto Ricans, as Latin Americans, as Americans (from the Americas) and as human beings,” said Serrano. “He embraced his own words by showcasing, through his performance, that the ‘only thing more powerful than hate is love.’”
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