Sports
Synchronized swimmer finds hope after decades of exile
Athlete Bill May returns to competition years after gender ban hobbled his dreams
Bill May and partner Kanako Spendlove in performance. (Photo by Liz Corman Photography; used with permission)
Sometimes it just takes one person to initiate a major change. But it takes time. In the world of synchronized swimming, that person is Bill May.
May, who left home at age 16 to live with a host family in Santa Clara, Calif., where he could train, has for years been an advocate for male inclusion in the heretofore all-female world of the sport. And finally, there are signs that the tide is turning.
During a panel discussion at the recent International Swimming Federation (known as FINA or the Federation Internationale de Natation) congress in Ontario, Canada, longtime sports activist and Olympic swimming gold medalist, Donna de Varona, pointed out that diversity will result in growth for the aquatics community.
Synchronized swimming remains as the only FINA sport not equally represented by both sexes. As of the most recent 2016 Olympics in Rio, men are not allowed to compete in synchronized swimming events.
May started the sport by training and performing with two New York teams, the Syracuse Synchro Cats and the Oswego Lakettes. After moving to California, he tried out for the nationally renowned Santa Clara Aquamaids and earned a spot on their junior squad.
It was 1996 and as a young gay man, he was undaunted by the challenges facing him in a sport that wasn’t accepting of men. He wouldn’t be allowed to compete in most sanctioned events with his teammates because of his gender.
“I was pretty stubborn and was determined to stay in the sport I loved,” May says. “I still wanted to do it even if it meant I would never be allowed to compete in the Olympics. I took inspiration from friends on the swim team that continued to compete even though they would never make it to the Olympic level.”
May gained approval from FINA to compete in duet events in several competitions such as the 1998 Goodwill Games (silver), the 1999 Swiss Open (gold) and the 1999 French Open (gold). He was named the U.S. Synchronized Swimming Athlete of the Year in 1998 and 1999 and would go onto win the Grand Slam at the 2000 Jantzen Nationals.
Because of the lack of support he received from his own sport’s national federation, he was not allowed to compete at the 2004 Athens Olympics as they never filed for an inclusion. The President of the United States Synchronized Swimming Federation at the time, Ginny Jasontek, stated, “We cannot allow men to compete in a women’s sport.”
Bill May traveled to Athens in 2004 as a spectator to cheer on his teammates and then gracefully retired from the sport. By the next year, he was performing five days a week, two shows a night in the Las Vegas water-based production “O” by Cirque Du Soleil.
Fast-forward to November, 2014 when the news arrived that FINA had passed an inclusion to allow for the first time, two mixed-duet events at the 2015 FINA World Championships in Kazan, Russia. It was a major first step for a possible inclusion in future Olympics. A mad scramble ensued to reunite May with his former free routine partner, Kristina Lum Underwood, and find a new partner in Christina Jones for the technical routine.
With only eight months to train and with Underwood seven months pregnant, they had their work cut out for them. When the time came, they faced down nine teams on the world stage in Kazan with May and Jones winning the gold in the mixed-duet technical routine and May and Underwood taking the silver in the mixed-duet free routine. It was a long-awaited triumph just for May to compete in a sanctioned synchro world championships.
“After spending two weeks at the world championships, I realized that I wanted to see more mixed-duet teams competing and I wanted to see more mixed teams swimming differently than their female counterparts,” May says.
Now that the ball is rolling again, May is determined to push for mixed duets in the Olympics. He is one of many people who are working with U.S. Synchronized Swimming, FINA and the International Olympic Committee for inclusion. The 2016 Rio Olympics have passed by and the target is now for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dGXpgoIHeU
Both of May’s mixed-duet partners retired after the 2015 World Championships in Kazan and he began the search for a new partner shortly after returning to Las Vegas. He didn’t have to search far as his future duet partner had been swimming right in front of him all along.
Kanako Kitao Spendlove won a silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics in the synchro team competition for Japan. They had originally met at a junior open meet at the America Cup in 1996. She had been working with May at Cirque for almost 10 years and gave up her Japanese citizenship in December 2015 and became his new mixed-duet partner.
In their first competition together at the UANA Pan American Championships in Puerto Rico last September, they brought home the gold for the United States in the mixed-duet free routine. They have been named to the U.S. national synchro team through 2020.
Along with aiming for a chance to be included in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, May and Spendlove are hoping to propose new rules and requirements for mixed duets.
“The mixed-duet free program shouldn’t be judged the same way as same-sex duets. We have connections, lifts and throws that they don’t include in same-sex duets,” May says. “What we are doing takes more strength not to mention that the roles are different, as opposed to being a mirror image. We also don’t want to be a direct comparison to same-sex duets as it would be a hindrance to growth.”
A few months after their success in Puerto Rico, May and Spendlove headed to Panama to host a mixed-duet synchro clinic. It was an attempt to draw more of the Americas into the sport as it is already gaining momentum in Europe.
Currently the duo is training four hours a day, six days a week in the pool along with their duties performing with Cirque. Their next big competition is the FINA World Championships in Budapest, Hungary in July where they will compete in both the technical and free mixed duets. Hopefully, that will bring them a step closer to inclusion in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“Both of us love this sport, love performing and want to add a new dynamic to synchro,” May says. “We want to raise the level of athleticism and artistry to new heights.”
Bill May and partner Kanako Spendlove during a training session. (Photo by Kevin Majoros)
Sports
2 former NBA players launch cheap anti-trans stunt to exploit WNBA rules
Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White are attempting to extend their finished sports careers through vague gender eligibility policy in the WNBA.
As transgender sports policy continues to make headlines, two former NBA players are attempting to use vague WNBA wording on players’ gender identity to extend their finished professional sports careers.
Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White, two male former professional basketball players who have aligned themselves with the ‘far-right’ political spectrum, have announced that they plan to self-identify as transgender in order to meet the requirements to declare themselves eligible for the WNBA draft.
Freedom last played for the NBA in 2022, while White played his last professional game in 2018.
Both players have explicitly stated that this choice is an attempt to exploit the policy currently in place in the WNBA — one that assumes those who say they identify as transgender women are women — unlike what these two have done.
The WNBA’s collective bargaining agreement states that “only players who are women are eligible to play in the WNBA,” but it does not include more specific language about gender identity or sex assigned at birth, according to The Athletic, The New York Times’s sports publication.
Neither Freedom nor White has previously made any statements about being trans.
“If simply declaring who you are is all that’s required, then I meet every single requirement necessary to compete in the WNBA,” Freedom wrote on X. “Based on the current guidelines, I can and am officially declaring my eligibility for the upcoming WNBA draft in April 2027.”
Hours later, White made a similar statement to Fox News, emphasizing that this was solely an attempt to exploit the policy — an attempt at inclusion — and use it as a loophole to stay relevant in the sport he left in 2018.
“I’m transgender. I’m a woman. I identify as sometimes identifying as a woman for purpose of basketball, professional basketball, so I’ll be declaring for the WNBA draft in 2027 as well,“ White told Fox News. “I think I’d be unstoppable. But I’m a team-first guy. I’m a pass-first kind of player. I do the little things. I led my team in all five major stat categories at Iowa State University, so I do a little bit of everything. I’ll do whatever the coach needs me to do. I’ll do whatever the girls need me to do.”
White also said that he would be open to suing the WNBA if he were not allowed to be a part of the draft, while making transphobic comments about genitalia in the same breath.
“I think the WNBA could come out and make a definitive statement about guys with a pair of balls playing in the Women’s Association,“ White said, saying he doesn’t “want to be discriminated against.”
“I want fair treatment,” White continued while also using the opportunity to promote his run for the U.S. Senate seat in Minnesota. “I’m a young Black, hopefully United States Senator that would like a fair chance to participate as a sometimes-identifying-as-a-transgender-woman athlete.”
“We’re gonna have to have a huge legal battle about discrimination if I can’t play,” he added.
White has made multiple failed attempts to run for office as a Republican since leaving the NBA, with statements surrounding conspiracy theories and his support for Trump coming under fire.
He has faced court actions after falling behind on court-mandated child support payments and has faced family repercussions for his political activities.
White’s grandfather has distanced himself from White, stating: “There’s no way I can support my grandson supporting the GOP, and in essence, Trump.”
In response to Freedom’s X post and White’s announcement, the Women’s National Basketball Players’ Association, the players’ union for the WNBA, released a statement doubling down on its commitment to inclusivity in the sport.
“We embrace justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. Those are the values that unite this Union and allow it to protect women’s sports while creating transformational change,” the statement said in a post on Instagram.
“Hate, abuse, and demonization of any person or group of people, including transgender people, only fuel fear, division, and harm. We will continue to have hard conversations,” the post continued. “But we will not be used as political pawns.”
The statement comes just days after WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert sent a memo to teams attempting to address ongoing discussions around transgender athletes in women’s basketball.
“I know many of you have received questions in recent weeks regarding transgender athlete participation in women’s basketball, and I expect this topic will continue to receive significant attention,” Engelbert wrote in the memo, which was sent Friday afternoon and published in the Associated Press. “I wanted to reach out to share how we are approaching these conversations at the league office and to thank those of you who have responded to questions from the media with thoughtfulness and professionalism.”
“We recognize that this is a complex and nuanced topic, and we will continue to have important conversations with all of you and the Players Association in the weeks and months ahead,” Engelbert said. “We also plan to convene additional discussions and offer listening sessions for any team leaders who would like to participate. Your perspectives and feedback are invaluable, and I appreciate those who have already reached out to share their thoughts.”
The memo, which does not clarify whether the league’s stance on gender eligibility will change or what the ongoing conversations have looked like, comes as political figures — particularly those on the right — continue to fuel debates over transgender participation in women’s sports across the country and across sports.
Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also commented on the ongoing eligibility meetings the WNBA is holding, using the issue to criticize transgender participation in women’s sports.
“WNBA meeting to decide whether 2+2=4 or 2+2=5,” Desantis wrote on X on Saturday.
Indiana Fever player Sophie Cunningham voiced support for barring transgender girls and women from girls’ and women’s sports. Cunningham’s comments sparked small rallies and protests in Seattle and Portland when the Fever were on the road last week.
Despite the loudest voices — and those being covered by non-LGBTQ outlets — highlighting negative takes on transgender inclusion on female sports teams, multiple WNBA members have voiced their support for transgender women participating in sports.
Seattle Storm center Stefanie Dolson and Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve have used their platforms to continue their vocal support for transgender women participating in sports.
“We need to protect trans kids,” Reeve said on Aug. 1. “To me, it’s a human rights issue. Every kid has a right to sports.”
A source familiar with the league told the Blade that the WNBA is not taking Freedom and White’s announcements seriously and is not entertaining what the source characterized as bad-faith efforts to demonize the transgender community. The source emphasized that there are no serious or immediate eligibility issues involving the two men and said their attempts to enter women’s sports do not represent an effort to protect women’s sports.
“The WNBA will not allow bad-faith publicity stunts designed to mock or demean others to dictate serious conversations about league policy,” the source told the Blade on Tuesday. “There are no immediate eligibility issues affecting the WNBA.”
Iran and Egypt on Friday faced off during the World Cup’s “Pride Match” in Seattle.
Iran is among the handful of countries in which consensual same-sex sexual relations remain punishable by death. Discrimination and persecution based on sexual orientation and gender identity is commonplace in Egypt.
Friday’s match coincided with Pride weekend in Seattle. The Egyptian Football Association and the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran both objected to playing in the “Pride Match.”
Egypt and Iran tied 1-1.
FIFA, for its part, allowed Pride flags inside the stadium during the match.
“The FIFA World Cup 2026 is an inclusive event that welcomes people from all backgrounds,” a FIFA spokesperson told the Washington Blade in a statement. “Fans of all sexual orientations and gender identities are welcome at matches and events. General statements of human rights, including rainbow flags and other flags representing sexual orientation and gender identity, are permitted under the FIFA World Cup 2026™ Stadium Code of Conduct and may be displayed inside stadiums provided they are used in a manner consistent with the code.”
Human Rights Watch welcomed FIFA’s decision to allow Pride flags inside the stadium. Outright International, a global LGBTQ and intersex rights group, distributed Pride flags in Seattle on Friday, which was Pride Match Day.
“Visibility matters,” said Outright International Executive Director Maria Sjödin. “Pride is now being celebrated in more than 100 countries, including this weekend in Seattle. For many LGBTIQ people, seeing a Pride flag in public is a reminder that they are not alone, and that their rights and dignity are recognized.”
FIFA President Gianni Infantino earlier this year told Die Weltwoche, a Swiss magazine, that “there will be no ‘Pride Match’ at the (FIFA) World Cup.”
“There will be a FIFA World Cup match in Seattle, and on the same day, events organized by external organizations will be taking place in the city,” said Infantino. “But that has nothing to do with the match itself.”
Peter Tatchell, a long-time LGBTQ activist from the U.K. who is director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation, was among those who traveled to Seattle for Friday’s match. Tatchell accused FIFA of not vetting World Cup teams — specifically Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Ghana, Senegal, Qatar, Tunisia, Morocco, Iraq, Uzbekistan, and Algeria — over whether they would allow gay players.
“FIFA is protecting LGBT+ visibility in the stands while failing to protect LGBT+ players on the pitch,” said Tatchell.
The Baltimore Orioles will take on the Washington Nationals on Friday, June 26 at 7 p.m. for Pride Night at Oriole Park.
The first 15,000 fans will receive an exclusive Pride Night Orioles jersey. The Washington Blade is a media sponsor of this event.
To purchase tickets, visit Orioles.com/Tickets.
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