Sports
Trekr Racing makes it debut on the high seas
LGBT racing team finishes strong in 150-yacht, three-day regatta
The Trekr Racing group made its debut last weekend. (Photo courtesy Trekr)
When the first race kicked off at the 2017 British Virgin Islands Spring Regatta on March 31, there was one sailing team sporting rainbow gear. Trekr Racing made its debut as an all-LGBT racing team in a regatta that featured 150 yachts from around the world in 18 varied classes competing across three course areas.
The racing team is an offshoot of D.C.-based, LGBT-owned Trekr Adventures, which provides sailing adventure trips around the world. The move into racing for Trekr was in part an effort to increase the visibility of the LGBT community within the sport of sailing.
Already partnered with charter yacht company the Moorings, for their adventuring trips, the racing team utilized a Moorings 51.4 monohull for the regatta. After three days of racing, Trekr Racing finished eighth in the CSA Bareboat 1 class.
The regatta marked the first time that the eight-member Trekr Racing crew served on the same yacht. Skipper Dave Sossamon loves sharing the experience of sailing with others and looked forward to working with members of his own community.
“This was a fun opportunity to introduce the other crew members to racing,” Sossamon says. “In my years of racing, I haven’t met anyone from the LGBT community.”
Born in Baltimore, Sossamon took a sailing course on dinghies in the Baltimore Harbor at age 21. He now holds a United States Coast Guard Captain’s License and has been racing for six years out of Annapolis on his Beneteau 40.7.
“I bought my first boat 20 years ago, when I saw one for sale while I was out for a stroll on Maine Avenue in D.C.,” Sossamon says. “It was a 26-footer and a friend convinced me that I was missing part of the experience by not owning my own.”
Sossamon put off racing at first because he wasn’t sure he would like it. The desire to raise his skill level eventually won out and he continues to learn from racing in regattas.
“It turns out that I love racing and it makes me pay attention to things that I didn’t pay attention to before,” Sossamon says. “It’s an infinitely long learning curve and it increases when you throw in tactics on how to play off the other crew members.”
Another thing that Sossamon was looking forward to in Trekr Racing’s first regatta was the chance to interact as an out athlete at the international event.
“The best way to address bigotry towards a group is to make friends with someone from that group,” Sossamon says. “It’s easy to be publicly out with this crew.”
One of the Trekr crew members who raced for the first time in many years is Hilary Howes. She grew up in the San Francisco Bay area and learned how to sail through a Phys Ed requirement at San Francisco State.
“The thought of sailing always appealed to me and I was glad for the PE requirement,” Howes says. “It was mostly Flying Juniors and Lasers and after college I continued to sail with a professor along with some racing.”
After moving to the area in 2000 for her work in set and lighting design, Howes joined the West River Sailing Club and is now the proud owner of a Pearson 30. Howes stumbled into the opportunity to race with Trekr through her work with Gender Rights Maryland.
“As a new boat owner, I had the chance to learn more in one week than I could have learned in a year,” Howes says. “There was so much experience around me.”
Howes says it was also important have a T to go along with the LGB on the Trekr Racing team. She has been in a 39-year relationship with the same partner she had before she transitioned.
“Being able to meet the yachting community and participate in the race culture was both a benefit to me and our community,” Howes says. “It was big chance to make sailing visible to the LGBT community and to make the sailing community more aware of us.”
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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