Sports
Breaking barriers for non-binary athletes
G Ryan finds success in the pool and the classroom
G Ryan identifies as non-binary or genderqueer and swims on the women’s team at the University of Michigan. (Photo courtesy G Ryan)
When G Ryan started competitive swimming at age 12 in Kutztown, Pa., they found it entertaining, fun and a way to meet people. They never considered that it might be a path to being an NCAA athlete.
That all changed when they won the 800m freestyle at the USA Swimming National Championships at age 15 and followed that up with gold and bronze medals at the Pan Am Games.
Their coach, Erik Posegay, took a coaching position at North Baltimore Aquatics Club and Ryan left home to train with the team that produced Michael Phelps. They would finish high school in a cyber program offered through their public high school in Kutztown.
“I am the youngest child and it was really challenging for me to leave home,” Ryan says. “Kutztown and Baltimore are very different places and a lot changed in a short period. It was the right decision though because my club results led to the University of Michigan.”
Ryan wrapped up their junior year at Michigan this past spring with their most successful year yet in the pool. Two-time NCAA All-American, three-time Big Ten champion, NCAA Championships finalist – the list goes on and includes academic achievements.
When they start to discuss what it means to be a part of an NCAA Division 1 swimming program at a powerhouse Big 10 school, their tone fills with enthusiasm.
“We have talked through what we want to accomplish with the first-year swimmers coming in this fall and how we want to guide and shape what the team looks like this year,” Ryan says. “There will be shared responsibility and I am very excited to step into that role and share my experiences.”
G Ryan not only has swimming experiences, but also life experiences that include coming to understand where they are on the gender spectrum. Ryan identifies as non-binary or genderqueer and swims on the women’s team at the University of Michigan.
“When I arrived at Michigan, I didn’t have an extensive education about identity and I didn’t have the vocabulary to express how I felt,” Ryan says. “I hung out with my brother growing up but I never identified as one of the guys. I occupied that role as a tomboy and I held on to that feeling.”
Ryan began using the LGBT resources at the Spectrum Center on campus and started the education process along with building a strong network of people for support.
“The first time I was asked “what is your pronoun” my whole world opened up,” Ryan says. “I thought that even the trans community had binary roles.”
The LGBT resource center has given Ryan the opportunity to interact with people who have similar identities. In the binary world of athletics, they realize that for now, they need to be able to embrace both sides.
“Explaining my identity, especially in athletics, is difficult and there are days when I am exhausted by trying to move through the world as a binary person,” Ryan says. “I am just taking it one step at a time and accepting that it is OK that there are days when I don’t want to leave the house.”
Ryan understands that the system and structure for sports is in place, but also believes that changes towards more inclusion are always worthwhile.
Putting gender-inclusive bathrooms at natatoriums, bringing awareness to the fact that trans athletes are competing and including non-binary athletes in discussions are all topics being discussed for recommended practices for USA Swimming.
Support has come from the University of Michigan athletics department in the form of pronoun usage in team emails and the language they use, along with acceptance from teammates and their coach, Mike Bottom.
“Swimming has granted me many things and I wouldn’t be at the University of Michigan without it. Despite the challenges, I am totally committed to my team and finally connected to the community I am a part of,” Ryan says. “Everyone’s identity is valid and it is possible to have team athletics along with your own individual identity.”
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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