Sports
Busy rugby career keeps former Navy commander busy
Former Renegades coach is high-ranking International Gay Rugby official
When rugby players reach the end of their playing career, they either leave the sport, become coaches or referees.
Gus Ventura was about eight years into his life as a rugby player when he tore his ACL for a second time. Knee injuries can be repaired, but the end of his playing career came with a direct order from his superior officer, an Admiral in the Navy.
“He said I always looked like I had been in a bar fight and it wasn’t a good look for a senior officer,” Ventura says. “As a Naval Commander in charge of people, the role of coaching was a good fit for me to stay in the sport of rugby.”
Ventura grew up in Tulsa and played baseball as a youth along with soccer on his high school team. As part of the Navy ROTC program at University of South Carolina, sports were replaced by the program’s fitness regimen.
He began a 20-year stint in the Navy as a surface warfare officer that bounced him to locations all over the world. His first exposure to rugby happened when he was serving in Australia.
He was reassigned to Washington in 1992 and while he was playing soccer on the National Mall, he was approached by players from the Potomac Athletic Club rugby team. He was hooked after the first practice and stayed with the club for eight years.
“I loved my teammates and playing with the club, but there was a lot of homophobic banter,” Ventura says. “I don’t think they realized how hurtful it was and I stayed in the closet for fear of rejection.”
In the late 1990s, Ventura responded to a Washington Blade ad about a new rugby team that was forming for gay players. The ad was placed by Mark Hertzog and the Washington Renegades would become the first men’s rugby club in the United States to actively recruit gay men and men of color.
“A lot of people don’t know that Mark’s original intent was to start a rugby fetish club. The people who showed up actually wanted to play so we began organizing practices,” Ventura says. “A couple of my Potomac Athletic Club teammates, who I did not know were gay, also showed up.”
After the ACL tear, Ventura became the first coach of the Renegades for three years before moving on to coach Catholic University for the next three years.
He was transferred by the Navy to California where he continued coaching with the San Diego Armada and helped start the Los Angeles Rebellion, both LGBT-based rugby teams.
After retiring from the Navy in 2008, Ventura returned to D.C. because he was accepted into the Ph.D program at George Washington University School of Engineering with a focus on emergency management.
Ventura’s work in the international rugby community started a few years before that when he began coaching the IGR World Barbarians in the 2006 Bingham Cup which is hosted biennially by International Gay Rugby (IGR).
IGR, which is based in London, is the umbrella organization for gay and inclusive rugby clubs around the world. The Bingham Cup held in Amsterdam in 2018 drew 2,200 players including local gay players.
“The IGR World Barbarians is made up of players who don’t have a team in their country. They come together to play every two years in the Bingham Cup,” Ventura says.
The IGR has grown faster than expected over the last four years leading its organizers to establish regional representation contact points, electing Ventura as the North America East representative and then the first trustee for North America.
“The sport of rugby builds a resilience in people and in teams which leads to a sense of connection,” Ventura says. “If you are lucky enough to be a part of something people care about, that means they also care about you. We are advocating for a sense of belonging for LGBT athletes.”
Extending that thought process to USA Rugby and the United States Olympic Committee, Ventura presented before them a plan to develop programs in youth and high school rugby for LGBT players. It led to the first rugby national governing body to sign on with International Gay Rugby.
Coming up for Ventura will be coaching three IGR World Barbarians teams at the International Inclusive Cup on October 5 in Tokyo. The event takes place during the Rugby World Cup 2019 and it marks the first openly gay rugby ever to be held in Japan.
Still based in D.C., Ventura finds time to work on his research patent and is enjoying married life with his husband, Jordan. The pair have been together since 2009 and though Ventura had already proposed, they sped up their wedding over marriage equality concerns after the election of our current president.
For Ventura, the belonging, the sense of purpose, the rugby brotherhood — they point to a place where people can be supported as individuals regardless of their body type, gender or identity.
“In rugby, it doesn’t matter what you weigh or how tall you are, there is a role for everyone, and everyone can be a contributing member,” Ventura says. “Gay athleticism is coming of age and it is having a wonderful impact on our community.”
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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