Arts & Entertainment
Irish national track champion comes out as gay
Another international pro athlete has come out as gay, in a podcast interview dropped by Outsports on Monday.
Denis Finnegan, a 10-time national track-and-field title winner in Ireland, made his revelation on the Five Rings To Rule Them All podcast, telling interviewer Cyd Zeigler that he has been “drifting” toward coming out in recent years even though being gay is only a small part of who he is “as a person, and an even smaller part as an athlete,” in order to help other LGBTQ people in sports feel less alone.
“For younger people it will hopefully give them more confidence in what they’re doing,” the 33-year-old Finnegan said. “There are still people who are scared or unsure of what’s happening, so I hope just telling my story might help one person notice there’s more acceptance out there.”
The athlete, who won his 10 championships in triple jump, said that he eventually gravitated toward track and field – as opposed to team sports like basketball and Gaelic football, which he played in his younger years – because he found the atmosphere more welcoming.
“Athletics was always a place that, because it was quite mixed, it was a place I could have gotten away from everything,” he told the podcast.
“I think those sports, because they were a team sport with males, there were times when it wasn’t comfortable,” he elaborated. “Athletics was always my favorite sport, it was always the sport that was the one that was the most open. I’d be training with girls, I’d be training with guys, and I think that did help a bit. I was never worried about any kind of comments on the track. But when I was going for, say, football, it was more of an issue.”
He also said that after growing up with sports as a major part of his identity, it was important for him to find a way to continue participating after his university years.
“I loved sport and my whole family was sporty. I’d want to be doing the sports, but there was a part of them I wasn’t enjoying at all,” he said, echoing a sentiment shared by many LGBTQ athletes who feel pressured to remain closeted due to the hyper-masculine environment and hetero-normative expectations typically found in male-dominated team sports.
In the interview, Finnegan also opens up about the strains of being publicly “closeted” while maintaining a personal life, as well as additional issues he faced in both the public and private sphere.
As a final thought, he shared a quote from a speech by Theodore Roosevelt:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
The fourth annual Equality Prince William Pride was held at the Harris Pavilion in Manassas, Va. on Saturday, May 17.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
The Washington Blade held its 18th annual Summer Kickoff Party in Rehoboth Beach, Del., on Friday, May 16. Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer spoke along with State Sen. Russ Huxtable, CAMP Rehoboth Executive Director Kim Leisey, Blade Editor Kevin Naff, and Clear Space Theatre Managing Director Joe Gfaller. The event raises funds for the Steve Elkins Memorial Fellowship in Journalism, which was awarded to AU student Abigail Hatting.
(Washington Blade photos by Daniel Truitt)
In some fowl fiction foreshadowing, a gay-owned chicken joint has come home to roost on U Street, taking a page from the chicken window subplot on the HBO show “Looking.”
Last Friday, Lucky Pollo – much more than just a takeout window – stretched its wings atop the busy nightlife corner of 14th and U Streets NW.
Behind the poultry production place is Zach Renovátes, a D.C.-based nightlife operator and managing partner of LGBTQ venues Bunker and District Eagle, as well as the LGBTQ event production company KINETIC Presents.
Renovátes opened Bunker in February 2023 and District Eagle in January of this year. Lucky Pollo is the third in his growing gay empire, though this time there are noshes.
“Lucky Pollo was meant to be fun and a little provocative,” Renovátes said.
Based around its Peruvian-style rotisserie chicken, Lucky Pollo is a quick-service restaurant boasting a small menu of poultry and sides. Renovátes says that the dishes are deeply rooted in Peruvian culinary tradition, “a playful experience alongside seriously good food.”
Lucky Pollo’s signature chicken is steeped in a dozen-plus-spice marinade for 24 hours. The meat is then slow-roasted, rotisserie-style, over oak-wood charcoal. Chicken options include quarter, half, and whole.
Helming the kitchen at Lucky Pollo is Chef Luis Herrera, who brings Peruvian recipes passed down through three generations, including his grandmother Laura’s original creations.
Beyond the full bird, the menu features Peruvian-inspired sides like yuca fries (“I personally love these,” says Renovátes) and fried plantains, as well as comfort classics such as mac and cheese and mashed potatoes, and bowls, wraps, and salads. Herrera oversees development of the multiple sauces (including staff favorite, the “secret green sauce”), crafted in-house using traditional Peruvian ingredients.
Lucky Pollo, in its streetside perch, is an independent concept from District Eagle, open to the public and staying open late (3 a.m. on weekends) to serve both nightlife guests and the wider U Street crowd hungry for late-night bites. However, just beyond the kitchen, tucked in the back lies a vintage 1950s candy machine—labeled “Out of Order,” which serves as the door leading to subterranean District Eagle.
Renovátes notes that when District Eagle is open, security staff will maintain a strict two-line policy, ensuring that those seeking meat to eat will not get entwined with those looking to gain access to District Eagle.
Lucky Pollo unites the need for sustenance with the idea of a bit of fortune, given its motto, “Get Lucky” and the whimsical brand mascot: a leather-booted chicken perched on a horseshoe. Renovátes and his District Eagle business partner had always been interested in opening a restaurant, and the Lucky Pollo space was indeed lucky: It already came with a functional kitchen. Plus, he says, the nearby fast-casual places around 14th and U streets “don’t offer a lot of quality options,” so opening the chicken spot “was a no-brainer.”
The space, designed by NYC creative Jasin Cadic, blends theatrical street-art-style vibes with Keith Haring-inspired wall prints, neon signs, and ceiling-hung chicken figurines —”some edgy, some sweet,” says Renovátes —creating an immersive, playful atmosphere. Lucky Pollo and District Eagle maintain separate amenities for their respective customers.
Lucky Pollo opened last week with a competition to devour a whole rotisserie chicken in the fastest time, with the winner earning $1,000 and a framed spot on the restaurant’s “Wall of Fame.” The opening also featured other games and prizes, and a full crowd spilling out the door.
“We want it to be a great place to eat, but also serve as a playful front for something completely unexpected.” Renovátes says.
On weekends especially, he jokes, the motto will be, ‘Come for the chicken, stay for the cock.’”
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