Arts & Entertainment
Megan Rapinoe becomes first openly gay woman to pose for Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue
The soccer star calls her feature a ‘bold statement’
Megan Rapinoe is the first openly gay woman to pose for Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue.
The U.S. Women’s Soccer midfielder and Seattle Reign FC captain posed along with her teammates Alex Morgan, Crystal Dunn and Abby Dahlkemper.
“I think it’s really quite a bold statement by Sports Illustrated to be honest because it has been seen as sort of this magazine only for heterosexual males. I think so often with gay females in sports there’s this particular stereotype about it and there’s such a narrow view of what it means to be gay and be athletic. So, to kind of just blow that up and do something totally different I think is really important,” Rapinoe, who was the guest editor of the Washington Blade’s sports issue in 2014, told Sports Illustrated. “I think our view is still way too narrow of gay people in general. Stereotypes still very much persist and they are just such incomplete views of who we really are as people, so I think for that reason it’s really important to just continue to push those boundaries.”
Rapinoe has made history being featured in a publication before. She and her girlfriend WNBA player Sue Bird were the first same-sex couple to be featured in ESPN’s annual Body Issue in 2018.
Celebrity News
More than 1 million people attend Madonna concert in Rio
Free event took place on Copacabana Beach on Saturday
An estimated 1.6 million people on Saturday attended Madonna’s free concert on Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach.
The concert, which was the last one as part of Madonna’s Celebration Tour, included a tribute to people lost to AIDS.
Bob the Drag Queen introduced Madonna before the concert began. Pabllo Vittar, a Brazilian drag queen and singer, and Anitta, a bisexual pop star who was born in Rio’s Honório Gurgel neighborhood, also joined Madonna on stage.
Congresswoman Erika Hilton, a Black travesti and former sex worker, and Rio Municipal Councilwoman Mônica Benício, the widow of Marielle Franco, a bisexual Rio Municipal Councilwoman who was assassinated in 2018, are among those who attended the concert.
“Madonna showed that we fight important fights for the human rights of Black (people), young (people), women and LGBTQIA+ people, and against all injustice, discrimination, and violence,” said Associaçao Nacional de Travestis e Transexuais (National Association of Travestis and Transsexuals), a Brazilian trans rights group known by the acronym ANTRA, on its X account. “What they call identitarianism’ is our subversion to the retrograde and conservative tackiness that plagues the country.”
The Associated Press reported the concert was Madonna’s biggest ever.
The DC Center for the LGBTQ Community, SMYAL and Rainbow Families sponsored Gay Day at the Zoo on Sunday at the Smithsonian National Zoo. The Smithsonian observed International Family Equality Day with special exhibits and an event space.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Covering Gay Day at the Zoo for @WashBlade . Here at @NationalZooDC pic.twitter.com/LqgGNOOAiM
— Michael Patrick Key (@MichaelKeyWB) May 5, 2024
Photos
PHOTOS: Taste of Point
Annual fundraiser held for LGBTQ youth scholarship, mentorship organization
The Point Foundation held its annual Taste of Point fundraiser at Room & Board on May 2.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
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