Schuyler Bailar is the first openly transgender athlete to compete in any sport on an NCAA Division 1 men’s team.
Hungary: Highest ever fine imposed on swimming-pool discriminating against LGBTQ sports club in Hungary
Singapore: Paralympian Goh shows the way for queer athletes to be themselves
Puerto Rico: Swimmer on how life has changed since he sent out this tweet: ‘Yes… I AM GAY… Who cares?’
My name is Javier Ruisanchez and I'm 18. I was born and raised in Puerto Rico, but I currently live in Northern Virginia. I just graduated from West Springfield High School. I have two sisters and I live with my mom. I've always been involved in sports. Baseball, volleyball, dancing, basketball – I've always been an athlete, but I didn’t discover my passion for swimming until I was 9. I made my first Junior National Team for Puerto Rice at age 11, so I fit into the world of swimming.
But I always felt the need to fit in with everyone else. I knew at an early age I was gay, but I was too scared to come out because I was afraid of bullying or how those around me would treat me. Read More
France: Swimmer suffers broken nose in anti-gay attack
World champion swimmer Mélanie Hénique, 23, and two female friends were attacked by four men as they left a restaurant in Amiens, northern France. The men hurled insults and hit the women, after which the ladies sought emergency healthcare.
Hénique said she ‘fully accepts’ her homosexuality but preferred to keep her private life private. However, she felt it was her duty to make public the facts, ‘if only to help all those who dare not complain. It happens too often...I have been insulted, but have never been hit,’ she continued, without wanting to specify the ‘violent’ homophobic slurs.
Hénique had to postpone training after the attack and was a forced to withdraw from the French Open over the weekend. She won bronze in the 50m butterfly at the world championships in 2011 and has been selected to compete again at the 2014 world championships in Kazan, Russia in August. Read More
King of the Double Life: Olympic hopeful Tom Luchsinger could hide being gay from the cameras but not the mirror
How Olympic hopeful and national champion swimmer Tom Luchsinger wrestled with being gay in front of the cameras - and his mirror. The former Univ. of North Carolina standout shares his experiences in the closet:
April 2013. I wake up and look at the clock. 2:58 AM. I have a long day ahead of me.
I don't have to be up for another two hours and five minutes for the first of three workouts. Yes, I'm that exact. In the wee hours of twilight my mind begins to race. I can feel my heart rate rising and my body beginning to perspire as I think, "You're gay." Read More