(GLAAD) Brendan & Brian Burke. Fresh on the heels of its appearance at the National Hockey League (NHL) draft in Los Angeles, the next stop for the Stanley Cup – hockey’s ultimate prize – is Chicago’s LGBT Pride Parade. The Chicago Gay Hockey Association (CGHA) has invited the Chicago Blackhawks – this year’s Stanley Cup champions – to join the group at this year’s LGBT Pride celebration.
(365 Gay) First Lady Michelle Obama welcomed lesbian tennis star Billie Jean King to the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition. Mrs. Obama launched the newly revamped Council on Monday afternoon and introduced this year’s appointed members.
(USA Today) A women’s softball coach in Memphis said her team was banned from a church league after learning she was gay.
(BBC News) An Australian Rules team suspends a footballer who wrote in a newspaper that gay players should not reveal their sexuality.
(Advocate) Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke broke down while addressing the media Monday in a press conference to launch a new website geared toward helping LGBT youths throughout Canada. His son Brandon died in a car crash in February, three months after coming out.
(365 Gay) One of the most beautifuly heartbreaking stories about life inside the closet comes from an unexpected source this week: Sports Illustrated. Written by National Magazine Award winner Gary Smith and called “The World’s Bravest Athlete,” the article looks inside the life of Gareth Thomas, the Peyton Manning of the pro rugy world. Thomas came out in December 2009 to a flood of unexpected warmth in his home country in Wales, and is the only pro-athlete playing to be openly gay – in the world.
(GLAAD) In its latest issue, Compete Magazine , spotlights the openly gay creators of OlympicsOrBust.com , a video blog that goes behind-the-scenes at the Olympic Games. Self-described “Olympaholics,” Charley Cullen Walters and Tyler Duckworth , chronicle the Games in ways other media do not – interviewing athletes, tourists and locals – all while raising money for the Challenged Athletes Foundation, an organization that provides funding for Paralympic athletes in need. Fresh from their trip to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games, Walters and Duckworth tell Compete that the first-ever Olympic ‘PRIDE House’ was an especially significant experience for them: We attended both openings for the Whistler AND Vancouver city “Pride Houses” … I must say it was all quite awe-inspiring… The fact that these even existed was a great landmark story in itself.
(SFGate) All Steven Apilado, LaRon Charles and Jon Russ wanted to do was to win the championship game at the Gay Softball World Series for their amateur San Francisco team. Instead, they were marched one by one into a conference room at the tournament in suburban…
(Brisbane Times) Olympian Daniel Kowalski joins small group of elite sportsmen who have publicly announced they are gay.
(The Guardian) Martina Navratilova’s breast cancer revelation is the latest in a long line of very public battles. She tells Julie Bindel why she is speaking out Thirty seconds after meeting Martina Navratilova, she is suggesting I might be a stalker. As I arrive for the interview, shake that famous left hand and set up my voice recorder, I realise I have somehow lost its battery.
