Pride Month

 

Nine years before the Civil Marriage Act made same-sex marriage legal across Canada, the figure skating world celebrated a historic first when two Pride flags were displayed at the 1996 World Figure Skating Championships in Edmonton in support of openly gay competitor Rudy Galindo.

While many LGBTQ+ skaters today enjoy supportive messaging from their skating associations, such was absolutely not the case in the not-so-distant past. A skater's decision to come out of the closet could have had dozens of consequences on their career, including discrimination by federation officials and judges of a different generation, lost sponsorships and opportunities and harassment by off-kilter "fans". 

Clipping about the 1995 LGBTQ+ film "Thin Ice", written and directed by Fiona Cunningham-Reid

As Pride is celebrated around the world this month, I urge you to take some time to learn a bit more about LGBTQ+ figure skating history. 

REQUIRED READING

A Conversation With Bob Turk (2017)

A Teenage Toreador: The Armando Rodriguez Story (2022)

A Timeline Of LGBTQ+ Figure Skating History (2022)

An Unlucky Hand: The Peter Pender Story (2022)

Fancy Dan's And Figure Eights (2016)

Figure Skating: The Devil's Sport (2015)

From Black And White To Technicolor: A Bobby Specht-acular (2017)

Interview with Amber Glenn (2014)

Interview with Axel Médéric (2013)

Interview with Blake Skjellerup (2014)

Interview with Doug Mattis (2013)

Interview with Douglas Webster (2013)

Interview with Edward Vancampen (2015)

Interview with Garrett Gosselin (2014)

Interview with Randy Gardner (2013)

Interview with Robin Cousins (2015)

Interview with Shawn Sawyer (2013)

La Fée Carabosse: The Shaun McGill Story (2016)

Lovers In A Dangerous Time (2022)

Q&A: Talking Courtney Jones With Author Helen Cox (2021)

One Of A Kind: The Osborne Colson Story (2022)

Peter Firstbrook, A Forgotten Canadian Champion (2017)

Science Meets Art: The Lorna Dyer and John Carrell Story (2019)

The Original Whirling Dervish: The Ronnie Robertson Story (2017)

The Smaller Toller: The Dennis Coi Story (2017)

Triumph And Tragedy: Talking John Curry With Author Bill Jones (2014)

#Unearthed: An Ode To John Curry (2019)

For more LGBTQ+ skating history, check out this handy Pinterest board!