Sports

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Michael Phelps’ trans ex-girlfriend says she was hurt when he whined about trans athletes on CNN

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U.S. Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps’s transgender alleged ex-girlfriend is calling him a “hypocrite” for comments he made that implied that transgender women and girls participating in sports are not fair. Taylor Lianne Chandler clapped back at comments the 23-time Olympic gold medalist made about University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas earlier this month. Related: Trans woman athlete gets conservative backlash for setting Ivy League swimming recordsADVERTISING In an interview with CNN, Phelps, 36, was asked about the 22-year-old swimmer, who has been getting attention in the media for winning some swimming competitions. “I can talk from the standpoint of doping,” Phelps […]

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South Dakota governor signs 2022’s first trans athlete ban into law

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem signed a bill Thursday that bans transgender girls and women from playing on female sports teams, making the state the first this year — and the 10th nationwide — to enact such a bill into law. “This bill has been an important priority for a lot of the people behind me,” Noem said as she signed the bill at a news conference, “and I appreciate all of their hard work in making sure that girls will always have the opportunity to play in girls sports in South Dakota and have an opportunity for a level playing field, […]

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NFL files to dismiss lawsuit from disgraced coach forced to resign over anti-gay emails

The National Football League (NFL) has filed to dismiss former Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden’s lawsuit regarding the leak of his homophobic, misogynistic and racist emails. In bombshell revelations published last October, The New York Times reported Gruden had used offensive language in numerous emails between 2011 and 2018. In one of them, Gruden called NFL commissioner Roger Goodell a “f****t” and “clueless anti-football p***y”. He also criticised Goodell for supposedly pressuring the St Louis Rams – which drafted openly gay player Michael Sam in 2014 – to hire “queers”. Jon Gruden was working as an ESPN commentator at the time before rejoining the Raiders on a 10-year […]

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Va. senator introduces anti-transgender student athlete bill

A Virginia lawmaker has introduced a bill that would ban transgender students from joining school sports teams that are consistent with their gender identity. Senate Bill 766, which state Sen. Jennifer Kiggans (R-Virginia Beach) introduced on Friday, would require “each elementary or secondary school or a private school that competes in sponsored athletic events against such public schools to designate athletic teams, whether a school athletic team or an intramural team sponsored by such school, based on biological sex as follows: (i) ‘males,’ ‘men,’ or ‘boys’; (ii) ‘females,’ ‘women,’ or ‘girls’; or (iii) ‘coed’ or ‘mixed.’” “Under the bill, male students […]

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NCAA adopts new policy for transgender athletes

The NCAA has adopted a sport-by-sport approach for transgender athletes, bringing the organization in line with the U.S. and International Olympic Committees. Under the new guidelines, approved by the NCAA Board of Governors on Wednesday, transgender participation for each sport will be determined by the policy for the sport’s national governing body, subject to review and recommendation by an NCAA committee to the Board of Governors. When there is no national governing body, that sport’s international federation policy would be in place. If there is no international federation policy, previously established IOC policy criteria would take over. “Approximately 80% of […]

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Champion bodybuilder and first Black gay man to win Mr America dies

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Chris Dickerson, who holds the duel honour of being the first Black man to win the Mr America contest and first openly gay man to win Mr Olympia, has died aged 82. Dickerson was a powerhouse of the bodybuilding community and broke barriers. He died on 23 December at a hospital in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with his friend Bill Neylon confirming the cause of death as a heart ailment, the Washington Post reported. Neylon – a retired amateur bodybuilder who trained alongside Dickerson – said his friend had lived in a rehab centre after he had been hospitalised for a broken hip in […]

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Winter Olympics poised to be gayest ever as another queer athlete qualifies

Another queer Team USA athlete has just qualified for the Winter Olympics – skeleton slider Andrew Blaser. Blaser beat out skeleton veterans Austin Florian and John Daly to become the only man on the Team USA skeleton team for the 2022 games in Beijing. It’s the first time that the US is sending only one male skeleton athlete to the Olympics – so no pressure at all. The truly terrifying winter sport involves sledders plummeting head-first down a steep and perilous icy track on a tiny sled. According to the Olympics website, it is considered to be the “world’s first sliding […]

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Out Brazilian Olympic diver Ian Matos dies aged 32

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Openly gay Brazilian Olympic diver Ian Matos died aged 32 following a severe infection that left him hospitalised. Matos had been in hospital for two months before his condition worsened on Wednesday (22 December), the Sun reported. He had initially sought treatment because of an infection in his throat which later spread to his stomach and lungs. He had won three bronze medals in the 2010 South American Games. He placed eighth in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro where he competed in the men’s synchronised three-metre springboard alongside his diving partner Luiz Outerelo. Brazil’s Olympic Committee said in a statement […]

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Ivy League swimming champion becomes target of anti-trans rhetoric

A swimmer at the University of Pennsylvania is the latest target in the culture-war debate over whether transgender girls and women should be allowed to participate on female sports teams.  Lia Thomas, who came out as trans in 2019, set three school records and two national records at a meet this month.  Since then, Thomas has faced criticism and verbal attacks from anti-trans groups, conservative media and, reportedly, even two teammates. Some of the headlines about Thomas’ wins said she “smashed” the records and continued her “dominant” season alongside pre-transition photos of her and using her previous name and male […]

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Carl Nassib designed rainbow cleats to support the LGBTQ community

Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib, who became the first openly gay active NFL player in June, helped design custom, rainbow cleats to raise awareness and money for the LGBTQ community. In participation with the NFL’s My Cause My Cleats fundraiser, Nassib created the rainbow cleats this season to spotlight the LGBTQ youth suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization the Trevor Project. As part of the campaign, players can custom design their own cleats to raise awareness for the nonprofit organizations of their choice. Players then auction off the cleats to raise money for the groups. https://iframe.nbcnews.com/mQeU0Lh?_showcaption=true&app=1 Cyd Zeigler, LGBTQ advocate […]

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