Tag Archives: gay Olympians

Singing the Praises of Gay Propaganda

steve-nyman-shirtless-skierAt the end of the summer of 2012, a story of mine was included in EM Lynley’s Olympic-themed anthology Going for Gold.  The collection of eight stories about gay Olympians (and their boyfriends, natch) was something of a Reader Favorite, and has seen renewed interest during the ramp-up to the Games of the Twenty-Second Winter Olympiad in Sochi, which arguably has a higher profile in the Queer community than Games past, due to the visibility and virulence of recent anti-gay laws passed in their host country.  Hell, I’m paying attention, and Michael Phelps doesn’t even ice skate.  Specifically, Russia has outlawed “gay propaganda,” which includes not only art and literature but any kind of public or private speech that seeks to legitimize gay people or equalize their families with any that hew to the more traditional model, in order to Protect the Children from being exposed to these notions.

Laff-a-lympicsAnd frankly, I kind of dig being a part of a project that links Gay and Olympics quite so explicitly at this moment in time.  The International Olympic Committee is not exactly famous for its explicit support of LGBTQ equality.  Yes, we’ve had the Laff-A-Lympics, and the Pig Olympics, and 2014 has already crowned the winner of the Selfie Olympics, but if you travel to Cleveland this summer, you will be invited to enjoy the ninth quadrennial Gay Games, so called because weeks before the First-Ever in 1982, the IOC (and the USOC) sued to block the use of the word “Olympics” in conjunction with this particular sporting event.  More recently, a member of the IOC from Italy called the United States’ inclusion of three gay athletes in its official delegation to Sochi “absurd.”  From where I’m sitting, it takes a certain amount of guts to roll up in a country that has recently chosen  not only to pass, but in some cases to harshly enforce, laws against being visibly gay — you know, lest it harm The Children to behold you — and then go on and be gay on what will, for two weeks, be the most visible stage in the world, but I don’t speak it — maybe that’s what “absurd” means in Italian. Continue reading →

Matthew Mitcham, His Ukulele, and Other Suggested Remedies for Olympics Withdrawal

The London Olympics are over.  The Rio Olympics are four years away, with only unglamorous Russia to distract in between.  It’s kinda like that downer point I hit on every international trip, where I’ve had loads of fun eating and shopping and carrying on, but now I’ve checked out of the hotel room — the Fun is over, and there’s still a 10-, 12-, or 14-hour flight between me and my bed.  Boo.

Luckily, Gold-Medal Cutie Patootie Matthew Mitcham doesn’t seem to feel any such post-London depression.  As you see, he has taken his trusty ukulele and galavanted off to Rome, from which hot spot he does us the twin favors of taking off most of his clothes and reinterpreting my very favorite B-52s ditty.

If it’s the sudden dearth of half-naked hot guys that has you missing the Olympics, then, take heart: not only have we apparently not seen the last of Matthew Mitcham (which is already something for which to be plenty grateful), but this Friday, August 31st, we will herald the release of the new anthology, Going for Gold (which you can buy here),a collection of Olympic-themed M/M romantic shorts curated by EM Lynley.  “In this collection of stories,” says Lynley’s blog, “you’ll find there’s a lot more to competing at Olympic level than being the best in one’s field. Expectations and pressures from family, friends, coaches and country add up, and sometimes it’s only the love of the right man who can make the effort worth it. And sometimes, love is more important than going for gold.”

My story in Going for Gold isn’t about diving (don’t fret, Nico Jaye’s is), and it certainly isn’t about Matthew Mitcham, but it is about a hotty named Beau and his life’s ambition to compete in the Olympics.  Not because he’s the World’s Greatest Athlete, you understand, but because he’s “ass-over-teakettle nuts about jocks” and longs to use the Olympic Village as the world’s largest Man Buffet.  In short, he is convinced that the Olympics would be a great place to be gay, and if Matthew Mitcham doesn’t make being a gay Olympian look like a blast, then nothing will.

So if you’ve been going through Olympics withdrawal, pining over Chad Le Clos and Danell Leyva on an endless YouTube loop, stay tuned.  I’ll post all the pertinent info on where and how to get your very own copy of Going for Gold when it is released on Friday, and you’ll feel like you’re right back in London.  And it’ll be way better than the TV coverage was; you’ll get all the drama, you’ll get all the poignant backstory, and we didn’t edit out any of the sexy parts!