Library - History - Our Gay and Lesbian Heritage

John Curry (1949-1994) was a gay British champion figure skater. He won the European and world championships, and a gold medal at the 1976 Innsbruck Winter Olympics; his artistry on ice helped revolutionize his sport. Curry died of AIDS. In the past decade, the North American ice-skating world has lost over forty of its top male athletes and coaches to AIDS-related deaths; some have felt that the U.S. Figure Skating Association has not responded adequately to AIDS.

Muffin Spencer-Devlin (1954?-) is a lesbian American professional golfer. The first LPGA player to come out (Spring, 1996, in Sports Illustrated), she has won three tournaments in her 19 years on the LPGA tour. Her lover is composer Lynda Roth.

Martina Navratilova (1956-) is a lesbian Czech-American tennis player. At the age of 19, frustrated by the Czechoslovakian Tennis Federation's interference with her career, she defected to the United States; she became a U.S. Citizen on July 21st, 1981. In 1978, she began a relationship with lesbian American activist and writer Rita Mae Brown (1944-); she later had an affair with Judy Nelson and gained admiration by routinely climbing into the crowd at tennis tournaments to get to Judy after winning matches. In 1980, she was inducted into the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame. Her autobiography, Martina, was published in 1985. In April, 1993, she was one of the keynote speakers at the March on Washington. In September, 1994, Navratilova was the second-ranked of only four women on Sports Illustrated 's 40th Anniversary issue Top 40 Athletes list, at #14. Before her singles retirement in November, 1994, she had won a record (for both women and men) 167 singles titles, including 15 majors; before her doubles retirement in 1995, she had won 165 doubles titles, including 31 majors. During her career, she won $20,337,902 in prize money. She has a book contract to co-write three mystery novels; the first, The Total Zone, was published in 1995; the second, Breaking Point, was published in 1996. In October, 1995, she participated in the creation of The Rainbow Card, a VISA credit card program targeted to the lesbian and gay community. Especially since her retirement, Martina has spent much of her time supporting many non-profit groups and charitable causes. Navratilova, who lives in Aspen, Colorado, also worked to overturn that state's infamous Amendment 2.

Bob Paris (1959-) is a gay American professional bodybuilder. He won the 1983 Mr. America and Mr. Universe competitions. He and model Rod Jackson (1961-) began a ten-year relationship in 1984. In 1989, after Paris came out publicly in the July issue of Ironman (a muscle magazine), they had a marriage ceremony, becoming Bob and Rod Jackson-Paris. In 1994, their joint autobiography, Straight from the Heart, was published. Also published that year was Bob & Rod, a coffee- table book of photographs of the duo by Tom Bianchi. Not long after, Bob and Rod separated; their relationship ended a year later, although not officially announced until July, 1996. In 1997, Bob Paris' solo autobiography, Gorilla Suit: My Adventures in Bodybuilding, was published.

Scott Cranham (?-) is a gay Canadian diver. He was the first person that Greg Louganis (see below) came out to, at the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics. It was not a success for Greg, because Scott was very closeted at the time.

Greg Louganis (1960-) is a gay Samoan-American diver. He is generally recognized as the greatest diver ever, and "reigned over his sport for more than a decade with grace, power and unequalled precision." He won 47 national titles, six world championships, and five Olympic medals. Louganis survived a difficult childhood that included adoption, battles with asthma, undiagnosed dyslexia, racial bigotry, abuse, and three suicide attempts. He began diving at age nine, following his interests in dance, tumbling, and acrobatics. He scored his first perfect ten in a 1971 Junior Olympics diving competition. In 1976, at the Montreal Summer Olympics, Louganis won a silver medal in platform diving...at the age of 16. In 1984, at the Los Angeles Summer Olympics, Louganis won two gold medals, in springboard and platform diving, the first man to achieve the feat in 56 years; he became the first diver to score over 700 points in platform diving competition. That year, he won the Sullivan Award, given annually to the best athlete in America. In 1988, at the Seoul Summer Olympics, Louganis again won two gold medals in diving (including a comeback in the springboard competition after hitting his head on the diving board in the preliminary round); he is the only male diver to have won both diving events at successive Olympic Games...and there's no telling what would have happened if not for the 1980 U.S. boycott of the Moscow Summer Olympics. He also received the 1988 Olympic Spirit Award. In 1990, Louganis' "companion," Jim Babbitt, died of AIDS. Although most of his teammates knew Louganis was gay during his years on the national team, Greg did not come out publicly until June, 1994, at Gay Games IV in New York City, where he also gave two virtuoso diving exhibitions. In July 1994, Louganis accepted the U.S. Olympic Committee's Robert J. Kane award, voicing his protest against Cobb County, Georgia's anti-gay laws at the ceremony; the organizing committee for the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics would ultimately move the preliminary volleyball competition out of the county. His autobiography, Breaking the Surface, with Eric Marcus, was published in 1995 and became a New York Times number one bestseller; it was dedicated to Ryan White (after Ryan's death, Louganis gave one of his Olympic medals to the boy's mother). In a television interview with Barbara Walters for 20/20 broadcast on February 24th, 1995, just before his book was published, Louganis announced that he was HIV-positive, seven years after he had tested positive. After retiring from international competition, Louganis became an actor and dancer, and began raising and showing pedigree dogs. He also does volunteer and fund-raising work for Pets Are Wonderful Support (PAWS/LA), as well as lecturing around the country. Even his speaking engagements are not without controversy; in January, 1997, when the University of South Florida asked Louganis to speak to students there, Florida State Senator John Grant, citing "moral decadence," insisted that the speech be cancelled, threatening dire consequences for USF's finances if Louganis spoke. Greg also continues his endorsement work for Speedo, who stayed with Louganis after he came out and again after he announced his HIV status (he lost all his other endorsements). In 1996, Louganis was named one of the 100 Golden Olympians. On March 19th, 1997, a TV- movie based on his autobiography was shown on the USA cable network; it starred Mario Lopez as the adult Louganis, while Louganis himself served as advisor, coach to Lopez, and narrator. Reportedly, Greg and openly gay television personality Steve Kmetko are now dating.

Our Gay and Lesbian Heritage by Bruce Britton - Part 9
Our Gay and Lesbian Heritage by Bruce Britton - Part 11

Library - History - Our Gay and Lesbian Heritage