The upcoming Winter Olympic Games will go down in history for featuring the highest number of openly LGBTQ athletes. According to the LGBTQ sports website Outsports, at least 35 of this year's Olympians have identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer. This is over double the number of queer athletes who competed in the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea.
These openly LGBTQ competitors hail from 14 countries and will be participating in nine different sports. The majority of them will be competing in ice hockey and figure skating, with Team Canada boasting the highest number of out athletes at ten. Notably, American figure skater Timothy LeDuc will become the first out nonbinary person to participate in the Winter Games.
While the number of openly LGBTQ athletes in the Winter Games has doubled since 2018, it falls behind the 2021 Tokyo Summer Games, which featured a record-breaking 180+ out athletes. However, Outsports co-founder Cyd Zeigler noted that comparing the Summer and Winter Games is difficult, given that the Summer Games typically have around 11,000 competitors, while the Winter Games have roughly 3,000. It is worth noting that China, this year's Olympic host, has a complicated relationship with LGBTQ rights. Homosexuality has been legal in China since 1997, but the country has recently curtailed LGBTQ activism and voices. Shanghai Pride canceled its annual celebration in 2020, citing unspecified reasons, after 11 years of operation.
Additionally, a Chinese LGBTQ advocacy group announced in November that it would halt its work indefinitely, also without explanation.
by nbcnews.com