In the weeks that we put together our Gay Team of 20 for the London 2012 Gaymes, three more people have decided to publicly declare their allegiance. Welcome to our team, queers! That brings our total athletes to 23 and our fabulousness through the roof.
Real Life Katniss Everdeen
Karen Hultzer is a South African archer, in fact the only South African competing in archery and the only out archer at the Olympics. Hultzer on the relevance of her sexual orientation:
I am an archer, middle aged and a lesbian. I am also cranky before my first cup of coffee. None of these aspects define who I am, they are simply part of me. I am fortunate that my sexual identity is not an issue, and I don’t suffer the level of discrimination and violence that black lesbians in South Africa do. I look forward to the day when this is a non-issue and as relevant as my eye color or favorite sushi.
Yet Another Field Hockey Player From the Netherlands
via hockey.nl
Kim Lammers adds herself to the droves of out gay girls in bright orange uniforms, bringing the gay quotient of the Netherlands field hockey team up to rainbow levels and making it the single queerest team in competition this summer. Meaning if you have to cheer for a real team, I mean, if you must, maybe you want to cheer for these gals.
And One More Fast German Queer On Wheels
Joining her two German compatriots, one a fellow cyclist, Ina-Yoko Teutenberg is our third addition. Apparently she started riding at the age of 6 because she didn’t want to miss out on anything her brothers were up to. Her older brothers. And then she started beating the older, bigger boys and the rest is history. Part of our history.
Why so much gay coverage and why my obsession with our team? Perhaps it’s because I didn’t see another gay person while I was growing up, and the Olympics is such a valuable time to find your role models. Perhaps it helps us connect with queers around the world through fun and games. And perhaps because the world of sports and sponsors, and even just the world in general, still favors the straight man. But I feel like every time we cheer for team gay, a queer athlete angel gets its wings. If we believe in our Tinkerbells and clap our hands, maybe we’ll get to add more to the ranks until, as Hultzer a.k.a. Everdeen said, this is a non-issue and as relevant as an athlete’s favorite kind of sushi.
(Cue the sushi jokes.)
I was already cheering for The Netherlands, being Dutch and all. But then I discovered the queerness of the hockey team. I’m cheering them on even louder now. I am proud that the team can be so open and chill with it, especially with Dirkse & Paumen being a couple (feelings, all of the feelings)!
I LOVE GAY OLYMPIANS. I hope there are always more of them, and that this tiny pile of articles becomes a series.
i like the headlines in this post so much. mostly because a “real life katniss everdeen” is too amazing to even handle, but also because “one more fast german queer on wheels,” lol. well done, ali.
BRB moving to the Netherlands.
Can I ride in your suitcase? If you get a really long one I think I can fit.
My friend’s girlfriend is or has been on the Netherlands national field hockey team, but apparently this is not the same as the Olympic team. Which is sad, cause I wanted to give you guys one more queer to cheer for.
But yeah, just go ahead and assume they’re all gay.
All field hockey players are gay, and here is my evidence:
I played field hockey, the other lesbian in my office played field hockey, the celesbian at my college is the team captain and has banged 3/4 of the team, and my roommate played sweeper and totally is one of us, except she just doesn’t know yet.
conclusion: Shin guards and sticks make queers.
You speak truth. I played field hockey in middle and high school, and the field hockey team at my undergrad uni was way queerer than the women’s rugby team.
Former Field Hockey goalkeeper here
You are absolutely right, ma’am
well, now i know why i was so good at both field hockey and soccer in gym!
Count me in! Played field hockey my freshman and soph years before transferring to another school. Then I played soccer! My love for both sports has no limits. My blown knee scar is proof of that! I still ski and will be spinning at 11am tomorrow. Not letting the most common lezzie injury stop me.
This isn’t to do with gay Olympians, BUT THERE IS A WOMEN’S 400M RUNNER CALLED REGINA GEORGE.
OMGOMG! Team USA!!
That is so fetch.
four for you!
Stop trying to make fetch happen!
Kim Lammers…YUM.
Karen Hultzer is kind of dreamy in an old school butch sorta way. I’m into it.
I want to be her when I grow up (dreamy old school butch, at least, preferably with a hot, hot wife).
I think that is an excellent life plan.
I support this
Autostraddle, facilitating my dreams since 2010 (when I first discovered it).
There’s zero chance Alex Morgan is one of us, is there?
but there’s a huuuuugggeeeeeeee chance ali krieger is!!!!!!
have you seen her face???
http://tinyurl.com/c4odqx2
Actually?? Sweet lord, I do not follow queer footballer news closely enough.
:O
I heard she’s dating ashlyn harris
How hard do I need to clap my hands to get Amy LePeilbet to come out? Because, swoon.
Someone has to keep Marta, from team Brazil, company in the closet…
Rumor has it that when Marta joined Los Angeles Sol, she demanded that her girlfriend, defender Johanna Frisk, got a contract too.
Frisk keeps denying that they’re even involved (hahahahahahaa), but when she moved back to Sweden to play for Tyresö FF, Marta did so too…
Not that I mind, cus I’m going to see both of them play this fall!
Let’s all do it together, maybe?
If we clap hard enough about half the team could come out
Oh god can we talk about Giorgia Bronzini please? I know she didn’t medal or anything but she’s the current world champion and she looks reeeally queer. I mean all of her photos just shout out dyke confidence, so.
I really appreciate hearing about the hot gay olympians :)
Sadly my list of Olympians I wish were gay vastly outnumbers the list of actual gay Olympians…possibly because basically all the football ladies are on that first list, idk.
My latest crush is a diver, Francesca Dallape’…she’s got some Clea Duvall-ish vibe going on, I appreciate it muchly
The Olympics and all the beautiful queer/gay olympians are making me too gay to function.
Just wait until next summer Olympics when rugby’s in the mix. We’ll have a few more of our clan to cheer for.