Seven More Fabulous Out Gay People of Figure Skating (and One Bisexual Woman)

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I met US pairs skaters Ashley Cain and Timothy LeDuc at the 2017 US Nationals where they won the pairs bronze medal.

HOT!! – on January 23rd I published my third and most recent installment of this series – Seven more fabulous out LGBTQ+ athletes of figure skating.

Blog author Stan Kimer, in addition to training as an adult competitive figure skater himself, is a career development and diversity consultant with a deep expertise in corporate LGBTQ diversity strategy and training. Please explore the rest of my website (which includes my own figure skating page) and never hesitate to contact me to discuss diversity training for your organization, or pass my name onto your HR department.

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Important Note: This blog only features athletes who voluntarily, personally and publicly disclosed themselves as gay.

Since my original “Fabulous Out Gay Men of Figure Skating” is almost two years old, I decided to write this second installation with 2018 being an Olympic year. In addition to my original blog’s Adam Rippon and Eric Radford more than likely competing, Brian Orser coaching and Johnny Weir announcing the 2018 figure skating at this year’s Olympics, this blog contains a few more people we should be seeing there.

Before or after reading this blog, you may want to relook at the original 2016 blog where I also provided some information and link about figure skating not only being a legitimate sport, but about how truly difficult it is.

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These fabulous men who are excellent role models and testament to hard work are, in alphabetical order:

Christopher Caluza cuddles a koala in Australia as he travels the world on a cruise line’s figure skating staff.

Christopher Caluza – This dual-citizen Filipino-American figure skater began his early career skating for the US, and then later for the Philippines. Christopher was the Filipino national champion in 2012 and 2013, and represented the Philippines at the Figure Skating World Championships for 3 years. He is now retired from competitive skating and enjoys seeing the world while skating in the ice cast of Royal Caribbean Cruises. Christopher is very active on Facebook as an out proud man who advocates for respect and equality for all people.

Guillaume Cizeron – UPDATE: On 17 May 2020, in honour of the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, he came out as gay with a post on Instagram showing him with his boyfriend. This extremely handsome and sexy man from France (check out his public Facebook page!) is a two time world ice dance champion with his partner Gabriella Papadakis. Papadakis and Cizeron currently hold the world’s record top ice dance international competitive score and are one of the favorites to win Olympic gold in 2018.  UPDATE:  Papadakis and Cizeron did indeed win the Olympic gold medal.

J. Scott Driscoll – Scott was a competitive American skater in the junior and senior ranks in the early 1980s, and then a frequent medalist thereafter in the US Open Professional Championship ranks. Now coaching in Palm Springs, California, what is extraordinary about Scott is his use of his skating to promote anti-bullying and acceptance of LGBT people through his beautiful and dramatic program, “Your Love Matters.” Link to performance on Youtube.

Timothy Goebel – This American skater, the Olympic men’s bronze medalist in 2002, known in the skating community as “the quad king,” helped usher in the “quad jump revolution” within men’s figure skating. Probably the most technically proficient skater of his day, Timothy made Olympic history in 2002 by being the first man to successfully land a quadruple salchow in combination at an Olympic competition. This one time US gold medalist and three time silver medalist married his long time boyfriend Thomas Luciano in April, 2017.

Timothy LeDuc – This dark-haired tall handsome American pairs skater initially competed with three different partners from 2009 – 2014 with their best senior’s pair finish of 7th in the US Championships with DeeDee Lang in 2014. After retiring and then performing on a cruise line ice skating performance staff, Timothy was called out of retirement to re-enter competitive pairs skating with a new partner, Ashley Cain. The tremendously hard working team accomplished the amazing feat of placing third at the 2017 US Nationals in just their first year together! Be looking for this tall pair with their gorgeous extensions and long lines to compete for US and world medals in the years to come.

Javier Raya of Spain (left in photo) came out by expressing his happiness of finding the love of his life, Andrew Nicholson.

Javier Raya – Javier Raya is viewed as the “number two” male skater in Spain just behind 2-time world and 5-time European champion Javier Fernandez. Javier Raya, a crowd favorite with his emotional skating, is the 5-time Spain silver medalist and will surely be making his second Olympic appearance in 2018. He proudly came out as a gay man in May 2016 by posting a charming photo kissing his boyfriend Andrew Nicholson and writing, “I have to say that right now I feel like the luckiest person in the world!”

David Wilson – this out and proud world-class choreographer has worked with several Olympic medalist in the past and will likely have several of his skaters participating in the 2018 Olympics. After his competitive career was cut short at the age of 18 due to Osgood-Schlatter disease, he toured with various ice shows before the entering the choreography field. David has now established himself as one of the top and in demand choreographers and his clients have included Olympic competitors and medalists like Jeremy Abbott, Patrick Chan, Yuzuru Hanyu, Kim Yuna, Fumie Suguri and Johnny Weir.

Popular multiple time Japanese champion Fumie Suguri (photo_by_Carmichael)

And though this blog is specifically about gay men, I would like to do a shout out to female skater Fumie Suguri. This four-time Japanese National Champion finished 5th in the 2002 Olympics and 4th in 2006. She came out in the Japanese media in 2014 as bisexual, quite a bold move within the Japanese culture.

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Additional related blog! Please read “Five Key Messages on The Importance of Out Gay Olympic Athletes”

Note January 18, 2018: A few weeks after publishing this blog, Outsports did an interview with and story about Timothy LeDuc. Link to the story.

Added February 8, 2018: A fantastic short television segment and interview with Timothy LeDuc who us featured in this blog.

Happy New Year!! My Top Seven Blogs for 2017

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I have gotten to meet some of the skaters featured in my top read blog of 2017, clockwise from top left: Adam Rippon, Rudy Galindo, Johnny Weir, Randy Gardner.

This is now becoming an annual tradition – looking at my website statistics for the past entire year and listing my top seven most read blogs as a New Year feature.

I normally blog about my two areas of consulting a few times each month: Diversity with a specialization in the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) workplace and marketplace; and career and skills development based on my innovative Total Engagement Career Mapping process. And once in a while I throw in a more personal blog or rant about something that is irking me.

In 2017, five of my seven most read blogs dealt with some sort of diversity topic, while two were part of my monthly “Get Up” Series inspired by the US Figure Skating Association’s popular “Get Up” campaign. Here are the “Top 7 of 2017” in reverse order:

7. The seventh most read blog of 2017 was part of my monthly “Get Up” Blog series inspired by US Figure Skating’s “Get Up” campaign. The concept of US Figure Skating’s wonderful “Get Up” Campaign is that life, like the ice, is hard, and after a fall we need to get up, grow from the experience and persevere. In “Getting Up from loneliness and isolation through finding community,” I share the inspiring story of adult figure skater Amanda McGowan finding a community through skating.

6. Number 6: In “A Diversity and Inclusion Case Study – Getting it Right,” I share a heartwarming story of how two employees of a men’s suit store addressed the needs of a gender fluid young woman who preferred to wear a man’s suit instead of a dress to her graduation.

5. My fifth most popular blog was the May installment of my monthly “Get Up” Series. In recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, my May “Get Up” Blog was “Getting Up after Considering or Attempting Suicide.” Often greatly stigmatized, people suffering with this issue can indeed get up and move on to whole and satisfying lives.

4. Number 4: In this time when many people in industry consider millennials as entitled, spoiled and unwilling to work hard, I published this interview with an outstanding millennial community leader. Out and proud gay man Jackson Cooper is believed to be the youngest executive director in the country leading a performing arts organization in the US.

My third most popular blog was guest written by Elsa Maria Jimenez Salgado (here pictured with her husband Richard Horvath), part time bilingual consultant on my team


3. This blog, “Seven Misconceptions or Stereotypes of Hispanic People” was a guest piece written in 2016 by my part-time bilingual consultant on staff, Elsa Maria Jimenez Salgado.

2. Number 2 was the 2014 – 2016 number 1, actually published way back in 2011! As many people search for online resources about diversity training, they found and read my 2011 blog “Three Components of Diversity Training,” where I discuss three major components required for diversity training and exactly who within an enterprise should be trained. I have also updated that blog to include links to more resources including to a blog sharing a sample outline of diversity and inclusion training contents.

1. And finally, by a long shot, with over 8,000 hits, my most read blog of the year was actually published in early 2016, a personal labor of love which included several personal photos that I took, “Seven Fabulous Out Gay Men of Figure Skating.”

Thanks to all the readers who enjoy and share my blogs. In 2018, if you want to be notified each time I do publish, you can like my business facebook page (Link), or if you subscribe to my monthly e-newsletter, I include a short summary and links to the past month’s writings.

Wishing all my readers a wonderful 2018 filled with much contentment and success!