{"id":2896,"date":"2018-01-01T10:09:28","date_gmt":"2018-01-01T15:09:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.totalengagementconsulting.com\/blog\/?p=2896"},"modified":"2022-01-23T12:16:51","modified_gmt":"2022-01-23T17:16:51","slug":"fabulous-gay-men-figure-skating-and-bisexual-woman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.totalengagementconsulting.com\/blog\/2018\/01\/fabulous-gay-men-figure-skating-and-bisexual-woman\/","title":{"rendered":"Seven More Fabulous Out Gay People of Figure Skating (and One Bisexual Woman)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

I met US pairs skaters Ashley Cain and Timothy LeDuc at the 2017 US Nationals where they won the pairs bronze medal.<\/p><\/div>\n

HOT!!<\/strong> \u2013 on January 23rd I published my third and most recent installment of this series \u2013 Seven more fabulous out LGBTQ+ athletes of figure skating.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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

* * * * *<\/p>\n

Important Note: This blog only features athletes who voluntarily, personally and publicly disclosed themselves as gay.<\/em><\/p>\n

Since my original \u201cFabulous Out Gay Men of Figure Skating\u201d<\/strong><\/a> is almost two years old, I decided to write this second installation with 2018 being an Olympic year. In addition to my original blog\u2019s Adam Rippon and Eric Radford more than likely competing, Brian Orser coaching and Johnny Weir announcing the 2018 figure skating at this year\u2019s Olympics, this blog contains a few more people we should be seeing there.<\/p>\n

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

# # # # #<\/p>\n

These fabulous men who are excellent role models and testament to hard work are, in alphabetical order:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Christopher Caluza cuddles a koala in Australia as he travels the world on a cruise line’s figure skating staff.<\/p><\/div>\n

Christopher Caluza <\/strong>\u2013 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.<\/p>\n

Guillaume Cizeron<\/strong> \u2013 UPDATE: On 17 May 2020, in honour of the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia<\/a>, he came out<\/a> as gay with a post on Instagram<\/a> showing him with his boyfriend. This extremely handsome and sexy man from France (check out his public Facebook page!)<\/strong><\/a> is a two time world ice dance champion with his partner Gabriella Papadakis. Papadakis and Cizeron currently hold the world\u2019s record top ice dance international competitive score and are one of the favorites to win Olympic gold in 2018.\u00a0 UPDATE:\u00a0 Papadakis and Cizeron did indeed win the Olympic gold medal.<\/p>\n

J. Scott Driscoll<\/strong> \u2013 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, \u201cYour Love Matters.\u201d Link to performance on Youtube.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Timothy Goebel<\/strong> \u2013 This American skater, the Olympic men\u2019s bronze medalist in 2002, known in the skating community as \u201cthe quad king,\u201d helped usher in the \u201cquad jump revolution\u201d within men\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Timothy LeDuc<\/strong> \u2013 This dark-haired tall handsome American pairs skater initially competed with three different partners from 2009 \u2013 2014 with their best senior\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Javier Raya of Spain (left in photo) came out by expressing his happiness of finding the love of his life, Andrew Nicholson.<\/p><\/div>\n

Javier Raya <\/strong>\u2013 Javier Raya is viewed as the \u201cnumber two\u201d 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, \u201cI have to say that right now I feel like the luckiest person in the world!\u201d<\/p>\n

David Wilson<\/strong> \u2013 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.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Popular multiple time Japanese champion Fumie Suguri (photo_by_Carmichael)<\/p><\/div>\n

And though this blog is specifically about gay men, I would like to do a shout out to female skater Fumie Suguri.<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n

# # # # #<\/p>\n

Additional related blog! Please read “Five Key Messages on The Importance of Out Gay Olympic Athletes”<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Note January 18, 2018:<\/strong> A few weeks after publishing this blog, Outsports did an interview with and story about Timothy LeDuc. Link to the story.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Added February 8, 2018:<\/strong> A fantastic short television segment and interview<\/strong><\/a> with Timothy LeDuc who us featured in this blog.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HOT!! \u2013 on January 23rd I published my third and most recent installment of this series \u2013 Seven more fabulous out LGBTQ+ athletes of figure skating. Blog author Stan Kimer, in addition to training as an adult competitive figure skater … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1035,696,1494,1036,1487,1496,1034,525,1488,1497,1489,1490,1495,1037,1425,1026,1492,1491,1493],"class_list":["post-2896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-info","tag-adam-rippon","tag-anti-bullying","tag-ashley-cain","tag-brian-orser","tag-christopher-caluza","tag-david-wilson","tag-eric-radford","tag-figure-skating","tag-figure-skating-world-championships","tag-fumie-suguri","tag-guillaume-cizeron","tag-j-scott-driscoll","tag-javier-raya","tag-johnny-weir","tag-olympics","tag-out-gay-men","tag-quad-jump","tag-timothy-goebel","tag-timothy-leduc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.totalengagementconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.totalengagementconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.totalengagementconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.totalengagementconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.totalengagementconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.totalengagementconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2896\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.totalengagementconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.totalengagementconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.totalengagementconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}