Heath Thorpe has a shot at qualifying for gymnastics at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games. The out gay gymnast posted on Instagram that there is a guaranteed spot for him to compete as an individual athlete. All he has to do is win the all-around at the upcoming continental championships. He wrote on Instagram: “4 Aussies and 4 Kiwis will compete head-to-head in the All-Around on May 26 in Auckland. The highest scoring gymnast on the day gets a named place at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by Heath Thorpe (@heaththorpe) Thorpe was unceremoniousl ..read more

The NFL Draft represents so much hope for so many young men in their football journey. One of them is Byron Perkins. This weekend about 250 players out of college football will be selected to join the NFL ranks, as potential players at every position from quarterback to cornerback. After the Draft, there will be a furious signing of hundreds of undrafted rookies as well. Over the long course of NFL Draft history, only three gay men have been publicly out ahead of the Draft. Michael Sam out of Missouri famously came out ahead of the 2014 NFL Draft. He was selected in the seventh round by the Ra ..read more

In scrolling through Grindr the other day, I came across these profiles: “V-shaped torso with a well-defined upper body, good bubble, developed calves and good chest thickness.” “Muscular frame with good development in arms shoulders and chest, along with thick thighs and calves, a tight waist and abdomen and good bubble.” “Solid, thick build with tapered thighs and calves, athletic physique with a tight waist and hips, low body fat and defined upper body.” Sounds pretty hot, we need to meet. But when I looked closer I realized I wasn’t on Grindr but rather had stumbled on NFL Draft scouting r ..read more

“For the first time in Germany! Gay football professionals plan group coming out.’” This was the headline that ran on the website of BILD, Germany’s most popular tabloid newspaper, back in November 2023. Suddenly this week, a version of the same story has gone viral, amplified by English-language social media accounts with millions of followers, resulting in a frenzy of gossipy comments. So what’s happened to kick it all off? And what does it tell us about the challenge still facing gay and bi athletes in men’s pro sports? Print circulations in Western media may be in decline, but the spirit o ..read more

A former Minor League Baseball umpire is suing Major League Baseball in federal court, alleging he was fired as a retaliatory action after he accused a fellow female umpire of harassing him and using homophobic slurs. Brandon Cooper’s dream of becoming a Major League Baseball umpire “quickly became a nightmare when Mr. Cooper was repeatedly subjected to dehumanizing homophobic slurs such as, ‘faggot,’ ‘don’t be a bitch’ and ‘gay,’ and then ultimately terminated by the League because of his gender and sexual orientation,” according to a suit filed in federal district court in New York on Wednes ..read more

Denver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. isn’t holding back on porn and NBA players’ wild sexual adventures. The latter involves gay sex and intimacy with trans women. The revelations are all part of Porter’s new online project, “Curious Mike,” where he explores topics of curiosity for him. On this particular day, Porter sat down with former porn star Lana Rhodes to talk about the impact of porn on society. Eventually, the conversation devolved into a tease about wild sexual adventures by NBA players. Rhoades waxed poetic about how porn and multiple sex partners creates a higher bar for men t ..read more

With the hiring of Karina Tovar as a referee in the NFL, there are now four on-field female referees in the league. Tovar joins Sarah Thomas, Maia Chaka and Robin DeLorenzo as the four female on-field officials in the NFL. There have also been a number of women in the NFL replay booth, including trailblazer Terri Valenti. The selection of Tovar by the NFL was celebrated by Sam Rapoport, an out league executive who has been instrumental in providing opportunities for women in football. Congrats to Korina Tovar for landing this coveted spot. #forwardprogress https://t.co/v7L7vGtrM5 pic.twitte ..read more

Two days after a federal appeals court upheld a trans athlete’s right to be on her middle-school track team, a 13-year-old eighth-grade trans girl named Becky Pepper-Jackson stepped into a shot put ring at a middle school county championship meet in West Virginia. She was sixth in the same event at these county championships last year. She’s put in a lot of work since then and is unbeaten in the shot put so far this season. As she was making her throws, five other competitors from a different school stepped in the ring and then stepped out. They scratched their throws as Pepper-Jackson took he ..read more

The NFL Draft, which runs Thursday through Saturday, will have no out gay or bi players selected because none of the potential draftees are publicly out, a trend that was broken only once, 10 years ago. In 2014, Michael Sam, who played at the University of Missouri, came out publicly as gay two months before the NFL Draft. Sam’s story became national news and it fueled weeks of speculation as to whether he’d be drafted and in what round. Day 1 of the draft came and Sam’s name wasn’t called. Ditto for Day 2. As Day 3 progressed from rounds 1 through 6, it appeared as if Sam — co-defensive playe ..read more

University of Nebraska gymnast Sam Phillips completed a successful season on the mat by earning two All-Americans honors at the NCAA Division I championships. And he did it all as an out gay athlete by sporting a Pride pin on his Cornhuskers gear all weekend. “I represent [the LGBTQ community] by just being myself on the competition floor, but to actually have the pin and show the colors I thought would be that much more substantial and important,” Phillips told Outsports. “It was important for people to actually see me rep the colors and put a firm stamp on my support and claim to the LGBTQ c ..read more