First published was "The Defining Moments of Queer Sports History," veteran sportswriter Roger Brigham's comment on what he considers 12 events that shaped the LGBT sports struggle. Wrote Brigham:
These are not things that "just happened." They are willful moments of struggle and anguish, of courage and torment. They are reminders that happiness and equality are not the rewards of passivity, but rather the fruit of hard-fought victory.Making Brigham's list are David Kopay (1975), Renee Richards (1976), formation of the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance (1977), outing of Martina Navratilova and Billie Jean King (1981), the launch of the Gay Games (1982), the death of Glenn Burke (1995), the death of Mark Bingham (2001), the Montreal split from the Gay Games (2003), world powerliftuing championship won by Chris Morgan (2005), Caster Semenya winning a world track championship (2009), Donna Rose competing in the US wrestling nationals (2010) and the Gay Games banning random drug testing.
Ongoing is Outsports "100 Most Important Moments in LGBT Sports History." Kicking the list off are Andrea Zimbardi's lawsuit in 2004 against the University of Florida after being kicked off the softball team for being a lesbian, and the 1997 publication of Dan Woog's book, "Jocks."
And Dave Pallone?
ReplyDelete