Outsports named
Amini Fonua (pictured right) as their
"Male Hero of the Year".
Outsports writes: When a straight writer for the
Daily Beast wrote an article detailing how he chatted with gay Olympians on
Grindr and listed specific details that could have outed them, Olympic swimmer
Amini Fonua immediately saw the danger and took to Twitter: "No straight person will ever know the pain of revealing your truth, to take that away is just... I can't. It literally brings me to tears. As an out gay athlete from a country that is still very homophobic, @thedailybeast ought to be ashamed #deplorable, Imagine the one space you can feel safe, the one space you're able to be yourself, ruined by a straight person who thinks it's all a joke?" Fonua was not afraid to stand up for LGBT athletes everywhere and point out why what the Daily Beast did was so irresponsible and dangerous.
Be sure to read sports writer, Jim Buzinski's excellent 2016 Outsports LGBT Sports Year in Review! Some highlights:
January
- The L.A. Kings show a gay couple kissing on the Kiss Cam and the crowd loved it.
- Adam Rippon won the U.S. figuring skating championship as an openly gay man.
February
- Soccer star Abby Wambach showed off her “gay car” in a groundbreaking Super Bowl commercial.
March
- Chicago Tribune hockey writer Chris Hine came out as gay and became an important mainstream voice for LGBT issues.
- Derrick Gordon (Seton Hall) and Bree Horrocks (Purdue) were the only publicly gay players in the NCAA men’s and women’s Div. 1 basketball tournaments.
April
- Bruce Springsteen canceled North Carolina concert in reaction to the passage of anti-LGBT HB2. The Boss showed sports how it’s done as HB2 was an issue in the sports world all year.
May
- San Diego Padres screwed up National Anthem by playing woman’s voice when gay chorus was singing. The team profusely apologized for what turned out to be an honest mistake.
June
- Spanish Olympic figure skater Javier Raya came out as gay.
July
- The coming out of Conner Curnick, a gay sailor and water polo player, was Outsports’ most-read coming out story of the year.
August
- A record 56 out LGBT athletes competed in the Rio Olympics.
- There were two same-sex marriage proposals at the Olympics.
September
- The Atlantic Coast Coast Conference moved its college football title game from North Carolina because of anti-LGBT HB2.
- Brian Anderson, a pro skateboarding star, came out as gay.
October
- Outsports looked at the 174 and counting LGBT athletes who have played college sports over the years.
November
- Olympic diving legend Greg Louganis was selected as the grand marshal for the Rose Parade.
- Openly gay fighter Orlando Cruz lost his bid to win a world championship.
December
- The NFL allowed players to wear cleats dedicated to any cause. None chose an LGBT-specific cause.
- Out athletes Gus Kenworthy and Robbie Rogers inspired a young gay athlete on a TV series to be himself.
Read: 2016 Outsports LGBT Sports Year in Review!
