The Very Gay and Often Hidden History of Figure Skating

If Family Feud asked 100 people to name a “gay sport,” there’s a pretty good chance that figure skating would claim the top spot (as much as Heated Rivalry is making a push for hockey). Figure skating, after all, is a sport built on the backs of pretty music, flamboyant gestures, and sequinned leotards, in a way that football, archery, or judo are not. 

But for all the joking and winking that may come from outsiders, those within the figure skating community have spent most of the sport's history desperately trying to prove just how heterosexual it is. It's really only been in the last decade, since gay marriage was legalized in the U.S. and public sentiment began to turn, that figure skating has come out of the closet. With the 2026 Milan Olympics underway, here's a timeline of the sport's fraught history with the LGBTQ+ movement.

The Gay History of Figure Skating

1940 - The Ice Capades takes figure skating to the next level with gay men in the ranks

In 1940, the Ice Capades, a traveling theatrical ice skating show, began touring, popularizing the sport in the U.S. Two of the early cast members were U.S. Champion Bobby Specht and Alan Konrad. In a 2016 interview after both Specht and Konrad had passed away, the show’s producer Bob Turk said, “Bobby was very, very gay and never tried to hide it. He and Alan Konrad were sort of lovers for a time.” Neither Specht nor Konrad came out publicly during their lifetimes, though. 

1976 - John Curry comes out as gay after winning Olympic Gold in Innsbruck

While Curry was not out when he won his Gold Medal, the British figure skater came out directly after winning gold and retiring. Prior to the Olympics, Curry had given an interview to the Associated Press, where he’d discussed his sexuality. That story ran immediately after his win, with Curry later confirming his homosexuality at a press conference. Since figure skating is a sport that relies on judges’ scores, many figure skaters waited until after their competitive careers had wrapped to come out for fear of discrimination in scoring.

1980 - Robin Cousins wins Olympic gold, but remains in the closet publicly

Four years later, another closeted gay British figure skater would top the podium in Lake Placid. At the time, Cousins was dating American ice dancer Randy Gardner, but the pair kept their relationship on “the down low.” Gardner later revealed that the pair “found empty trailers so we could hang out and do our thing.” 

1990s - The AIDS epidemic ravages the figure skating community

In the 1980s and 90s, dozens of male figure skaters died from HIV/AIDS-related illnesses, with the exact number unknown due to many families lying about the cause-of-deaths to avoid the disease’s stigma. Among those who died was John Curry, who was diagnosed with HIV in 1987 and died in 1994 after speaking out publicly about the disease. 

1996 - Rudy Galindo becomes the first openly gay American national champion

While there had certainly been closeted top-tier American figure skaters before, Galindo became the first out gay national champion when he revealed his sexuality in the book Inside Edge by Christine Brennan just weeks before skating in (and winning) his last national championship. “I guess I was ahead of my time,” Galindo told NBC in 2018, “But I wanted to be me, to be out of the box, to be over the top.”

2011 - Johnny Weir comes out publicly in his autobiography after years of speculation

It’s shocking now, watching Weir compete on The Traitors in full glam and incredible costumes, to imagine he spent his entire career as a figure skater in the closet, but Weir didn’t come out until after his second Olympics in 2010, following years of dodging questions about his sexuality. Weir then stated that he never felt as if he was in the closet personally because his family supported him, but that he came out to encourage others. “With people killing themselves and being scared into the closet, I hope that even just one person can gain strength from my story,” he told People. 

2014 - Brian Boitano comes out in the lead-up to the Sochi Olympics

In 1988, during the “Battle of the Brians,” American Brian Boitano took home gold at the Seoul Olympics while his Canadian counterpart Brian Orser took home silver. In 1998, Orser was publicly outed due to a palimony lawsuit, but Boitano didn’t come out until 2014, when he was named to the U.S. Delegation to the Sochi Olympics. Boitano told the Associated Press that he’d planned on never coming out publicly, but he did so to send a message to Russia, which had recently passed anti-gay legislation. 

2018 - Adam Rippon becomes the first openly gay U.S. athlete to compete and win a medal at the Winter Olympics

In 2015, Rippon came out as gay in Skating magazine, making him the first openly gay U.S. Winter Olympian in any sport when he qualified for the 2018 Olympics. Looking back, he told Advocate that many other skaters had discouraged him from making the announcement. “They weren’t trying to be roadblocks. They were trying to save me from experiences that they had…[but] I think what I knew that they didn’t know was that maybe more people would be ready.” At the same Olympics in Pyeongchang, Eric Radford would become the first openly gay man to win Winter Olympics Gold, when Canada won the team figure skating event.

2022 - Timothy LeDuc becomes the first openly non-binary person to compete in the Winter Olympics

At the most recent Winter Olympics in Beijing, LeDuc made history as the first openly non-binary person to compete in the Winter Olympics. The American pairs skater did not medal, but certainly drew plenty of attention. While the rules regarding trans athletes competing in figure skating are complicated, LeDuc told Advocate that there are more non-binary and trans skaters coming up the ranks, saying “I’ve never, ever felt alone because I see queer and trans skaters on the ice every day in my rink.” 

2026 - Amber Glenn becomes first openly queer female skater on the US Olympic team

While much of LGBTQ+ figure skating history has been focused on the male skaters, recently, more female skaters have also come out. Amber Glenn is competing in Milan as the first openly queer female skater from the U.S. She came out as pansexual in 2019 and made many historic firsts on her path to the Olympics. Several years after Glenn’s coming out, fellow American Olympian Gracie Gold, who earned a bronze medal in Sochi, came out as bisexual, hopefully paving the way for more LGBTQ+ representation in figure skating. 

While the figure skating community may have always been home to LGBTQ+ athletes, their journey out of the closet and into the spotlight has taken decades. Thankfully, due to the trailblazing efforts of those above, the sport is now a safer place for gay skaters to thrive.