Culture » Lifestyle

7 Modern LGBTQ+ Athletes Who are Changing the World

by Shawn Laib

EDGE Media Network Contributor

Saturday November 19, 2022
Originally published on November 16, 2022

Derrick Gordon (left) and Tom Daley
Derrick Gordon (left) and Tom Daley  (Source:Instagram)

As the world continues to accept LGBTQ+ people more than ever before, queer athletes should start to be recognized as one of the torch-bearers for progress in the community. Sports aren't always an ideal arena for LGBTQ+ people, with stereotypes and ignorant stigmas perpetuated by homophobic players, such as Anthony Edwards of the Minnesota Timberwolves NBA basketball team.

This makes it very difficult for people competing in athletics to be their true selves, but some brave individuals have picked up where past LGBTQ+ trailblazers left off and have continued to inspire the current and future generations of queer athletes. These are seven of the most important modern queer sportsmen and sportswomen.

Candace Parker



Candace Parker is one of the greatest players in WNBA history. She's not only a multiple-time WNBA MVP and WNBA champion for the Los Angeles Sparks and Chicago Sky, but she's also an analyst for TNT for their NBA coverage. As such, Parker is one of the most famous personalities in women's sports, and she's also a recently out queer woman. She is married to Russian basketball player Anna Petrakova but before that was married to the NBA's Shelden Williams for nearly a decade.

Tom Daley



Tom Daley became known to a wider audience when he won an Olympic Gold Medal in diving during the 2020 event in Tokyo, Japan, but he's been an out queer athlete for almost a decade now. He first came out on his YouTube channel in December of 2013 and later went on to marry Oscar-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black. They're now raising their son in a very open and public manner on social media, becoming one of the most daring examples any athlete has ever exhibited of being out and proud. His comfort in front of the camera and affable good looks help to make him a relatable and inspiring person for athletes of all ages worldwide.

Carl Nassib



Carl Nassib became the first NFL player to come out while being on an active roster when he told the world he was gay in 2021 as a member of the Las Vegas Raiders. To say this was a monumental moment in the history of LGBTQ+ athletics would be an understatement. Football hasn't always been a very accepting environment for gay youth. Homophobic opinions still run rampant in locker rooms as evidenced by his own coach at the time, John Gruden, getting fired later in the year for bigoted comments towards women, gay people, and other oft-discriminated-against groups. Nassib also donates to The Trevor Project to help LGBTQ+ youth have the confidence to overcome any issues they face, such as mental health problems and bullying.

Charlie Christina Martin



Trans people have long fought perhaps the most difficult battle in all of sports, as politicians all over the U.S. have tried to stop them from competing in mainstream events with cisgender competitors. Charlie Christina Martin has been an irrefutably important trans activist and athlete for a while now, culminating in her competing as a racecar driver in the 2021 Britcar Championship. She serves as a beacon of hope for both cisgender and transgender women all over who want to pursue a career in the hyper-masculine world of motorsports and professional racing.

Byron Perkins



Byron Perkins is one of the most recent athletes on this list to come out, as well as one of the youngest. He's a cornerback for the Hampton Pirates college football team, and in October became the first football player participating in an HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) to openly acknowledge being LGBTQ+. He talked about wanting to show other youth who look like him and come from similar backgrounds that they, too, have the ability to play football at a high level and be Black and queer all at once. Hopefully, Perkins's incredible resolve will help give Black kids all over the world confidence to continue playing sports even if they don't fit into traditional gender and sexuality roles.

Derrick Gordon



Derrick Gordon is a basketball player who became the first NCAA Division I hooper to actively participate in a game as an out gay man when he stepped on the floor for Western Kentucky in 2014. Just like Byron Perkins, Gordon demonstrated a plethora of strength to admit his sexuality to the public in such a historically homophobic sphere as men's basketball. He announced he has finished his professional career this past summer after a few stints in Europe. Gordon posts many inspirational messages for queer youth on his Instagram page and is a great example of optimism and hope within the LGBTQ+ and athletic communities.

Megan Rapinoe



Megan Rapinoe has been a stalwart member of the United States Women's National Team in soccer for over a decade. She's been a proud lesbian in the public eye since 2012, and her marriage to Seattle Storm basketball legend Sue Bird has made them one of the ultimate queer power couples worldwide. Rapinoe is often outspoken and has absolutely no fear in saying what she feels is right, ruffling the feathers of homophobes and bigots across the planet for years now. As great of a soccer player as she is, Rapinoe will be most known for her activism and involvement in the causes that matter in the LGBTQ+ community.