Canadian Olympic speed skater comes out in support of gay athletes heading to Sochi

Anastasia Bucsis decided to go public in opposition to Russia's anti-gay policies

Canadian Olympic speed skater Anastasia Bucsis came out as gay at last weekend’s Calgary Pride parade to support other gay athletes at the Sochi Olympic Games, The Globe and Mail reports.

The 24-year-old, who has been out to family and friends for a couple years, decided she needed to go public.

“I could never promote that message of concealing who you are with all of this going on in Russia,” she said. Bucsis hopes to qualify for long-track speed skating and compete in Sochi in 2014.

Bucsis is one of only a few openly gay Olympic athletes. As Xtra reported in our cover story on gay Olympians last year, there were only six openly gay Olympians at the Winter Games in Vancouver and 25 in London’s Summer Games.

The few gay athletes in Sochi will need all the support they can get. New Zealand speed skater Blake Skjellerup, who trains in Canada, told Xtra in July that he would wear a rainbow pin in Sochi, and “if that gets me in trouble, then so be it.”

Bucsis ranked 34th in women’s 500-metre speed skating at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Niko Bell

Niko Bell is a writer, editor and translator from Vancouver. He writes about sexual health, science, food and language.

Keep Reading

The new generation of gay Conservative sellouts

OPINION: Melissa Lantsman’s and Eric Duncan’s refusals to call out their party’s transphobia is a betrayal of the LGBTQ2S+ community

Over 300 anti-LGBTQ2S+ bills have been introduced this year. This doesn’t mean we should panic

OPINION: While it’s important to watch out for threats, not all threats are created equally. Some of these bills will die a natural death

Xtra’s top LGBTQ2S+ stories of the year

The best and brightest—even most bewildering—stories from a back catalogue brimming with insight

Elon Musk and Texas attorney general Ken Paxton are suing Media Matters. Here’s why queer and trans people should care

OPINION: When politicians and the rich leverage the power of the state to quell dissent, we all lose