Sunday, February 9, 2014

Out Spotlight

Today's Out Spotlight  is sometimes called "Australia's most vocal athlete about Russia's anti-gay propaganda laws in the lead up to the Winter Olympics." A world class athlete and Olympic snowboarder today's Out Spotlight is Belle Brockoff.

Belle Brockoff is was born January 12, 1993 in East Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Here father is a champion glider, Bruce Brockoff, three times Australian National Champion in 15 m racing class sailplanes. And in Australian Brockoff is a household name not for sports but for biscuits (aka cookies for Americans).

Coming from a family of champions  let alone a famous family is and interesting human interest story for the Olympics it's not the only thing that is memorable about Brockoff.  She is competing as an openly gay athlete in the Sochi games.  While she recognizes that both are important parts of her life that intersect in many ways, she doesn't let one define the other. Yes, she's a gay athlete, but she's also just an athlete — a world-class one — and wants to be respected as such.

Although she's been out for a few years to her friends and mother, Brockhoff used the announcement of Russia's anti-gay laws as an opportunity to publicly come out as gay. In an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Brockhoff came out nationally to take a stand for gay and lesbian athletes.

"I honestly find it a little bit disrespectful and a little bit sad, not only to me, but to other athletes and, you know, it's my dream and I want to be able to be who I am, be proud of who I am and be proud of all the work that has gotten me to the Olympics and not have to deal with this kind of a law."

She is very involved in  Principle 6, a campaign formed by two non-profits, Athlete Ally and All Out, which is named after the clause in the Olympic charter that guarantees non-discrimination and works to support LGBT athletes and show how Russia's anti-LGBT discrimination is incompatible with the Olympic movement.



 Even though Brockhoff is an active advocate for gay rights, she knows that she wouldn't be at the Olympics without her hard work as a snowboarder and is putting that first at the Winter Games in Sochi.

As a small protest at the games, Brockhoff said she plans to "hold up six fingers to represent Principle Six. Possibly I'll do it on camera here or there, and maybe after the heats of my event."

"During the whole Games, I won't be getting into anything political, it's not why I'm there," Brockhoff told BBC.

" I won't be doing anything crazy towards these gay laws, I’ll just be doing my job as an athlete and athlete only. Not until after my competition. This has been my focus for 10 years and I’m not going to change that for a law.”


 But afterwards she will be sending a message:  "After I compete, I'm willing to rip on his ass," Brockhoff told Yahoo Sports, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. "It's the perfect opportunity to send a message [...] I'm not happy and there's a bunch of other Olympians who are not happy either."

 She's competing in the snowboard-cross on February 16th .

 Brockoff's very active on Facebook and Twitter, and using social media to share the messages of the multiple campaigns she belongs to as an advocate for gay rights.

Video of her road to Sochi


 Along with Brokhoff, a number of other out gay women are participating in the 2014 Sochi games: Barbara Jezeršek of Slovenia for cross country skiing, Cheryl Maas of the Netherlands for snowboarding, Anastasia Bucsis of Canada for speed skating, Irene Wüst of the Netherlands for speed skating, Sanne Van Kerkhof of the Netherlands for speed skating and Daniela Iraschko-Stolz of Austria for ski jumping. But these are just the ones who are comfortable enough coming out publicly.

Hopefully, the actions of these out proud Olympians will make it easier for other athletes to come out publicly in the future.


  Olympics for ALL Moment:

It's not just the athletes speaking out about the LGBT rights and Russia, sponsors are too.  Chobani Yogurt a sponsor of Team USA has shown their support in their latest ads .



22 comments:


  1. So looks like tweet "Jake making out with a model" was true

    Ha! Hardly.


    Geez, don't make me laugh so early before I've even had my morning cereal. I find this so intriguing that the paid visitor has done a complete180 and seems to be mirroring and trying to reinforce WME's nonsensical plan to sell Jake as straight. So not only does he have to sell straight Austin, but is it possible that he's been instructed to endorse straight Jake. Never mind that the beard was badmouthed constantly, called names and two blog posts used to ridicule her. Wow, if true, that's got to be a hard bullet to bite down on.

    Special, I love these Olympic related endorsements of
    LGBT support you're finding. Love the yogurt cups! I look forward to reading the Out Spotlight.

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  2. It is fun to go back and find some of these old gold nuggets of retro Jaustin because so much of it has been taken down over the years. I kind of came on the scene afterwards so I never saw that stuff which some of the old timers saw in real time.

    I'm not sure why Austin quoted Thomas Edison, but if he is trying to say the he and Jake are still trying to get it right after everything that is going on, well......maybe if he and Jake were 22 or 24 again, I could see that.

    But not at 33. Because this isn't Never Neverland and they aren't Peter Pan anymore. Wendy says it's time to grow up.

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  3. Congratulations Michael Sam!

    College Football Star Michael Sam Comes Out, Hopes To Become First Openly Gay NFL Player

    Buzzfeed

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  4. Out speedskater Irene Wust wins Olympic gold medal

    OutSports.com

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  5. Then again, maybe Austin was just watching the Olympics, right?

    Yeah, probably.
    : )

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  6. The whole story with Michael Sam is just amazing. He's had so many difficulties in his life, and rather than saying I can't deal with being out, he's bravely come forward, saying he wants to be on a team that wants him. Incredibly brave and inspiring.

    Love love the Chobani ad, especially since I already love their yogurt.

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  7. Example of how athlete who come out help other athletes to come out too.


    Casey Stoney: England captain reveals her sexuality for first time
    By Alistair Magowan BBC Sport


    England women's captain Casey Stoney has spoken publicly about being gay for the first time.

    Stoney, 31, told BBC Sport she decided to come out after the positive reaction to diver Tom Daley saying he was in a relationship with a man, and because of the "loving relationship" she is in.

    "I was living a lie," Stoney said. "I've never hidden it within football circles because it is accepted.

    Read the rest of the article here:
    BBC.com

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  8. And I was just reading about Michael Sim on my People online edition and saw that he is from the University of Missouri - the Missouri Tigers. Great for him! That is especially bold because he has not been drafted yet, right?

    Great Out Spotlight too. She cracked me up when she said afterwards, she wouldn't mind "ripping on" the leader. But she's focused for now on what she needs to do and that's great.

    I have to say I've not watched any of the Olympics so far. I'm sure I'm missing out on a lot and used to watch them constantly but not so much now. Best wishes to all the competitors though and I hope it is a successful, peaceful Games.

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  9. According to Blind Gossip, the San Francisco 49ers have someone coming out as gay this week:

    As early as this week a top member of the San Francisco 49ers team will come out the closet as gay.

    The player we’re told has already spoken to a few of the higher ups on the team and wants to begin lobbying for the squad to draft the newly out college football player Michael Sam.

    We’re in a new day of football y’all. Congrats to everyone for having the courage to be who they really are.

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  10. Wow just amazing what Mike Sam did yesterday. It took a lot of guts and he certainly risks dropping down in the draft. Hopefully more will follow his path. So happy that all this good stuff is happening in my lifetime. I feel like I want to poke bash Jake a bit now but Jake gave us Brokeback and I believe Brokeback took a major roll in all the good stuff that is happening today.

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  11. It'd be great if someone else came out in football, but I'm not holding my breath as we've had these rumors before.

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  12. I have to say I've not watched any of the Olympics so far.

    I've just been thinking about things you've posted in the past. You're not well-read. You don't read the serious news of the day. You haven't seen any current movies in years. You don't know any current music and/or musicians. So the only news you read is gossip? Aren't you the least little bit embarrassed? You ought to be.

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  13. I've just been thinking about things you've posted in the past. You're not well-read. You don't read the serious news of the day. You haven't seen any current movies in years. You don't know any current music and/or musicians. So the only news you read is gossip? Aren't you the least little bit embarrassed? You ought to be.

    Funny, isn't it? I don't know what my supervisor & dept manager were thinking when they gave me a raise last year in the middle of the business term, mind you, and gave me the highest rating possible on my year review for 2013 in addition to being termed a leader of my department co-workers.

    Maybe you should enlighten them as to their wayward observations. I'm sure they could learn a thing or two from someone so highly skilled in drawing little emitting penises with keyboard characters.

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  14. Resorting to personal attacks again, I see. Let's just say you wish you were as speedy as Ms. PG when it comes to the ways of the universe. And, let's face it, we cannot all be intellectual giants like Mr. G-haul. I mean he's so well read he selected one of the worst books published in the last dozen years to kick off his new contract with WME. Now, that's impressive.

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  15. Ahem,excuse me, Ms. PG. I believe the preferred spelling is penes. LOLLLLLL!

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  16. Uh oh, my ill-read character is showing.

    And here I thought maybe the plural would have been peni.

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  17. Someone coming on a gossip blog to denigrate the intellectual credentials of someone posting on a gossip blog. Now, that is the very definition of Chutzpah.

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  18. I've just been thinking about things you've posted in the past. You're not well-read. You don't read the serious news of the day. You haven't seen any current movies in years. You don't know any current music and/or musicians. So the only news you read is gossip? Aren't you the least little bit embarrassed? You ought to be.


    If those are the things you deem important in life then you sure need to reevaluate your life. There is no doubt in my mind how intelligent and well spoken my fellow blogger is. I consider her a valued friend and a extremely interesting and fun person. I also do not think of OMG as a gossip blog at all. It is so much more.

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  19. Well said Tom. Judging someone on their interests in life and finding them lacking because they are not your interests is beyond pathetic.

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  20. Thanks everyone. I really had a good laugh at that comment, actually. They are right. I'm not all that well read. I don't go to the movies too much as I abhor violence and a lot of bad language, which rules out a lot. I don't watch the news and I hate politics.

    Yup, he has that stuff right, LOL! But he steals my material all the time. He stalks me on both my twitter accounts and he calls my name like Lassie the dog if I take too long of a hiatus.

    So he must find something he likes about me.

    : D

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  21. People's value does not come from the number of books they read or the number of things they can remember.

    It is about how people take what they know and how they apply it in living their lives.

    Some of the greatest people of character have the least number of letters after their name.

    What the troll showed was how little of a person they are.

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  22. Enty lawyers caption today on a photo of Jake with a female - "Jake Gyllenhaal has a new woman he drags around NYC blocks for paps." Nailed it.

    I hope that rumor about a Forty Niner is true - and that they recruit the newly out player. It would make San Francisco proud.

    I think Russia's stance about gays is acting as a catalyst to speed up acceptance. I felt the same way about Prop 8 in CA. The law got delayed, but in the long run it also led to much discussion on the web, at cocktail parties, around the proverbial water cooler. Discussion that would never have happened had it simply passed quickly. And so many photos, articles about long time committed couples that made people realize they were just the same as themselves. If Russia had been silent, most of the ads would have been traditional product ads.

    PG, you should feel great about yourself. The troll gets desperate when you speak the truth and has no outlet except to call names. A sign of their intelligence level.

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