Many athletes stay closeted for their entire sports careers, often unable to compete at their highest ability because of the shame and self-doubt they feel in not being true to their orientation or identity. While organizations like You Can Play, the Canadian Olympic Committee and Egale Canada have made progress in recent years in promoting inclusivity at the grassroots and elite sporting levels, there is still much work to be done to ensure all athletes feel safe being their authentic selves. Athletes profiled include swimmer Mark Tewksbury, rhythmic gymnast Rose Cossar, professional hockey player Brock McGillis, speed skater Anastasia Bucsis, pairs figure skater Eric Radford, and volleyball players Christopher Voth.
Proud to Play: Canadian LGBTQ+ Athletes Who Made History
Written by Erin Silver.
Published in 2021 by James Lorimer.
This book is about Canadian LGBTQ athletes and the experiences they went through both on the playing field and growing up. It has a large number of athletes whose sports range from swimming to rhythmic gymnastics, which provides nice diversity in topics. The book also has the viewpoints of coaches, which adds an interesting look into a different scenario. As you go deeper into the book, you can see improvements in how LGBTQ atheletes are treated nowadays. It also has several definitions and information boxes in case you are new to the LGBTQ community and are still navigating it.
This is a pretty good book, as it covers a variety of sports and people, and has a nice balance between the person’s grown self and when they were a child growing up in a sometimes homophobic community. The book sheds light on the fact that there are people out there who are still treated poorly because of their gender identification or sexual alignment, but also proves that there are people trying to step up and make a change in their communities. The organization of the book was also good, it felt like the type of book you could carry around with you and read a section now and then. You don’t need to read the previous sections to understand the next one. On a related note, it is also a good book for people of all ages who want to learn more about the LGBTQ community and be an active member of it, as it has a wide glossary and will explain different definitions throughout the pages.
Overall, I believe this is a good read for people of all ages, whether or not they know of the LGBTQ community or not. I would recommend this book for anyone who wants to learn about these topics and I believe it will help spread awareness for LGBTQ people.
I liked this book because it is about pride and that people can be them selves and one reason i didnt like the book is because not all pride people have to play in sports its a decision
I liked this book because it is about pride and that people can be them selves and one reason i didnt like the book is not all LGTBQ+ people have to play in sports its a decision