Gay Figure Skaters Pave Their Own Way in "Icebreakers"

"But the most startling event was the couples competition, which featured a pair of male skaters, dressed in camouflage, with tape over their mouths in an "X"-a direct protest against the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. The couple who followed them-two shirtless men, around the same height, alternately lifting each other up and rolling over each other with playful, affectionate aggression-struck me as equally political, suggesting not just what was banned but what was possible."

"In the short documentary "Icebreakers," Jocelyn Glatzer and Marlo Poras explore the legacy of the Gay Games, nearly half a century after the institution was founded, in 1982, as an all-embracing extension of-and also a challenge to-the Olympics. Their film is built around a handful of key figures, including the renowned coach Wade Corbett (who trained Phil, back in 1994) and the lesbian skater Laura Moore, a cheerful firecracker who began her career after nearly twenty years in the closet."

Gay Games began in 1982 as an inclusive counterpart and challenge to the Olympics. Queer figure skating at the Games combines athletic skill, political protest, and expressive same-sex partnering. Performances have directly confronted policies like "don't ask, don't tell" through symbolic costuming and gestures while other couples demonstrated affectionate athleticism that suggested possibilities beyond bans. Key figures include coach Wade Corbett, skater Laura Moore, partners Joel Dear and Christian Erwin, and Mark Stanford, a Black gay skater living with H.I.V. Institutional obstacles remain, including dominance by countries hostile to L.G.B.T.Q.+ visibility and the sport's entrenched heterosexual-romance conventions.

Read at The New Yorker