NFL
By: Zachary Draves
His name is Randy Gardner and no he is not the one who went the longest without sleep.
He is the other half of the legendary figure skating pair with Tai Babilonia and together they created magic on the ice.
(Courtesy: OutSports)
They won gold in the 1979 World Championships and won five US figure skating titles from 1976-1980, dazzling fans with their majestic style and colorful act.
(Courtesy: Youtube)
In 1980, they were destined for big things in Lake Placid but they ultimately had to pull out of competition due to Randy having a thigh injury.
(Courtesy: Spectrum News)
It was a major blow and in the years since Randy took it upon himself to find out who he was off the ice.
He first discovered in the mid 90’s that he was adopted and in 2006 he publicly came out as gay.
Randy came to terms with who he was in the 1970s and he has seen so much hardship and progress over the past fifty years.
(Courtesy: Alcheron)
Just the fact that Pride is now a time of the year that is commonly commemorated and celebrated is what Randy had always hoped for.
“I was hoping it would become what it became” he said.
“I have marched in the parade with Outsports and it was a big highlight to be able to do that. I think it says something about how accepting the world is to the community and I am thrilled.”
It is easy to forget how difficult it was to come out as LGBTQ+ period let alone in sports, particularly during the height of Randy’s career in the 1970’s and 1980’s.
At that time, you had the rise of Jerry Falwell and Anita Bryant, bullies in the pulpit, weaponizing the political sphere to criminalize the LGBTQ+ community by advocating for state laws in California and Florida that sought to prevent gays and lesbians from becoming school teachers as well as adopting children.
Harvey Milk, one of the first openly gay elected officials in San Francisco was assassinated in 1978.
Then the AIDS epidemic ravaged the community and the community was made out to be the scapegoat and their lives were completely ignored by the Reagan/Bush Administration.
The struggle was and in many ways still continues to be real.
But now there is a surge in LGBTQ+ visibility across the board including in sports and today athletes are succeeding and competing as their authentic selves and that gives Randy plenty of hope.
“It has been more comfortable to come out in sports” he said.
“It’s a big deal to come out because you don’t know the athletes in terms of their background. Coming out stores are important and when athletes and politicians come out it has an international effect.”
That couldn’t be more true given that when athletes and political leaders come out it can change the course in impactful ways because of how much time the world devotes to sports as well as moving forward on the social policy front.
Randy continues to be involved in figure skating as private coach and consultant.
More can learn about his story starting next February when his documentary Go Figure: The Randy Gardner Story will be released.
(Courtesy: Randy Gardner)
The trailer can be found here https://www.gofiguredocumentary.com/
As for the future, Randy says he will continue to be an advocate for the LGBTQ+ community and dedicate himself to supporting the younger generation through organizations such as the Point Foundation, an organization that provides financial aid to LGBTQ+ college students.
(Courtesy: Facebook)
When I asked him what pride means to him, he was as simple as you can get.
“Pride to me is to celebrate, learn from the past, and look to the future” he said.
“It is about sharing and caring and also about relationships and meeting new people. It is a safe place.”
And that is Randy Gardner folks, living with pride.
