So, they're all gay, right?

Former U.S. figure skating champion Rudy Galindo talks about the Salt Lake Olympics, the sport's effeminate image and the reactions to his coming out. And no, they're not.

By King Kaufman

Feb. 22, 2002 | The average American sports fan, watching the Olympic men's figure skating competition, probably figured that most of the contestants were gay. Former gold medalist Brian Boitano, addressing this phenomenon, explains it with three words: "Sequins and glitter."

None of the skaters in this year's Olympics -- for all the sequins, all the glitter, all the stereotypically gay mannerisms and speech patterns -- is publicly gay. In fact, only one international-level figure skater has ever openly declared himself a gay man -- Rudy Galindo, the 1996 U.S. champion, who came out in USA Today reporter Christine Brennan's book "Inside Edge" weeks before winning his title.

And Galindo says that almost every figure skater he's ever met is straight.

Galindo, 31, who now skates professionally with the "Champions on Ice" tour, has asserted in interviews and his autobiography, "Icebreaker," that coming out hurt his standing with skating judges, as did the fact that he is Mexican-American and that he grew up in a trailer park in San Jose. Galindo now lives in Reno, Nev., to be near his sister, Laura Galindo Black, who is also his skating coach. He spoke with Salon by telephone from her home about gays in skating, the Salt Lake Olympics and the strange world of figure skating judges.

You were the first actively competing figure skater who was out as being gay. Are you surprised there still haven't been others?

Yeah, because I thought maybe I would, like, pave the way, and with my success and everything, have more people be more upfront with everything and look at when I came out, how accepted I was. I thought maybe they'll just feel comfortable and say they were gay, too, or whatever. But they haven't. [Laughs.]

Why do you think that is?

I don't know. I wonder if it's because of family, they're afraid their family won't accept it, or the judges, because, you know, I had to skate, like, twice as good as the other skaters just to win. And maybe they didn't want the judges to think they're gay, so they won't give them the marks. Or if it's endorsements, but male figure skaters don't get endorsements very much. So I don't understand.

And the reason they don't get endorsements is because everybody thinks they're gay, right?

'Cause of all the women skaters! Or the giant slalom.

But I think the average guy with a Bud in his hand on a couch in the Midwest somewhere, he thinks: male figure skater? That's a gay person.

Probably, but it's so funny because I've only come across, like, two skaters that are gay, and a lot of them that I know that are touring with me on "Champions on Ice" are all basically straight. I mean, they're married, they have wives, they have children. So maybe it's on the national level or something, but the ones I tour with now are basically 98 percent straight.

I think that would surprise most people.

That would surprise most people, but you could take a poll and ask.

I believe you.

I would tell you the truth. I mean, why would I want them to hide their sexuality?

In last week's Olympics men's competition, the bronze medal winner, Timothy Goebel, and the silver medalist, Evgeni Plushenko: I don't know or care if they're gay or not, but they both have stereotypically gay mannerisms. They're effeminate, you know, they go over to the "kiss and cry" area and hug teddy bears ...

Isn't it funny? The two Russian boys [Plushenko and gold medal winner Alexei Yagudin] are straight, I know that for sure. But you wouldn't think that with the costuming and the emotions that come out after the performance.

Right. Clearly that's the perception. And you say you've had trouble with judging. I would think, just as a layman, if there's one place in the world where it's safe to be a gay or a gay-seeming person, it would be the world of figure skating.

Oh, well, you'd think it would be! [Laughs]

Why isn't it?

I think it's that the judges are a little old-fashioned, old school. They're a lot older, and they've grown up in the Midwest and the East Coast, and they just want that all-American boy. They don't want the label "the gay skater." That's why we need this young, hip crowd to start judging now.

So you think it's just a matter of time.

I think it is a matter of time. A lot of the older judges are on their way out and the new, more liberal ones are coming in.

What do you think the conservative, older judges think when they see a guy like Goebel? You look at him and think, well, that seems like a gay fellow (although I don't know if he is or not). How do you think they're reacting to that?

Well, if he was gay, don't you think he'd be a little bit more artistic? [Laughs.]

I don't think I know the answer to that question.

I think so. I don't know. He's pretty athletic in his jumping, and he's not very artistic.

But do you think the powers that be are watching him clutching the teddy bear and cringing at that point?

Probably not the international judges. Sometimes it might hurt, I think, at the national level, at the United States championships. If they have a suspicion or something, you're going to have to be on top of your game -- even better than your game -- just to get some marks. That's what I had to do.

Do you think you were actually cheated of some championships that you might have won if you hadn't been out?

Next page: "It's good for me just to be truthful. I don't like hiding things"