LGBT Athletes and Sports Figures

Mark Bingham (May 22, 1970 – September 11, 2001)

Co-founder of the gay-inclusive SF Fog rugby team who helped overcome the cockpit of United Flight 93 on September 11th, preventing terrorists from crashing it into their intended target, either the White House or the Capitol Building.

Renee Richards (August 19, 1934 – )

Renee Richards, born Richard Raskind, was a competitive male tennis player once ranked sixth out of the top twenty males over thirty-five. After her gender reassignment surgery in 1975, she successfully sued the United States Tennis Association for the right to compete as a woman. After four years of professional tennis, she retired and returned to her medical practice as an ophthalmologist. The Smithsonian Museum recently announced that some of her artifacts will be displayed as part of their new LGBT collection.

Tom Waddell (November 1, 1937 – July 11, 1987)

Tom Waddell, an American sportsman who is one of the men in the famous photograph of acrobats balancing atop the Empire State Building, competed in the Mexico City Olympics in 1968 in track and field where he placed sixth among the 33 competitors. In 1982, he created the Gay Olympics which, after a lawsuit by the U.S. Olympics Committee, was forced to change its name to the Gay Games. He died of AIDS-related complications in 1987. He is an inaugural member of the Castro’s Rainbow Honor Walk.