Sport

Elite US figure skater Amber Glenn comes out as bisexual/pansexual: ‘I don’t want to hide who I am’

Amber Glenn

Amber Glenn performs at the 2019 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Cup in Chongqing, China. (Fred Lee/Getty)

American figure skating champion Amber Glenn has announced that she is ‘bisexual/pansexual’, using both terms to describe her sexuality.

The 20-year-old Texan was crowned US Junior national champion in 2014 and is now among the favourites to win the senior championship next month. She will also be leading Team USA at the 2020 World Figure Skating Championships in Montreal.

She publicly acknowledged her sexual orientation for the first time in an interview with the Dallas Voice.

“The fear of not being accepted is a huge struggle for me,” she said. “Being perceived as [going through] ‘just a phase’ or [being] ‘indecisive’ is a common thing for bisexual/pansexual women.

“I don’t want to shove my sexuality in people’s faces, but I also don’t want to hide who I am.”

Although the sport boasts many out male figure skaters, including as Johnny Weir, Eric Radford and Glenn’s own skating partner Timothy LeDuc, out female figure skaters are comparatively rare. Glenn is now the only out female skater on Team USA.

Last year ice dancer Karina Manta came out as bisexual, making her and her skating partner Joe Johnson the first openly LGBT+ duo to compete in the championships, however both have now left competitive skating to join Cirque du Soleil.

Glenn’s coming out drew a wide response on social media, with several LGBT+ figure skaters being the first to offer support and congratulations.

“More queer women in figure skating!!!!” tweeted Karina Manta.

Figure skating podcast Ice Tea wrote: “We’re so very proud of you and your awesome, extremely important voice in the skating community.”

“You go girl!” wrote the gay US figure skater Adam Rippon – to which Glenn replied: “Thanks for paving the way.”

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