TFCB nonfiction writer Kirstin Cronn-Mills is excited about the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics. She says:

The best athletes in the world are gathered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, ready to do battle for the honor of a lifetime. For more than forty of these athletes, the prestige of competing in the world’s biggest sporting event also includes the strength to be out and proud. This year’s Olympics boasts the most LGBTQ+ athletes the games have ever had–more than double the number of out LGBTQ+ athletes in 2012. When these games wind down and the Paralympic Games begin in early September (please bring us more TV coverage, NBC!), almost ten Paralympic athletes will be out and proud, up from two in the 2012 Paralympics.

Thank you, Olympic athletes, for embracing yourselves as you embrace your sports, and thank you, allies, for supporting your LGBTQ+ players.

For more information about LGBTQ+ athletes for your library, please check out LGBTQ+ Athletes Claim the Field: Striving for Equality, my newest TFCB title, out this fall.