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Paul deserves his own news thread in GSD! Thanks for sharing this interview link, @Sparks, as well as @Colonel Green and @firstflight in other threads.
Excerpt:... Paul Poirier!
Paul Poirier on Pride, Progress, and the Next Generation of Queer Athletes
Olympian and ice dancer Paul Poirier opens up about being a queer athlete, championing change, and the next generation of LGBTQ+ athletes.glory.media
GLORY: What has your experience been like as a gay athlete?
Paul Poirier: So far in my career, it hasn’t really been a focus. I have been focused on doing what I want to do athletically. We are in this unique position in our sport where I’m paired together with a partner. A lot of what we do in terms of building our identity, or our brand, revolves around the partnership itself and who we are as partners. We spent a lot of time developing that over the last few years and have really grown confident in who we are as partners. I think by having the time to reflect over the pandemic and being removed from skating because we haven’t had the opportunity to perform and compete, I’ve felt a desire in some way to translate that into sharing more about myself as a person.
"GLORY is an independent digital + print publication based in Toronto, covering the intersections of sports, culture and lifestyle, taking readers beyond the athlete."[Being a gay athlete] hasn’t been something that I’ve really talked about very much, especially in a public setting. I’ve had this attitude that my private life is my private life and my life outside of skating is my life outside of skating. I haven’t necessarily allowed all of those things to bleed together. I think with the lead-up to the Olympic Games in the next year, I definitely see opportunities to share what we do and who we are to a much wider audience, and that opportunity is not lost on me.
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