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As Pride Month is being celebrated around the world this month, we’re spotlighting LGBTQ+ athletes, advocates, storytellers and communities helping to shape sport and culture – and hearing from members of our team on what Pride means to them.
For this edition of Beyond Sport Recommends, the team has curated a mix of things to watch, listen to, read, follow and explore. Some are directly rooted in sport. Others speak more broadly to identity, belonging, visibility and the power of being able to move through the world as your full self. 🏳️🌈
Click on the links to see what’s currently on our radar:
🎥 Watch
A quietly powerful coming-of-age story
Dee Rees’ Pariah follows Alike, a Black teenager in Brooklyn quietly embracing her identity as a lesbian while navigating family expectations, first love and the uncertainty of coming into herself. Tender, emotional and beautifully observed, the 2011 film explores identity, family and self-discovery with honesty and compassion, capturing both the challenges and the quiet joys of becoming who you are.
A story about friendship, allyship and transition
Will & Harper — Official Trailer
Will & Harper follows Will Ferrell and Harper Steele, longtime friends and collaborators, as they take a road trip across the United States after Harper comes out as a trans woman. The 2024 documentary speaks to themes that matter in every community space: friendship, allyship, acceptance and what it means to move through the world as yourself.
Putting young people’s stories at the center
Changing the Game — Official Trailer
This 2019 documentary follows three transgender high school athletes as they compete, grow and navigate public debates about trans inclusion in sport. It keeps young people’s own experiences at the center, making it especially relevant in a moment when conversations about trans athletes too often happen without them.
A joyful, complicated love letter to women’s baseball
A League of Their Own (TV Series) — Official Trailer
The 2022 television adaptation of A League of Their Own reimagines the beloved story of women’s baseball during World War II through a more expansive and explicitly queer lens. Following the Rockford Peaches and a wider cast of characters, the series explores friendship, ambition, race, sexuality and the search for belonging in a sport — and a society — that was never built with everyone in mind.
“I grew up with some visibility of queer women in sport, but I didn’t always see myself in the stories being told. A lot of the representation I encountered felt narrow, flattened or filtered through stereotypes I could not quite identify with. Bisexuality in popular culture, when it showed up at all, was often treated like a joke, a phase or something people had to explain away.
Around the time marriage equality became federal law in the US in 2015, I remember noticing a shift. More queer women in sport were using their voices and building platforms to tell stories on their own terms, without the weight of stereotypes shaping how they were seen. Visibility is powerful, but only when there is room for people to be seen in more than one way.”
— Maggie Munoff, Digital Content Manager
🎧 Listen
Athlete-led conversations on identity and belonging
The Queer Athlete Podcast features conversations with LGBTQ+ athletes about what it means to navigate identity, community and belonging in sport. The episodes are personal and honest, while still making space for where sport continues to fall short.
Conversations with LGBTQ+ athletes and leaders in sport
Hosted by Olympic boxing champion Nicola Adams, The LGBT Sport Podcast explores LGBTQ+ issues in sport through conversations with athletes and people from across the sector. The series offers a mix of personal stories and broader reflections on visibility, inclusion and what it takes to make sport feel open to everyone.
“I’ve been fortunate to experience sport as a safe space, a place where I can be myself and feel genuinely celebrated for who I am. Through sport, I developed the confidence to embrace my authentic self and found a support network of queer friends who have become lifelong family. Unfortunately, this is not everyone’s experience. For some, sport can be exclusionary with harmful environments. Championing Pride in sport remains so important. It provides a powerful platform to advocate for greater visibility, inclusion and belonging, helping to ensure that everyone, everywhere, can experience the positive impacts sport can have.”
— Tarryn Horner, Senior Manager, Programs
📚 Read
On trans athletes, inclusion and the future of sport
Fair Game: Trans Athletes and the Future of Sports — Ellie Roscher, Dr. Anna Baeth and Chris Mosier
Through a multi-voiced look at the experiences of trans youth and adults, Fair Game examines the patterns of fear and gender stereotypes behind anti-trans sports legislation. It also offers historical and political context on sex-segregated sport, while asking readers to imagine a future where movement, play and competition are not restricted by exclusion.
A deeply personal rugby story
Proud — Gareth Thomas
In Proud, former Wales and British & Irish Lions rugby captain Gareth Thomas reflects on hiding his sexuality while competing at the highest level of a sport often associated with toughness and masculinity, and what it meant to eventually share his full self publicly.
Football, love and coming out
The Yards Between Us — R.K. Russell
Former NFL player R.K. Russell reflects on football, love and coming out as bisexual in The Yards Between Us. The memoir offers a rare perspective on masculinity, sexuality and the pressure to hide in professional football.
A graphic memoir about skating and self-discovery
Spinning — Tillie Walden
In Spinning, cartoonist Tillie Walden reflects on her years in competitive figure skating and her coming-of-age as a queer young person. The graphic memoir captures the tension between discipline, identity and slowly realizing that the life built around a sport may not be the life you want to stay in.
Gender diverse athletes and the fight to play
Let Us Play: Winning the Battle for Gender Diverse Athletes — Harrison Browne and Rachel Browne
Let Us Play centers the experiences of gender diverse athletes and the barriers they face in sport. Harrison Browne, the first openly transgender athlete in professional hockey, brings a perspective rooted in lived experience, advocacy and the belief that sport should be a place where people can participate as their full selves.
“As a queer and nonbinary person, Pride Month in sport is a reminder to me of both the progress that’s been made and the gaps that still exist. It’s an opportunity for us all to think about what inclusion in sport means and why it matters. And by that, I don’t just mean who is physically visible, but whether people genuinely feel they belong in the spaces they’re moving in. Visibility matters, but having that sense of belonging when you don’t have to explain yourself or fit into a specific mold is just as important.”
— Carly Heinz, Director, Development
🔎 Follow / Explore
LGBTQ+ athlete advocacy and inclusion tools
Athlete Ally works to make athletic communities more inclusive and to help every athlete act as an ally. Their work includes education, policy advocacy, athlete activism and resources designed to make sport safer and more welcoming for LGBTQIA+ people.
LGBTQ+ sports storytelling and news
Outsports has long been a home for LGBTQ+ sports stories, covering athletes, teams, fans, advocacy and the ongoing challenges facing queer and trans people in sport. For anyone looking to keep up with LGBTQ+ sports visibility year-round, it is a useful place to start.
Community for LGBTQ+ people and allies in sport media
Sports Media LGBT+ is a UK-based network, advocacy and consultancy group helping to build community among LGBTQ+ people and allies in sport media. Its work is a reminder that belonging in sport is not only about who plays, but who gets to tell the stories.
“LGBTQ+ belonging in sport means seeing people as people first, honoring how they show up, express themselves and move through the world. It means building environments where difference is not just accepted but respected and celebrated. For young people, that sense of belonging can be transformative. And if sport is not creating that feeling of safety and inclusion, then we have more work to do.”
— Claudia Larrea, Senior Manager, Programs
These recommendations are just a small snapshot of the many ways LGBTQ+ athletes, advocates, creators and communities are shaping sport and culture — and of the ongoing work to make sport a place where everyone feels they belong, can show up as themselves and has the chance to thrive.
Have something we should be checking out? Let us know on social media. We’re always looking for the next great recommendation!
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