Timothy LeDuc made history at the 2019 U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
LeDuc, who identifies as non-binary, became the first openly gay athlete to win a U.S. pairs title, capturing gold with partner Ashley Cain-Gribble.
Three years later, the 31-year-old LeDuc has a chance to make history again at the same event.
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LeDuc and Cain-Gribble competed at this weekâs 2022 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, looking to lock down their spots on Team USAfor Februaryâs 2022 Beijing Games. And they succeeded! LeDuc is officially the first publicly out non-binary Winter Olympian.
On NBCLXâs latest âMy New Favorite Olympianâ podcast, LeDuc opened up about coming out to their family, not always being accepted for who they are within the figure skating community, why their partnership with Cain-Gribble works so well and much more:
âI believed the lies that I was toldâ
Olympic Sports
LeDuc first came out as gay when they were 18 years old. The Cedar Rapids, Iowa, native woke up their parents, Becky and Mike LeDuc, in the middle of one night to inform them.
âOur first reaction I remember was, inside it was a little bit of a shock and a little bit of very troubling at the time because of our background,â Mike said.
The background Mike was referencing was the familyâs church background. The LeDuc family was part of a âfairly traditional evangelical churchâ which âtraditionally views the LGBT lifestyle as immoral,â according to Mike. So Timothy didnât initially receive support from their family after coming out.
â[My parentsâ] initial reaction was, âWe love you, but we need to change you,ââ Timothy said. ââWe need to fix this problem.ââ
âIt was very difficult with my family at first,â they added. âI was in a very Christian, conservative environment, going to church so many times a week. I believed the lies that I was told that I was an abomination.â
In fact, Timothy said one of their family members brought in people from a church group that âbasically tried to perform an exorcism.â
âAt one point, one of my family members brought friends home from a church group, and they basically tried to perform an exorcism on me, tried to cast my demons out and were praying on all sides of me.â
âAct like a boyâ
The figure skating community hasnât always exactly wrapped its arms around Timothy either. LeDuc shared personal stories of discrimination and a lack of empathy they faced while competing.
âI couldnât hide my queerness,â LeDuc said. âI had a tryout with a girl once and she decided not to skate with me because she thought me being gay was going to be a liability. It was not an option for her. In an otherwise great partnership that girl and I could have had, she didnât want to dance with me because I was a queer person.
âI literally had a coach, just final words before I went out to skate in a world-level competition, (who) pulled me in and said, âTimothy, go out and show them how masculine you are. Thatâs how you will win.â
âFor me, as a person that exists and really thrives outside of the binary, it can be very complicated sometimes navigating a gendered sport. There are going to be people that donât understand it. You know, they look at me, they see that I have a beard or they look at maybe my physical characteristics and say, âYouâre a boy, act like a boy. What are you doing?ââ
These arenât the first tales of figure skaters receiving pushback for breaking out of traditional gender norms.
Debi Thomas, the first African American to medal at the Winter Olympics, wore a unitard at the 1988 Winter Games in Calgary. Later that year, the International Skating Union introduced a rule that female skaters must wear a skirt covering the hips and posterior, meaning unitards and leotards couldnât be donned by women. The rule was in place up until 2004.
At the 2010 Vancouver Games, a pair of Canadian commentators questioned whether American Johnny Weir, who came out as gay in 2011, might have been docked points for his attire and mannerisms, and said Weir was setting a bad example for other male skaters. One also commented that Weir should have to take a gender test.
âFigure skating is subjective, which makes it different from so many other sports,â said Weir, who is now a figure skating analyst for NBC. âYou are a character and who you are down to, what kind of family you come from, the costumes you wear, what coach you take from, what color your hair is â all of those things can affect the way that youâre seen by a panel of judges that are essentially deciding your entire future and the worth of your whole life.Â
âI was raked over the coals for wearing rhinestones, and it wasnât butch enough. It wasnât masculine enough. It wasnât the all-American boy that America really wanted to sell.â
âThe moves [in figure skating] are all gendered in that the man lifts the woman, which was actually âthe man lifts the ladyâ until the end of June of this year,â said Erica Rand, who is a professor of art and visual culture and of gender and sexuality studies at Bates College. âThe fact that the International Skating Union changed the term âladyâ to âwomanâ just in June of 2021 tells you something about gender expectations in the sport.â
âWe never wanted to be what was looked at as the traditional teamâ
LeDuc and Cain-Gribble, 26, met in 2016 and the two have gone on to form a non-traditional pairing.Â
They are both on the taller side compared to their competitors, with Cain-Gribble standing 5-foot-6 and LeDuc at 6-foot-1. And their performances are also a diversion from the often-seen romantic style of pair skating.
âAshley understands, I think, my struggle for finding authenticity as well, because sheâs a taller pair girl and sheâs always been told sheâs too tall, that her body is not good enough, that her body is not right. It doesnât fit into this archetype that weâve defined for success in figure skating,â LeDuc said.
âI donât think Ashley was really ever interested in being the fragile girl. Sheâs such a powerful, amazing athlete. So for her, when I kind of came to her and said, âYou know, I donât really want to do this romantic style, it doesnât really seem like us.â She was like, âHeck yeah, Iâm good with that.ââ
âWhen Timothy and I teamed up, we never wanted to be what was looked at as the traditional team,â Cain-Gribble said.
âAnd itâs not just because Timothy is a queer athlete or because Iâm married. Itâs just because itâs not the story that we are wanting for us. Itâs not true to who we are as a team.âÂ
When the two skated to a first-place finish at the 2019 U.S. Championships, Cain-Gribble wore pants, which isnât common for female skaters to do.
âWe called [the performance] âTwo Pillars of strength because the message is two amazing athletes coming together to create something beautiful,â LeDuc said.
âWe want people to look at our skating and know that they donât have to change who they are in order to be a part of this sport, in order to do something that theyâre passionate about,â Cain-Gribble said. âYou work hard, you love it and youâre passionate about it, you should be able to do this. You shouldnât have to fit a mold.â
âThey werenât brokenâ
Ten years after coming out as gay, Timothy came out for a second time.
While in Dallas for Cain-Gribbleâs wedding, a now-28-year-old Timothy told their parents that they identified as nonbinary.
But this time around, Timothyâs parents had a completely different reaction.
âIt was like, âOK, all right, thatâs interesting. Weâre good,ââ Mike said. âWe better learn a little bit more about that then, you know.â
âAnd then it was off to the rally,â Becky added, referring to a parade for transgender people in Dallas that the family attended together.
What changed for Timothyâs parents from when they came out over a decade earlier?
âThe main thing that we learned, and this was really interesting, was that they werenât broken,â Mike said. âThey didnât need to be fixed because there really wasnât anything wrong with them. We knew growing up and observing and just knowing the development and putting pieces together â this wasnât their choice. This was who they were.â
âIf your belief system pursues harm to an already oppressed group, you need to step back,â Becky said.