Story at a glance
- Irma Testa, who over the summer became Italy’s first olympic boxing champion, came out as queer in a recent interview with Vanity Fair Italia.
- Testa said she doesn’t believe her identity fits into a single category and would rather not label herself.
- She hopes that by coming out she can send a message that there’s nothing wrong with being a part of the LGBTQ+ community.
Italian olympian Irma Testa, who during the Tokyo Olympics over the summer became Italy’s first boxing champion, has come out as queer.
Getty
“The people around me have known this for years, but I think it’s right now to tell everyone. Speaking of sexual orientation in the world of sport has a special value because champions are expected to be perfect,” Testa, 23, told Vanity Fair Italia late last month. “And for many, homosexuality is still an imperfection. Many athletes stay silent and hide away for fear of damaging their image. For me, too, it was like that up to a few months ago.”
Testa joins a growing list of openly LGBTQ+ professional athletes. She said she doesn’t believe her identity fits into any one category and would rather steer clear of labeling herself.
“I’m not saying I’m a lesbian because there can also be a man in my future. Since I was a little girl I have been attracted to women, but sometimes I have also felt it to men. The labels must be there: to make things become normal you must first go through the labels. But I don’t use them because I don’t like them,” she said.
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Testa said she kept her sexuality under wraps in public, often changing the gender of a same-sex partner in conversation or during interviews. She worried it made her partners feel “hurt” and “invisible.”
She added that, by coming out now, she hopes she can inspire others to do the same and end discrimination based on sexual orientation.
“Every human being should be protected and safe. Or at least protected. Who can protect you if not the state, its institutions, its laws?” she said. “There are still too many people discriminated against and this is not good. I can’t do much, but I can, by telling the truth about myself, say that nothing is wrong [with being LGBTQ+].”
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