Mark Leduc, a Canadian who won a silver medal for boxing in Barcelona in 1992 and who came out of the closet the following year as an advocate for gay rights, had died, the Toronto Star is reporting. He was found in a hotel sauna early Sunday morning and died Wednesday night. Preliminary results suggest he succumbed to heatstroke.
I’m very sad to hear of Marc Leduc’s death.
I had the pleasure of meeting him and hearing him speak at several sports events in Canada. He was a great guy and did a lot of good things to bridge the divide between gay men and sports. He did a lot to try to break down the homophobia surrounding gay men competing in sports with straight men. He also worked hard for the rights of LGBT people in general and especially for those with HIV.
Although he came out after the Olympics, just having a gay man who has won a silver Olympic medal in a macho sport like boxing helps to break stereotypes that gay men cannot compete in contact sports.