Blades Of Glory — 12 Openly Gay Skaters

From: Queerty

Rudy Galindo 

1969 – 

Val Joe "Rudy" Galindo (born September 7, 1969 in San Jose, California) is an American figure skater who competed in both single skating and pair skating. As a single skater, he is the 1996 U.S. national champion and 1987 World Junior Champion. As a pairs skater, he competed with Kristi Yamaguchi and was the 1988 World Junior Champion and the 1989 and 1990 U.S. National Champion.

Rudy Galindo is the third child of Jess and Margaret Galindo, having a brother, George, who was ten years older and sister, Laura, five years older. He is of Mexican descent by way of his grandparents on his father's side. In 1996, he disclosed his homosexuality in Christine Brennan's book Inside Edge: A Revealing Journey Into the Secret World of Figure Skating (ISBN 0-385-48607-3), which was published shortly before he won his national title in 1996. He is the first openly gay skating champion in the U.S. His autobiography Icebreaker (ISBN 0-671-00390-9), co-written with Eric Marcus, was published in 1997.

In 2000, Galindo announced he was HIV positive.

After residing a number of years in Reno, Nevada, Galindo moved back to San Jose, California in 2006.