Blades Of Glory — 12 Openly Gay Skaters

From: Queerty

John Curry 

1949 – 1994

John Anthony Curry, OBE (9 September 1949 – 15 April 1994) was a British figure skater. He was the 1976 Olympic and World Champion. He was famous for combining ballet and modern dance influences into his skating.

Prior to the 1976 World Championships, Curry was outed as gay by a German tabloid newspaper, Bild-Zeitung. It caused a brief scandal in Europe at the time, but Curry's sexual orientation was generally ignored by the press and public for many years afterwards.

In 1987 Curry was diagnosed with HIV, and in 1991 with AIDS. Before his death, he spoke openly to the press about both his disease and his sexual orientation. He spent the last years of his life with his mother. He died of an AIDS-related heart attack on 15 April 1994 in Binton; he was 44 years old. A 2007 biography of actor Alan Bates claimed that Curry and Bates had a two-year affair, and that Curry died in Bates' arms.