Three-time U.S. figure skating champion Amber Glenn isn’t just chasing Olympic gold — she’s using her first appearance at the Milano Cortina Games to speak out against injustice and uplift her community.
The 26-year-old made history this year as the first openly queer woman on the U.S. figure skating team. But Glenn is doing far more than competing — she’s also making headlines for publicly calling out the Trump administration’s treatment of the LGBTQ+ community and other marginalised groups.
At a press conference this week, Glenn didn’t hold back.
“It’s been a hard time for the [LGBTQ+] community overall in this administration,” she said, as reported by USA Today. “It isn’t the first time that we’ve had to come together as a community and try and fight for our human rights. And now especially, it’s not just affecting the queer community, but many other communities, and I think that we are able to support each other in a way that we didn’t have to before, and because of that, it’s made us a lot stronger.”
Glenn encouraged LGBTQ+ individuals to “stay strong in these hard times,” stressing that silence isn’t an option.
“I know that a lot of people say you’re just an athlete, like, stick to your job, shut up about politics, but politics affect us all,” she said. “It is something that I will not just be quiet about because it is something that affects us in our everyday lives. So of course, there are things that I disagree with, but as a community, we are strong and we support each other, and brighter days are ahead of us.”
Trading Pins, Spreading Pride
Glenn is also using a longstanding Olympic tradition — athletes trading pins — to spread visibility and representation. She’s been handing out Progress Pride Flag heart-shaped pins and rainbow pins with her own empowering slogan: “Believe + Breathe.”
“It’s to show representation for my community,” she told KSDK News last month. “I want to continue to normalise having queer people in these spaces, that we can be some of the top athletes in the world and be ourselves while doing so, especially on such a global stage when not everywhere accepts people for who they are. I want to continue to move us forward as a community.”
By using her platform to boldly advocate for inclusion and visibility, Amber Glenn is not only making Olympic history — she’s changing it.
