Between the toxic culture of the locker room and the Supreme Court’s challenges to trans athletes, it’s little wonder that queer and trans people have not often felt welcomed by the world of sports—one that, in 2026, still manages to feel overwhelmingly straight and male.
Lately, though, there’s been a change in the cultural discourse around LGBTQ+ athletes, thanks in no small part to Heated Rivalry. Crave’s tremendously popular “gay hockey show,” which premiered on HBO Max in November, has managed to break through at a moment when, to hear actress and trans rights advocate Laverne Cox tell it, Hollywood is deprioritizing queer stories. “Everyone is scared,” Cox recently told The Cut. “I know some people who have been told directly, ‘We’re not doing anything queer right now. No queer stories at all.’ If I wanted to pitch a TV show right now, at most places it’s going to be a ‘no.’”
Of course, no one series can change hearts and minds overnight, but it’s hard to deny that Heated Rivalry has had a salutary effect both within the still-conservative world of hockey, and on sports more broadly. Real-life hockey player Jesse Kortuem recently credited the show with inspiring him to come out as gay, telling Out Magazine: “I know many closeted and gay men in the hockey world are being hit hard by Heated Rivalry s success. Never in my life did I think something so positive and loving could come from such a masculine sport.”
This past week, former pro basketball star AJ Ogilvy also discussed his sexuality with Isaac Humphries (the only out gay player in the National Basketball League), saying: “There’s now a place for us to have this conversation, to be able to talk as openly as this.” Oglivy, who married his longtime partner 18 months ago, said that he tried to “present as straight and not show this side of my personality” during his basketball career, which stretched from 2005 to 2022, adding that he didn’t see any “positive portrayals of gay relationships in basketball or in the media as a whole.”
Hopefully, the hyper-visibility of Heated Rivalry—which has been renewed for a second season—and the courage of athletes like Oglivy and Kortuem will change that paradigm for athletes growing up now. Heated Rivalry star Hudson Williams has noted that he and Rachel Reid, who wrote the book series the show is based on, have received messages from a number of professional hockey, football, and basketball players who do not feel that they can publicly identify as LGBTQ+.
In our time of rising homophobia, LGBTQ+ athletes still stand to lose a lot when they speak out—and it’s always been easier for some members of the community than others to share their stories. The Prime Video series A League of Their Own, which diverged from its source material to contain multiple storylines about Black, lesbian, and other marginalized female athletes, was swiftly canceled in 2023, becoming one of 65 shows featuring lesbian, bisexual, and queer characters to end after just one season.
While the rise of Heated Rivalry and the real-life coming-out narratives it’s inspiring are undeniably a major and thrilling step forward, we’ll know we’ve achieved real parity when all LGBTQ+ people are encouraged to be themselves, on the court and off.
