Coming on the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, this year’s IGLA championships carried enormous significance

Reported by Jeff Commings on the U.S. Masters Swimming web site

Peter Kingan was one of the busiest athletes at this year’s International Gay and Lesbian Aquatics championships in New York City. On some days, he woke up early to race in the swimming competition, then return in the afternoon to play a water polo game.

But the 70-year-old was all smiles after five days of competing at the Flushing Meadows Corona Park Aquatic Center, showing no signs of fatigue. It certainly didn’t hurt that he set a meet record in his top race, the 50-meter breaststroke.

“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else right now,” Kingan says shortly after racing the 100 breaststroke to close out the meet. “I’m a little tired but having the time of my life.”

Kingan was one of 922 athletes who came to the Big Apple for six days of competition at the annual event that featured all four aquatic sports: swimming, diving, water polo, and synchronized swimming. It was no accident that this year’s meet took place in New York City. The city was marking the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Inn uprising in Manhattan, when gay men and women rioted against a police raid in June 1969. The riot blossomed into an annual demonstration that spread around the world, leading to Pride Month celebrations across the globe every June.

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