Touchdown! Queer sports docs to stream ahead of Super Bowl Sunday

Super Bowl Sunday is almost upon us, and this week we’re celebrating the real achievements and touchdowns that queer athletes have accomplished. These documentaries tell stories of struggle, triumph and what it meant to LGBTQ+ and love sports.

Read on for documentaries about queer athletes to stream this weekend before the big game…

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Steelers: The World’s First Gay Rugby Club

Did you know that every two years there’s a world tournament for gay rugby, The Bingham Cup? Eammon Ashton-Atkinson’s 2020 documentary tells the story of the Kings Cross Steelers, a gay rugby club that formed in 1995 and kickstarted a huge gay rugby community that has grown to 60 clubs worldwide. This heartfelt and fun documentary, which largely focuses on the Steelers, also has a fair amount of sweaty, beefy guys ramming up against each other in various states of undress, so you don’t need to be a rugby fan to enjoy Steelers: The World’s First Gay Rugby Club.

Available to purchase digitally on Apple TV, Google Play and YouTube.

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Changing The Game

Michael Barnett’s 2019 documentary follows several trans teens athletes as they navigate the extremely complex and often difficult journey of being allowed to participate in high school sports. The documentary focuses on Mack Beggs, who was the Texas State Champion in girls wrestling—when he wanted to be on the boys team. “I train as hard as a man, I fight as hard as a man, I am a man—and I am the state champ of female high school wrestling,” Mack says. While this documentary can be hard to watch, especially as trans kids are targeted verbally for participating in specifically gendered sports, it’s also deeply moving and hopeful.

Now streaming on Hulu.

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Untold: Deal with the Devil

You didn’t think we could do a documentary list without at least one true crime story, right? Untold: Deal with the Devil tells the story of former boxer Christy Martin, who rose to fame in the late 1980s through the 2000s. Despite her success—she was the first female boxer elected to the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame in 1996—she held a deeply troubling personal secret: her abusive husband, James Martin, tried to kill her in 2010. He was convicted of attempted murder and is serving 25 years in prison. Christy, meanwhile, survived and eventually came out of the closet, marrying former boxing rival Lisa Holewyne in 2017. Take that, James.

Now streaming on Netflix.

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Standing on the Line

This 2019 Canadian documentary, directed by Paul Émile d’Entremont, explores what it means to be gay in sports, with a focus on homophobia among players. You’ll hear from gay athletes from all sorts of sports, including speedskating, soccer, football and hockey about their experiences. In the film, goaltender Brock McGillis speaks with young athletes about the dangers of homophobia in sports and tries to impact change.

Watch Standing on the Line in its entirety above.

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The Kicker…

Former Houston Texan defensive JJ Watt stars in these deleted scenes from Frozen 2 as Kristoff, who supports his sister-in-law, ice queen Elsa (Kate McKinnon), as she comes out as gay. Things start to get weird and a little furry when the supporting characters show up…

Related:

Wide receivers in drag: A look back at that messy gay football arc on ‘Dawson’s Creek’

In honor of Super Bowl Sunday, here are some “season highlight” from when out student Jack became a football star on ‘Dawson’s Creek.’