Skater Grl

It started as a joke.

I’d always loved skating, and I soon was good enough that my coach partnered me with a girl named Kate and we began training as a pair, doing what’s called ice dancing.

Kate was also pretty good, and we clicked right away - at least on the ice.

Off the ice, Kare made it clear she thought of me as more of a brother than a potential romantic partner, and even though I was a bit disappointed, I was too happy with our progress as a team to kick too hard.

Then there came the night of the joke, the night that changed everything.

We’d been at a competition, and after the serious stuff was done, there was an opportunity for all the performers to just do some skating routines just to entertain the audience without having to worry about judges or scoring.

Kate and I were going to do a comedy routine we called “bride and groom”, where we’d play as a couple having a bunch of pratfalls on their wedding day.

And then Kate suggested we switch roles, just for the laugh.

So we did, but something went wrong almost as soon as I stepped on the ice to the wedding march music.

I fully expected the audience to laugh like crazy, but the place was silent.

And then Kate started to also act really weird.

Instead of the clumsy groom, she started doing a routine we’d used for a take on Romeo and Juliet, but from the male side.

And I fell into the routine, doing Juliet.

It was beautiful, and passionate and over far too quickly.

We stopped, and went to bow, and the place exploded with applause.

But I wasnt thinking about that. I went to the dressing room, and sat on a bench, trying to collect my thoughts.

Something had happened to me out there. At some point I stopped playing the role of a girl.

And found one inside of me.

And I didn’t want to give her up, to go back to being a boy.

So I did the hardest thing I could do, and told Kate, our coach, and finally, my folks.

And pretty soon I’d retired from skating to pursue a transition.

I knew early on that there would be no way for me to skate competitively. My home country of Canada might be pretty progressive, but the biggest power in skating is Russia, and to say they arent on board when it comes to LGBT people is putting it mildly.

I missed it, but I missed Kate more. Even though she supported me, and called me often, she still had dreams of making it to the podium as a skater, which meant she had to spend a lot of time training and competing.

But then Kurt Browning, one of the best skaters ever, came to me, and asked if I’d be interested in joining his touring group.

I was hesitant, because all I’d done was ice dance, not solo skating.

So I asked Kate what I should do, and she told me that I should go for it.

And that she’d be my partner again.

She told me she just couldnt find the chemistry with anybody else, and without it, she realized she’d never make it to the podium.

So she’d rather skate with me on tour, if I was willing to give it a shot.

To my surprise. People have been for the most part amazingly accepting of me, and even of Kate and I skating as a couple.

And even of us as a couple off the ice as well.

So maybe, if you get a chance, check out the tour, wont you?

End