Matthew Hall
(1970 - living) Canada
Figure skater
Hall is a gay figure skater on the Canadian national team. He started playing hockey at age 2 ("a typical Canadian kid"), but gave it up at six, tired of being a goalie. Hall later dabbled with diving, gymnastics, soccer, and track, before eventually becoming a figure skater.
Matthew Hall of Canada was the first élite figure skater ever to come out as gay while still competing as an amateur or eligible. He came out in 1992, partly after reflection following the AIDS-related deaths of Canadian skaters Dennis Coi and Rob McCall. He reported no homophobia from fellow Canadian skaters, only support.
His winning performance at the 1994 Gay Games was widely praised, especially since he was competing with cracked ribs suffered in a car accident just days earlier. Hall made his film début, under the name "Chase Alters," in the award-winning gay adult feature Fallen Angel, released in 1997 from Titan Media.
According to a 1998 Icon magazine profile, Hall's family includes his lover Roy Rusch.
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