Ice dancing from Alison & Don of Adventures in Wonderland.

Today, we’re looking at the remarkable ice dance pair Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje, affectionately known as Weapo. Though the former Olympians haven’t competed since 2019, the Canadian skating team is still appearing in ice shows. And, happily, YouTube turned up some wonderful examples of their prior competition performances.

While their on-ice rapport made people believe the two to be romantically involved, the truth is that Weaver is actually gay. She reports that she had a lot of anxiety associated with coming out, since there are few out gay women in her sport. However, when she did finally come out, she says the response from fans and colleagues was overwhelmingly positive. That summer, Weaver helped create a charity nonprofit known as Open Ice Collective, which tells stories of diversity in figure skating. The nonprofit’s documentary series has helped open the dialogue about racism, homophobia, and other inequities, and she is hopeful it will help the sport move in the right direction.

You can see more of the remarkable Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje on their website and on Facebook. You can learn more about the Open Ice Collective on their website, and you can follow the ice dancers individually on their Instagrams: Kaitlyn and Andrew

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lilpzxmHCAE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHuj0Cj-GkM