Kirsty Gilmour: Pride Month is more necessary than ever

For Kirsty Gilmour, Pride Month in 2025 is more important than ever.

The British athlete claimed a silver medal in the women’s singles at the European Championships earlier this year and was the only out gay badminton player at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

With hopes for more players in badminton to feel empowered to come out and in an increasingly difficult political climate for members of the LGBTQ+ community, Gilmour feels there is now an even greater need for visibility.

“Right now it’s more necessary than ever,” they emphasised.

“I first decided to put a tiny rainbow flag on my bio in 2020. Maybe because we weren’t out and about, and the world had shut down, and I wanted to show a little bit more of myself.

“I felt a little bit cheeky at the time. But now people have to be bolder in their support of the LGBTQIA+ community.

“We were getting to a good place where I felt like the default was, obviously, it’s good and fine and great, but those people that had gone quiet, that were opposed to it or against it, have become more involved of late.

“Especially with the new transgender legislation, it’s more important than ever to be vocal and explicit with your views and support, especially for the transgender community, because we absolutely need to bolster support for them.”

For Gilmour, who uses both she/her and they/them pronouns, sport has been a space that has allowed them to express and embrace their own sexuality and gender identity.

Significantly, it has provided a safe environment and just as Gilmour provides a voice for those who may not feel represented in sport, they have also found their own inspirations within badminton.

“Within the players, it’s always been a relatively safe space. In terms of the gay women on the tour, the work that Christinna [Pedersen] and Kamilla [Rytter Juhl] have done over the years was important, personally, for me,” they reflected.

“I’ve just never felt it to be a point of issue. I’m really lucky in that. I know there are some horror stories out there, and they absolutely have to be told, but I also want to share my story of, I’ve had a great time.

“The point in sport is that it’s a level playing field, and it’s for everyone. It’s supposed to be a safe space for absolutely everyone. It’s always been a place where I’ve felt the more masculine parts of me have been really encouraged.

“I’ve always sat somewhere between, okay, my biology is absolutely female, but my actual physical capabilities sometimes were closer to where the boys were.

“I’ve always lived in that in-between world of being a bit of both. It’s always been a place where I could just switch off the rest of the world and run around and hit a shuttle.”

And in that pursuit, Gilmour has been remarkably successful. The 31-year-old boasts five European Championship silver medals and a Commonwealth Games silver and bronze.

While their European silver medal was made all the more impressive this year as they were struggling with back pain, at the time it felt like just another near miss.

“I look back at those podium pictures. Oh my God, I’m so sad. That’s a sad boy. It really hurt at the time. Physically and emotionally, and mentally, it hurt at the time,” Gilmour said.

“Everyone was aware that Carolina [Marín] was not there, and it was the best chance that you’ve got to get the gold.

“But considering I had a little cry on the Tuesday before we started because my back was so sore, I just took it hour by hour that week, trying to get it into a good place.

“If you’d handed me a contract for a silver medal on a Tuesday, I would have signed that quickly. But when you put it together with everything that’s gone on in the past, then it just looks like another silver.”

Gilmour has just finished a stint in Singapore and Indonesia. Most recently they took world number 2 Wang Zhi Yi to three sets, losing 21-13 19-21 21-14 in the round of 16 in Indonesia.

Beyond results, the world number 28 is focusing on finding a happy medium between learning a more tactical game while not overthinking their performance.

“I’m trying to get that balance between being aware of the conditions in the hall and my opponent’s strengths and weaknesses, but also just trying to play as instinctually and freely as possible,” Gilmour explained.

“It’s such a tough thing. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve started to overthink things more. I used to just go in and see what happened and not really get too deep into the details of things.

“I’m trying to work with the details, but also work with a big, free game as well. It’s a hard balance to find each time.”

And as Gilmour is trying to find freedom beyond just the details on the court, they hope the entire badminton community feel included and welcomed wherever they are playing the sport.

At grassroots level, Badminton England encourages transgender and non-binary players to play badminton recreationally in the gender they identify as.

It is a clarity that Gilmour feels is necessary to that ensure badminton, and sport, can be the safe space they have personally found it to be.

“To do anything other than to explicitly create a nice, warm, safe environment for the LGBTQIA+ community is to be on the wrong side of history because I’m not going to change. No LGBT+ person I know is going to change,” they said.

“Imagine how scary it is for a young transgender kid who’s desperate to play badminton, but they just don’t know what the environment is that they’re stepping into.

“It’s happening and people exist. It will never go away. I would encourage people in positions of power to be brave.”