Out To Swim is a British aquatics sport club offering

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

water polo Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with the ...

and artistic swimming club for predominantly

LGBTQ+ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is ...

people and

allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

members. The club was founded by AGM when the name was agreed in March 1992. In 2006 "Out to swim Brighton" was formed in

Brighton and Hove Brighton and Hove () is a city and unitary authority in East Sussex, England. It consists primarily of the settlements of Brighton and Hove, alongside neighbouring villages. Often referred to synonymously as Brighton, the City of Brighton and H ...

and 2018 "Out To Swim West" in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

. Inspired by the swimming teams at the

Gay Games The Gay Games is a worldwide sport and cultural event that promotes acceptance of sexual diversity, featuring lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) athletes, artists and other individuals. Founded as the Gay Olympics, it was starte ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

in 1990, the club has competed at national and international competitions; it has expanded to include a

synchronized swimming Synchronized swimming (in British English, synchronised swimming) or artistic swimming is a sport where swimmers perform a synchronized choreographed routine, accompanied by music. The sport is governed internationally by FINA (the ''Fédérati ...

team, and regularly competes in open water events. Their first annual swimming competition was held in 1997 and attracted 23 gay and straight teams from all over

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. In June 2012 a team of six members from the club swam the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

for charity.Joe Morgan
"Gay team to swim English Channel for charity"
Gay Star News, 24 June 2012 The club is also one of the few aquatics clubs in the world that offers men participation in synchronised swimming. In 2012 the club were part of a campaign for men to be allowed to compete in

synchronized swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics Synchronized swimming competitions at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London were held from Sunday 5 August to Friday 10 August, at the London Aquatics Centre. Two medal events were included in the programme — women's duet and women's team &m ...

.
Irish Times, 7 July 2012. Until 2022 artistic swimming was one of only two Olympic sports that discriminate on the basis of gender. In 2019 Out To Swim registered as a charity in England & Wales with the stated aim of "The promotion, for the public benefit, of equality and diversity in swimming and other aquatic sports". Out To Swim is a member of the International Gay and Lesbian Aquatics Association, International Gay & Lesbian Aquatics association and European Gay & Lesbian Sport Federation (EGLSF).

References

{{reflist

External links

Official website
1992 establishments in the United Kingdom LGBT sports organisations in the United Kingdom Sports clubs and teams established in 1992 Sports clubs and teams in London Swimming clubs in the United Kingdom