Tom Waddell
Tom Waddell
1937–1987
Physician, decathlete, founder of the Gay Games which created an international community of LGBT athletes and helped shatter stereotypes of LGBT people worldwide
Tom Waddell (1937–1987) was the gay American sportsman who founded the international sporting event called the Gay Games. As a physician, he had done research on viruses. His battle against HIV/AIDS is one of the subjects of the award-winning documentary Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt.