This article explores media coverage of male figure skaters who have died of AIDS-related illnesses, and the implication of the “AIDS crisis in figure skating” in ongoing struggles over HIV/AIDS policy in Canada. Although the Canadian media and public framed their responses to the crisis in terms of tolerance and compassion, the author shows how these responses reinforced a heteronormative logic of Canadian citizenship. Moreover, the author suggests that the performances of compassion and tolerance that emerged in the figure skating story are less evidence of the superior moral nature of Canada, as public discourse frequently suggests, than illustrations of the ways in which the struggle to define a distinct Canadian identity relies on narratives that imagine Canada as more compassionate and tolerant than the United States.
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