{{short description|American rower}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2017}} {{Infobox sportsperson | name = Ginny Gilder | image = Ginny Gilder.jpg | image_size = | caption = | birth_name = Virginia Anne Gilder | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1958|6|4}} | birth_place = New York, New York, U.S. | alma_mater = Yale University (1979) | occupation = Entrepreneur, investor | other_interests = Co-owner of Seattle Storm | website = | headercolor = lightsteelblue | show-medals = yes | medaltemplates = {{MedalSport | Women's rowing }} {{MedalCountry | the {{USA}} }} {{MedalCompetition | Olympic Games }} {{MedalSilver | 1984 Los Angeles | Coxed quad sculls }} }}
'''Virginia Anne Gilder''' (born June 4, 1958), also known as '''Ginny Gilder''', is a former American rower and Olympic silver medalist. Gilder is a co-owner of the Seattle Storm, a professional women's basketball team in the WNBA.<ref name="Seattle Times">{{cite news |url=http://seattletimes.com/html/storm/2019259191_brewergilder26.html |title=Storm co-owner Gilder's resolve takes your breath away |work=Seattle Times |first=Jerry |last=Brewer |date=September 25, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wnba.com/storm/contact/force10.html |title=Force 10 Hoops LLC |publisher=Seattle Storm / WNBA |access-date=December 31, 2013}}</ref>
==Early life == Gilder is the daughter of Richard Gilder and was raised on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.<ref name="Seattle Times" /><ref name="Yale Alumni Magazine" /> She attended the Chapin School, followed by Dana Hall School where she graduated one year early.<ref name="Seattle Times" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-02-09 |title=Virginia "Ginny" Gilder 1976 |url=https://library.danahall.org/virginia-ginny-gilder-1976/ |access-date=2021-02-10 |language=en-US}}</ref>
In 1976, Gilder attended Yale University, graduating with a degree in history in 1979.<ref name="Yale Alumni Magazine">{{cite web |url=http://www.yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/3088 |title=Taking Seattle by Storm |work=Yale Alumni Magazine |first=Meri-Jo |last=Borzilleri |date=March–April 2011 |quote=Virginia Gilder '79}}</ref><ref name="Seattle Times" />
==Rowing career== While at Yale, Gilder was on the women's crew team. However, there was no locker room available for the women's crew team, so they had to wait on the bus after practice while the men showered before they could return to campus.<ref>{{Cite book |last=O'Connor |first=Karen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-3J_3pDNZlkC&dq=chris+ernst&pg=PA855 |title=Gender and Women's Leadership: A Reference Handbook |date=2010-08-18 |publisher=SAGE |isbn=978-1-4129-6083-0 |pages=855 |language=en}}</ref>
In 1976, she was part of a protest in which nineteen members of the Yale women's crew wrote "TITLE IX" on their bodies and went into athletic director Joni Barnett's office naked, and then rower Chris Ernst read a statement about the way they were being treated.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2015/04/17/gilder-a-force-for-change/|title=Gilder: A force for change|date=April 17, 2015|website=Yale Daily News}}</ref><ref name="yahoo1">{{cite web|url=https://sports.yahoo.com/news/how-a-naked-protest-changed-womens-rowing-forever-215616599.html |title=How a naked protest changed women's rowing forever |publisher=Sports.yahoo.com |date=2016-08-13 |access-date=2019-03-11}}</ref><ref name="courant1992">{{Cite web|url=https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-xpm-1992-05-24-0000201585-story.html|title=YALE HEARD NAKED TRUTH IN PROTEST|website=Hartford Courant|date=May 24, 1992 }}</ref> This protest was noted by newspapers around the world, including ''The New York Times''.<ref name="courant1992" /><ref name="yahoo1" /> By 1977, a women's locker room was added to Yale's boathouse.<ref name="autogenerated1976">{{cite web|last=Wulf |first=Steve |url=http://www.espn.com/espnw/title-ix/article/7985418/espn-magazine-1976-protest-helped-define-title-ix-movement |title=ESPN The Magazine - The 1976 protest that helped define Title IX movement |work=Espn.com |date=2012-06-14 |access-date=2019-03-11}}</ref>
Gilder was first selected for the U.S. Olympic team in 1980, the year that the United States boycotted the Olympic Games in Moscow, Russia.<ref name="Seattle Times" /> She was one of 461 athletes to receive a Congressional Gold Medal many years later.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Caroccioli|first1=Tom|last2=Caroccioli|first2=Jerry|title=Boycott: Stolen Dreams of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games|date=2008 |publisher=New Chapter Press|location=Highland Park, IL|isbn=978-0942257403|pages=243–253}}</ref> She was a member of the American women's quadruple sculls team that won the silver medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California.<ref>{{cite Sports-Reference |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/gi/ginny-gilder-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418045308/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/gi/ginny-gilder-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2020-04-18 |title=Ginny Gilder}}</ref>
==Author and private life == She is the author of ''Course Correction: A Story of Rowing and Resilience in the Wake of Title IX'' which was released April 14, 2015 by Beacon Press.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gilder |first=Ginny |title=Course Correction: A Story of Rowing and Resilience in the Wake of Title IX |date=April 14, 2015 |publisher=Beacon Press |isbn=9780807074770 |language=en}}</ref> The paperback and audiobook were released April 12, 2016.
In 2012, Gilder married Lynn Slaughter.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Brewer |first1=Jerry |title=Storm co-owner Gilder’s resolve takes your breath away |publisher=Seattle Times |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/storm/storm-co-owner-gilders-resolve-takes-your-breath-away/ |date=September 25, 2012}}</ref> ==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilder, Virginia}} Category:1958 births Category:Living people Category:Yale Bulldogs women's rowers Category:Rowers at the 1984 Summer Olympics Category:Olympic silver medalists for the United States in rowing Category:American female rowers Category:Seattle Storm owners Category:NBA owners Category:Women sports owners Category:Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics Category:Women basketball executives Category:People from the Upper East Side Category:Chapin School (Manhattan) alumni Category:World Rowing Championships medalists for the United States Category:Congressional Gold Medal recipients Category:20th-century American sportswomen Category:20th-century American LGBTQ people Category:American lesbian sportswomen Category:LGBTQ rowers