Tom Daley. Image: Instagram.
Out British diver Tom Daley is on a “mission” to get the Olympics to ban countries where homosexuality is punishable by death.
While accepting the Sport Award at the 2021 Attitude Awards, the Tokyo Olympics gold medalist said he would like to see these changes made before the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
“I think it’s really important to try and create change, rather than just highlighting or shining a light on those things,” Daley said.
“I am incredibly lucky to come from Great Britain where I am able to be my true authentic self and compete without worry of ramification. I feel like wherever you are born you should be able to have that stress taken away from you.”
More Out Athletes At Tokyo Olympics Than Ever Before
At the Tokyo Olympics, there were more out Olympians than any other games with at least 186 openly identifying as LGBTQI, but according to Human Dignity Trust there are still 11 countries were homosexuality is punishable by death.
There is also a further 60 countries where same-sex relations are criminalised in some capacity and most of these countries did compete at the recent Olympic games.
“For those ten countries where you cannot be yourself, they should not be allowed to compete in the Olympic Games. They should not be able to host the Olympic Games. The World Cup in Qatar is coming up – it has extreme rules about LGBTQ people and women. And I think it should not be allowed to hold such a sporting event,” Daley said.
The International Olympic Committee has in the past banned countries from competing at the games for political reasons. From 1964 to 1988, South Africa was banned from participating at the Olympics due to their discriminatory and violent apartheid regime.
China To Host Winter Olympics
After the controversy of letting Sochi host 2014 Winter Olympics despite Russia having a “gay propaganda law”, which prevents any content that promotes or advocates for the LGBTQIA+ community from being displayed, the Olympic Committee had taken steps to ensure hosting cities don’t have discriminatory laws towards the community.
However, the next winter Olympic games are set to be held in 2022 in China Beijing where LGBTQIA+ people are not protected by anti-discriminatory laws.
China has also been recently cracking down on feminine men in the media, releasing new moral guidelines that aim to “resolutely putting an end to sissy men and other abnormal aesthetics”.
Out British diver Tom Daley won two Olympic medals at the Tokyo Olympics – a gold medal for men’s synchronised 10 metre platform diving and a bronze medal in the men’s individual 10 metre platform diving.
After his Olympic Gold medal win, Daley had said at a press conference, “I feel incredibly proud to say I am a gay man and also an Olympic champion.” He recently revealed that before the Olympics, he had feared for his life after being hospitalised with a COVID-19 infection.
Daley married Oscar-winning filmmaker Dustin Lance Black in 2017 and the couple adopted their first child in 2018.
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