Commonwealth Games boss wants to discuss Tom Daley’s eye-opening LGBT+ concerns
Team GB’s Tom Daley poses with bronze medal after the ceremony for the men’s 10m platform final at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on 7 August 2021. (Getty/Clive Rose)
The head of the Commonwealth Games is “happy” to meet with Tom Daley to discuss his concerns about countries that discriminate against the LGBT+ community.
Homosexuality is still illegal in 36 of the 72 nations and territories that will be in Birmingham for the 2022 Commonwealth Games, the Guardian reported.
Tom Daley called on countries in the Commonwealth to “push some of the other nations to relax” their anti-LGBT+ laws as he accepted a gold medal at the games in 2018.
In October this year, Daley declared he would make it his “mission” to have countries that carry the death penalty for queer people banned from competing in the Olympics.
Katie Sadleir, the chief executive of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), recently said she would be “happy to meet” with Tom Daley to see how the foundation can “create an opportunity to raise issues in a safe environment”.
But she admitted she can’t “go into the countries” that criminalise being LGBT+ and “change their laws at this stage”.
Tom Daley attends the Fashion Awards 2021 at the Royal Albert Hall on 29 November 2021 in London, England. (Samir Hussein/WireImage)
“We don’t set the rules for all the countries but what we do is to create a platform to discuss things that we think are important,” Sadleir said.
She added that the CGF has been “working on the concept” for a Pride House in Birmingham which will create a “safe space” for queer athletes to “come and discuss issues, to raise the profile of the community”.
The Pride House in Birmingham will promote LGBT+ participation in sport while also hosting a packed programme of entertainment before and after the games.
Tom Daley, who has long been passionate about LGBT+ rights, declared in October that he would tirelessly campaign to make it so that countries that “criminalise and [where it’s] punishable by death for LGBT people are not allowed to compete at the Olympic Games”.
He also called out the upcoming 2022 World Cup, which is being held in Qatar.
“The World Cup coming up in Qatar has extreme rules against LGBT people and about women, and I think it should not be allowed for a sporting event to host in a country that criminalises against basic human rights,” Daley said.
“So, that is going to be my mission now to try and change that.”
