Tom Daley urges LGBTQ+ athletes to do this ‘important’ thing in anti-gay countries
Tom Daley has a message for other LGBTQ+ athletes after retiring. Getty)
Gay former Olympic diving champion Tom Daley has outlined the “most important” thing LGBTQ+ athletes can do in countries that are not accepting of queer people.
Daley, who announced his retirement from diving after winning a silver medal at this summer’s Olympics in Paris, told The Guardian: “The most important thing is that LGBTQ+ people be visible in countries where the laws are against them. The more powerful thing is to be able to go to a country that’s hosting a sporting event and just being you, and doing well.
“It’s such a powerful and strong message and sends a message of hope. All we can do as LGBTQ+ people is to be visible, to be out there and be ourselves. That in itself is a form of activism. And everyone can get involved.”
Daley was seen holding a rainbow-coloured towel in Paris just as he had at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha, the capital of Qatar, a few months earlier.
LGBTQ+ people in Qatar are criminalised and consensual same-sex sexual activity is punishable by imprisonment. An interpretation of Sharia law also allows for convicted Muslim men to be executed.
Daley has frequently spoken out for equality in sport, previously calling on professional sporting bodies to make everyone feel welcome, and his latest move is promoting a knitting exhibition in Japan where he won Olympic gold three years ago.
Campaigners have long called for equal rights in Japan, the only G7 country (a group also consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the UK and the US) which does not permit gay marriage.
The exhibition, held from 8 to 25 November, is a celebration of knitted art, with Daley, who has previously confessed to having an “obsession” with knitting, set to be there on the opening day. Money raised from a silent auction of his designs will go to the Marriage for All Japan campaign.
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