This week, the International Olympic Committee made history when it announced it would add sexual orientation to the list of traits for which an athlete cannot be discriminated against.
The decision, which received unanimous support by committee members, came after the issue of discrimination against LGB athletes arouse during the 2014 Sochi Olympics due to Russia’s homophobic and discriminatory laws.
Andre Banks, Executive Director and co-founder of All Out, an international non-profit organization devoted to promoting love and equality around the world, called I.O.C.’s decision a “pivotal moment for equality in sport.”
“This gain was made possible because of the global outcry, including from hundreds of thousands of All Out members, about Russia’s antigay law at the time of the Sochi Olympics,” Banks said.
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Athlete Ally, an organization dedicated to ending homophobia and transphobia in sports, also applauded I.O.C.’s decision.
“There is no greater sign of progress in combating homophobia in sports than to have the oldest organized athletic competition in the history of the world saying enough is enough,” Hudson Taylor, Executive Director of Athlete Ally, said in a press release. “The I.O.C. took a major step today recognizing that the practice of sport is a human right and that every individual must be able to practice without discrimination.”
While the I.O.C. certainly made notable progress by including sexual orientation in its non-discrimination language, it failed to include gender-identity. Athlete Ally now hopes to remedy that.
“We’ve seen significant progress today, but the job of the I.O.C. in achieving full equality is not done,” Taylor said. “The I.O.C. needs to include gender-identity in its Principal 6 language and Athlete Ally will continue to work with itscoalition partners to encourage the organization to do just that.”
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Vladimir Putin Expected The Olympics To Glorify Him. Here’s How LGBT Issues Rained On His Parade
Johnny Weir To Host Secretly-Shot Documentary Following LGBT Athletes At Sochi Olympics
AT&T Becomes First Olympics Sponsor To Condemn Russian Homophobia
Graham Gremore is a columnist and contributor for Queerty and Life of the Law. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
hyhybt
Sports are about physicality; it’s one of the very few areas where the body really does matter, and that makes fair treatment in the gender identity area tricker than for sexual orientation.
Ladbrook
It’s a start. I wonder if the IOC can now do something to help rid TLC of the Duggars.
tk92
@hyhybt: Gender identity is very tricky with sports. Even Renee Richards, the first well-known transgender athlete actually admitted after her career that her being born a man gave her a huge physical advantage.
The IOC move as a whole is really good news.
gaym50ish
If the International Olympic Committee really wants to do something for the gay community, how about granting permission for use of the term “Gay Olympics,” as the Gay Games were originally called when the event started in 1982? In spite of the fact that they have lent the name to the Special Olympics, the California Fire and Police Olympics, the Georgia Golden Olympics, the Junior Olympics, the Olympics of the Mind and even the Eskimo Olympics, the committee members refused to grant the same courtesy to a gay event.
The Olympics organization could never have “owned” the ancient name under ordinary U.S. trademark law, so Congress granted them exclusive rights to it in 1978. Geographical features and businesses on Washington state’s Olympic Peninsula were exempted, but the committee foolishly continued to file lawsuits over those uses of the name — most recently against McClatchy Newspapers, owner of the capital city’s daily paper, The Olympian, which has published under that banner since 1890.