The U.S. Olympic committee recently chose ex-Olympian gymnast Peter Vidmar—a man who donated $2,000 and protested publicly in favor of Prop 8—as the American liaison for the International Olympic Committee and London games organizers. And openly gay Olympic ice skater Johnny Weir is not happy. He said, “I certainly wouldn’t want to be represented by someone who is anti gay marriage. It isn’t just about marriage, it is being allowed equal rights as Americans. The fact this man who is very publicly against something that may be represented on the American team is disgraceful.” Nevertheless the USOC stands by their decision saying that they respect Vidmar’s freedom of religion and the right of others to disagree with him, but that they chose him as a “tireless advocate” and inspiration in the world of sports.
Both Weir and the USOC are right in their views, but at least Vidmar won’t be judging women’s weightlifting or the men’s synchronized diving competitions.
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divkid
johnny weir GAY RIGHTS HERO — really!?!
would it be awfully cynical to inquire as to whether he has “music” track/clothing line/reality show/perfume… about to launch?
Cam
“”Both Weir and the USOC are right in their views””
___
No, actually they aren’t. Unless Vidmar follows ALL the dictates of his religion with as much belief he CANNOT use that as an excuse for his bigotry.
Does he wear clothing of mixed fibers? Did he have pre-marital sex? Does he believe children should be beaten or killed for dishonoring their parents? Does he eat pork? Does he believe that Blacks carry the mark of cain? Does he believe that women belong to their fathers or husbands?
I’m sick of people trying to use their religion as an excuse for their bigotry. If they are claiming that they only believe that because the Bible tells them to, then either they believe everything the Bible tells them or they do NOT get a free pass.
If you want to let the USOC know how you feel you can e-mail them here. [email protected]
Daniel
@Cam: I said the USOC was right, not that Vidmar was right.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
@divkid: Actually Johnny qWeir is entitled to props from our community………This is a person who won the US figure skating championship for 3 years in a row and was never featured on the orgs website because he didn’t portray the image they wanted of a male figure skater
He basically said “FU I am who I am and am not butching up my persona to fit into your homophobic dictates”………..
As to Peter Vidmar being a “tireless advocate” its pretty pathetic they chose an advocate for hatred to be their spokesperson………
And that little scumbag has a very Gay face………..
Cam
@Daniel:
But they aren’t right. They are using his religion as the excuse for his bigotry. I am pointing out that he doesn’t follow every single aspect of his religion. And since he is cherry picking the parts of his religion to follow then the only excuse for him picking that is bigotry.
Would you consider them to be “Right” if Vidmar believed that Women shouldn’t have rights and should exist in servitude because he followed a strict interpretation of the Bible? Would you think that they were right if he believed that AFrican American’s carried the Mark of Cain and were infereior to Whites? Remember Vidmar is Morman and up until around 1980 they wouldn’t even allow blacks to have full membership in their church. If he donated money to a law trying to take away women’s rights or rights for minorities and used his religion as an excuse would you defend the USOC for hiring him?
Gay groups seem to have a horrible case of battered wife syndrome, to the point that we are way too forgiving of people who abuse us. The USOC has hired an anti-gay bigot, and they are not right to defend him.
Duncan Noel campbell
I don’t think they both have a valid point. Do you think the USOC would get away with appointing a proud KKK member who thought that mixed race marriages were against god? Don’t think so. I get so pissed off with the “freedom of religion” excuse. It’s such bullshit. I don’t care who you worship: it doesn’t give you the right to discriminate against people.
divkid
@PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS: yes, a great athlete. he should be remembered for THAT.
instead he’s in danger of only being remembered as a clown.
it seems athletic glory isn’t good enough for weir, he wants to be a celebrity outside the rink — an arena in which has evinced no perceptible talent, other than that of trading on, whilst simultaneously denying, his gayness.
and so by his own volition he has become just another z-list celeb, and i’m honouring his chosen path by judging him in that light.
anyone with a natural talent like he does, who is serious about pursuing excellence and attaining a goal, but who then allow themselves to be distracted by such fripperies, does not deserve to be taken seriously. imho.
Shannon1981
Well got for Johnny for standing up for his beliefs, himself, and his community, and shame on the Olympics for promoting bigotry.
In this day and age it is simply unacceptable IMO to publicly be a racist, a homophobe, intolerant of certain religions, or bigoted in any way. For instance, I think highly religious people are deluded, and I’ll say so, but I don’t hate them, I’ll still be friends with them, and nor do I condone depriving them of their rights to worship. This decision is tantamount to the Olympics condoning depriving LGBTPQUIA Americans of our rights. Disgusting.
Daniel
@Cam: You have a good point when you say that USOC would not stand up for a person with other archaic bigotries supported by the bible. I’m under the impression that the USOC didn’t know about his past until it became a public issue at which point they released a statement. Nonetheless Vidmar resigned, so apparently many people disagreed with their decision.
AxelDC
How about the pick a KKK member and snub all the black athletes, or someone openly anti-Jewish or who thinks women shouldn’t be represented at the Olympics.
As long as gays allow others to denigrate us in public and get away with it, we will continue to be denigrated.
Hard Hearted Hannah
Vidmar makes my gaydar ping. Just another fucking Mor(m)on closet case. Fuck him.
scott ny'er
yay for Weir!!! He is the most prominent Out Olympian and kudos that he said something about this.
shameful on Peter Vidmar… what he did is sort of against the Olympic belief. Letting the games be open to everyone… letting things, ie. gay marriage (which I don’t necessarily believe in… I think they should just do away with marriage and have civil unions only be what is recognized by the courts… and let whatever church/religion/etc marry whomever they want) be for everyone.
alan brickman
Good for Johnny for pointing this out….
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
@divkid: Johnny is now 26 years old a dinousar in figure skating years. He is attempting to find a new career and earn some coin. If you watch his reality show you will discover that he basically made no money from skating and his family sacrificed everything for his training. He was denied being part of the major post professional tours simply becasuse he is Gay………
Joe stratford
Good for Weir. This Vidmar dude is one of the leaders of US Gymnastics. It appears he is one of those commishes who support the de facto rule that if you look too gay, you won’t get the full support of the US Gymnastics. Men like Vidmar has discriminated against talents like Weir and, in the past, Galindo. Their discriminatory ways, which they blatantly bandy about in Gymnastics should not be allowed to blatantly infest the whole US Olympic movement. It’s time to kick these bigots out of leadership positions.