Gay Olympic skier hits out at Mike Pence over anti-LGBT+ views

Olympic skier Gus Kenworthy is not thrilled that anti-gay Vice President Mike Pence will lead the US delegation to the Winter Olympics.

Ahead of his trip to South Korea next month as head of the Winter Olympic delegation, Pence has been making enemies among the LGBT athletes set to represent the US. 

When gay figure skater Adam Rippon challenged the Vice President’s concerning stances on LGBT equality, Pence put out a statement suggesting that the athlete had misled the public.

Now a second gay Olympian has spoken out against him.

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The freestyle skier who picked up a silver medal at the last Winter Olympics, told USA Today that Pence’s presence will send a negative message.

He told USA Today: “I actually found out about [Pence attending] from Adam Rippon… I feel the same way as him.

“I think it’s not the person I would have expected, and I think it sends mixed messages because this is the first time we’re seeing out U.S. Olympic athletes competing in the Winter Olympics, and then we have someone leading the delegation that doesn’t support that, and doesn’t support the LGBT community, and has spoken against it. I think it doesn’t send the right message.

“It’s unfortunate, but it is what it is.”

He added of the games in PyeongChang: “The fact that I am out, I think it’s going to warrant me having a better time in Korea, and really getting to experience it. 

“When you’re in the closet, you can’t enjoy anything quite as much. I don’t think I had the Olympics experience I was hoping for, and now that I’m out, I’m going to really take it all in and have such a better time.”

A hardline evangelical who has not supported a single LGBT reform across nearly two decades in politics, VP Pence has one of the worst records on equality of any President or Vice President in recent memory.

Pence previously suggested that HIV prevention funding be drained in order to fund state-sponsored ‘gay cure’ therapy.

Information gathered from this article
The Gayly 1/27/2018 @ 8:42 p.m. CST