Gold Coast
(Australia) (AFP) - English world champion diver Tom Daley on Friday urged
Commonwealth nations who outlaw homosexuality to relax their anti-gay stance.
Openly gay
Daley, who is expecting a child with his partner through a surrogate, grasped
the opportunity of his gold medal triumph in the 10m synchro event to push for
change.
Daley, who
won gold with team-mate Daniel Goodfellow, said sexual acts between consenting
adults of the same sex are criminalised in 37 Commonwealth countries.
Daley
voiced his concerns about the treatment of homosexuals in large parts of the
Commonwealth, whose athletes are gathered on Australia's Gold Coast for the
ongoing Games.
"Hopefully,
I know this might sound a bit political, but by the next Commonwealth Games (in
Birmingham 2022), there are 37 countries in the Commonwealth where it's
currently illegal to be who I am, so hopefully we can reduce that number
between now and then," Daley told reporters.
"Coming
to the Gold Coast and being able to live as an openly gay man is really
important and to be able to feel comfortable in who you are when you are
standing on that diving board.
"For
37 countries that are here participating that's very much not the case."
Daley said
it was time for those Commonwealth countries to change their anti-gay laws.
"You
just have to face those things and try and make change," he said.
"There
are lots of things that are going to take a long time to change, but I feel
with the Commonwealth I think we can really help push some of the other nations
to relax their laws on anti-gay sex."
Commonwealth
Games Federation CEO David Grevemberg said his organisation was proud of its
record on inclusivity.
"At
the time of Glasgow 2014, 43 Commonwealth countries criminalised same sex
activity, but today, that number has been reduced to 37," Grevemberg said
Friday.
"We
hope that the Commonwealth sports movement is playing a meaningful role in the
wider global conversation around tolerance, empowerment and legal recognition
for all."
Daley's
comments were backed by New Zealand boxer Alexis Pritchard, who wore rainbow
socks in support of gay rights in her 57kg semi-final on Friday.
"I
think it's particularly sad that people cannot love who they want to
love," she told AFP.
"It's
important that each and every individual has rights to receive love and give
love to the people that they choose.
"I
find it absolutely sad that we are not open to that in so many nations."
The
penalties for private, consensual sexual conduct between same-sex adults remain
harsh in a number of Commonwealth countries, including imprisonment, hard
labour and in some cases flogging.
The
Commonwealth countries that outlaw homosexuality include Cameroon, Ghana,
Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Sierra Leone,
Singapore, Sri Lanka, Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Tonga.
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