Tom Daley pleads for all Commonwealth countries to decriminlise homosexuality
The diver admitted he is worried about visiting Russia for the World Diving Series
By Steve Brown
Tom Daley has pleaded for more Commonwealth countries to decriminalise homosexuality.
Currently there are still 37 countries in the Commonwealth where it is illegal to be gay and Daley – who is expecting his first child with husband Dustin Lance Black – hopes the attitudes towards the LGBT community changes by the next Commonwealth Games in 2022.
After winning the gold medal for the 10m synchronised diving event with Dan Goodfellow in Australia, Daley said: “There are 37 countries where it’s illegal to be who I am out of all the Commonwealth so hopefully we can reduce that number between now and then.
“Coming to the Gold Coast and being able to live as an openly gay man is really important in being able to feel comfortable with who you are when standing on that diving board.
“For 37 countries that are here participating that’s very much not the case.”
Daley posted a picture of his new gold medals alongside partner Goodfellow on Instagram and wrote: “🥇G O L D 🥇
“🏳️🌈 37 of the competing nations criminalise being LGBT+. I feel so lucky to be able to be openly who I am without worry. I hope one day every athlete from every nation in the commonwealth will be free to compete openly as who they are too! 🏳️🌈
“The journey to these commonwealth games has been a rough ride! I am so happy to come away with @dannielgoodfellow as COMMONWEALTH CHAMPIONS 😜🥇 Now time to CELEBRATE! [sic]”
Daley – who was unable to defend his crown in the 10m individual event after he was forced to pull out because of a hip injury – is set to compete at the World Diving Series in Russia this May.
And although the diver admitted he was worried about being abused, he said it would not stop him from travelling to the country.
He said: “Going to Russia can be scary because you’ve got to compete in front of lots of people and lots of people know that I’ve got a husband.
“I think you’ve got to face those things and try and make change. There’s lots of things that will take a long time to change but I feel like with the Commonwealth I think we could really help push some of the nations to relax their laws on anti-gay stuff.”