At least 35 LGBTQ+ Athletes Compete in Beijing Winter Olympics
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Around 35 of this year’s Winter Olympic athletes are openly lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer, according to the LGBTQ+ sports website Outsports. That’s more than double the amount of queer competitors compared to the last winter competition, four years ago. There were only 18 LGBTQ+ athletes present in South Korea’s 2018 winter games, and just seven at the 2014 ceremony in Russia.
“That number reflects where we at OutSports believe sports is today. Sports in Western society is widely accepting of LGBTQ+ people, and these athletes at the most important moment in their entire careers agree,” said Outsports founder Cyd Zeigler.
That said, the figure falls well behind the 2021 Tokyo Summer Games, which had more than 180 out athletes – an Olympic record. But Zeigler, attributes this to the fact that the Summer games has many more competitors (11,000), compared to the winter event (3,000).
This year’s LGBTQ+ Olympians will take part in nine sports, with the majority competing in ice hockey and figure skating. The queer competitors will be venturing to China’s capital from 14 countries. In fact, several countries – including Canada, the United States, Great Britain, Sweden, France and the Czech Republic – have multiple out athletes competing at this year’s games. Around 10 LGBTQ+ out athletes are taking part in figure skating and 12 in ice hockey. You can check out the full list, compiled by Outsports and LGBTQ+ historian Tony Scupham-Bilton, who runs the blog The Queerstory Files, here.
However, these Olympians may be performing amid growing challenges faced by marginalized LGBTQ+ communities in China. Although the nation removed homosexuality from its official list of mental disorders in 2001, China's LGBTQ+ continues to face official harassment and same-sex marriage is illegal across the country. In recent years, the Chinese authorities have been increasingly censoring LGBTQ+ voices in the country. For example, in 2017, online video platforms from sharing content that contained the depiction of "abnormal sexual behaviors", which is said to included same-sex relationships have been banned. Unsurprisingly, very few of China's athletes openly identify as LGBTQ+.
According to former pro snowboarder Simona Meiler, who identifies as gay, “clampdowns on LGBTQ+ liberties and censorship such as those that exist in China are contrary to the core principles of the Olympic Charter”. "The Charter is supposed to uphold the rights of all and to discourage discrimination. But when the host nations of the Games violate human rights – whether in their treatment of LGBTQ+ people or other minorities – that goes against everything that the Charter stands for," highlighted Meiler in an interview with CNN.
Meiler believes the measures taken by the Chinese authorities to censor LGBTQ+ voices in the country “foster an unwelcoming environment for LGBTQ+ people” and “undermine the values of Olympism laid out by the IOC”. Yet despite having rules in place designed to protect the rights of marginalized people, such as the Charter, she said she has "rarely seen the IOC actually enforce its own rules”.
In a statement to CNN Sport, the IOC said that its remit "is to ensure that there is no discrimination at the Olympic Games and that all athletes can compete and live together under one roof in the Olympic Village whatever their backgrounds or beliefs are and free from fear and any form of discrimination… By carrying out this vital mission, the Olympic Games showcase how the world could be if the world would be free from any prejudice."
However, the statement added that the IOC has “neither the mandate nor the capability to change the laws or the political system of a sovereign country. This must rightfully remain the legitimate role of governments and respective intergovernmental organizations."
Australia, the UK, Canada and India are among nations that joined a US-led diplomatic boycott of the Winter Games.
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