Tom Daley reveals he doesn’t 'feel safe' at competitions as he campaigns for LGBT+ rights

ok.co.uk:

At the Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony (on Thursday 28 July 2022), Tom Daley will make a very public stand on the issue of LGBT+ rights in the Commonwealth. "I’ve experienced homophobia all my life, competing in countries where it’s illegal to be me and where I don’t feel safe to leave the venue I’m competing in,” Tom, who came out in 2013 and married husband Dustin Lance Black in 2017 will say. “If I feel like that as a privileged man, I can’t imagine what day-to-day life is like for LGBT+ people around the Commonwealth.” Tom will be the final Baton-bearer in the prestigious Queen’s Baton Relay, one of the opening ceremony’s highlights, with the Progress Pride flag on display as a symbol of inclusion for the first time.

The Olympic gold medallist and double world champion has revealed previously that he feels passionately on the issue. Currently, it is illegal to be gay in over half of the 56 member states of the Commonwealth, with punishments including whipping, life imprisonment and even death.Tom has travelled to many of these countries as a sportsman.Tom’s stand at the ceremony will come after he travelled to some of the Commonwealth’s most homophobic countries for a new BBC One documentary, Tom Daley: Illegal to Be Me, which will be on screens next month.

During the making of the programme, Tom spoke to top male and female sportspeople facing persecution and advocates fighting for change, including Michael Gunning, the only openly gay athlete on Jamaica’s national team.

He also met swimmers Theresa Goh and Amini Fonua, who are both vocal supporters of LGBT+ rights in Singapore and Tonga. Some, however, he had to speak to completely anonymously as they fear reprisals or prosecution.