LONDON OLYMPIC CHIEF BACKS GAY PRIDE HOUSE

The Chief Executive of the London Olympic Games, Paul Deighton, has expressed his support for Pride House, a space being set up during the event for LGBT sportspeople.

Pride House 2012 will offer a welcoming space for all LGBT athletes, staff, spectators and friends of London 2012. It will be open from 3 to 7 August at CA House in Limehouse Basin on the river Thames, with the Pride House 2012 festival continuing in various venues up to 12 August, the day of the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games.

“As part of the legacy of the Games, we hope that our work across Diversity and Inclusion will have raised the bar for major sporting events and helped to increase the profile for LGBT community in sport across the world,” said Deighton in a letter.

“Hosting Pride House offers London and the UK a unique opportunity to present itself as a cosmopolitan and inclusive city and country which welcomes the world’s diverse communities and creates a safe sporting environment for LGBT athletes.”

The first Pride House was launched during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Canada. Although not an official Olympic initiative, it was a space for gay visitors, athletes and coaches to relax, watch events and meet friends in Whistler and Vancouver.

A Pride House is planned for the 2014 Winter Olympics in the Russian city of Soch. In March, however, a judge ruled in favour of officials who have banned the Pride House organisation from being registered.

The judge ruled that the aims of the organisation “contradict the basics of public morality” and could “undermine the security of the Russian society and the state”.

London’s Pride House 2012 is a project of Federation of Gay Games (FGG) member organisation Pride Sports UK, in collaboration with the FGG and the European Gay and Lesbian Sports Federation, GLISA International, the LGBT Consortium, and the Pride House Foundation.