The International Olympic Committee has specifically included references to sexual orientation in its non-discrimination clause within the contract the host city for the 2024 games will sign, a move being welcomed in New Zealand. The IOC was criticised for allowing the Winter Olympics to go ahead in Sochi, Russia, following the introduction of the nation’s homophobic ‘gay propaganda’ laws. Budapest, Hamburg, Los Angeles, Paris and Rome are all competing to host the 2024 Games. Whoever wins will have to sign a non-discrimination clause as part of their host city contract, which specifically refers to sexual orientation. It follows the new Olympic Agenda 2020, which the IOC created last year. “The IOC is clear that sport is a human right and should be available to all regardless of race, sex or sexual orientation as stated in the Olympic Charter,” it says in a statement. Former national representative sportswoman and current Labour MP Louisa Wall says the Olympic Movement is testament to inclusiveness and non-discrimination. She says to see the IOC explicitly include in “sexual orientation” in the host city contract “represents a maturing and acknowledgement that lgbtiq global citizens continue to be marginalised and excluded and that this situation is no longer tolerable”. Wall adds: “This is a sign that the IOC is and does contribute to building a peaceful and better world through sport practiced without discrimination of any kind and this leadership must be commended.” She is paying tribute to those who stood up during the Sochi games. “I thank the activists in Russia, the many that were arrested for representing the needs and aspirations of our communities during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. “Their courage and perseverance in the face of the Russian authorities attempts to silence their voices was not in vain and the IOC and our global community has responded by adding sexual orientation to Principle 6, to highlight that sport absolutely does not discriminate, at their meeting in December 2014.”
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Thursday, 24th September 2015 - 9:20am