Gay&Night Januari 2014

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TEXT: MARTIJN KAMPHORST Speed Skater Blake Skjellerup (28) receives no support from his home country New Zealand to train at an Olympic level. A pity, since this fine man is planning to make quite a stance against the Russian anti-propaganda laws if he gets to compete in Sochi in February. Luckily, a successful crowdfunding campaign has helped him get closer to his goal. We spoke to this strapping skater boy about his stressful teen years, opening up about fancying men and his plans for Russia: ‘Violence is a very real and occurring threat. These people are scared, and are living a life that is threatened on the basis of love and personal expression’. In 2010, after the previous Winter Olympics, you opened up about your sexual orientation. Has that affected your career in any way? Coming out after the 2010 Games has most definitely affected my career, in the most positive way possible. I am now able to compete as my true self. Not having anything to hide allows me to focus solely on competing. Coming out I gained so much support from people all around the world. The support I have received has been encouraging and makes the journey more exciting and less isolated. How do you feel about the Olympics being held in such a homophobic country? With the Olympics being held in a country with such oppressive and anti-gay laws, I feel like they are the perfect opportunity to showcase diversity and allow an education of the accepting and tolerant world we should be living in. Russia is still a developing country, and the fact that some 90% of people in Russia believe in the anti-propaganda laws says to me that this is a country that is uneducated in the differences of society, purely due to the fact that it’s a developing uneducated society. In an interview with The Guardian you said you wanted to inspire and support the Russian gay community. How exactly do you intend to go about that? By competing and being present in Sochi as a known openly gay athlete. I hope the visibility I will bring will offer solidarity and support to the Russian community that is affected by the anti-propaganda laws. The people of Russia are afraid to stand up and speak out for fear of retaliation and a threat to their safety. By being myself and highlighting that gay people can achieve anything, I hope to offer some form of inspiration to let those affected know the world is with you, I am with you, and we are here to help you over come this blatant and perverse injustice. There has been talk of you planning to hand out pins saying ‘Blake Skjellerup Proud <strong>2014</strong>’ during your stay in Sochi. Are you not afraid that those will be conceived as ‘gay propaganda’, therefore landing you in prison or earning you a substantial fine? I am not afraid that this will be conveyed as ‘gay propaganda’. I am an Olympian, and as an Olympian under the Olympic charter I am not oppressed. I am respected and valued and the pin symbolizes that. It represents a part of me that I am very, very proud of. 16
Interview / Blake Skjellerup “The Olympics helped me through the toughest time in my life, many times over” 17
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Gay&Night Januari 2014

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