Gay&Night Januari 2014

Interview / Blake Skjellerup
During the World Cup in
Kolomna, Russia in November,
you met up with several Russian
gay activists. How did they
inspire you, or give you an extra
push, to take a stand in Sochi?
The people I met with in Russia in
November helped me understand the
full affect the newly introduced laws
are having on the LGBT community
in 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. That is not a life
to live, and one I would never wish
upon anyone. Meeting with them,
and understanding only inspires me
more to speak out, and do my best to
highlight and educate about what an
unthreatening and loving community
we are.
Have you received any support
from fellow gay athletes?
I have yes. Unfortunately, the world
of sport for some is still a place
where they feel unable to come out.
I know this is a real situation for
many athletes in sport right now. I
am lucky I am in a sport where my
sexuality was accepted and offered no
discrimination. I am happy that I can
offer support to them and aid them
in being the best athletes they can be,
besides feeling unsafe to be open in
their sport.
By being an open athlete
competing in the Olympics,
you’ll inevitably be a role model
for many teens, some of whom
might be struggling with their
own coming out. What were
your own teenage years like,
especially concerning your own
homosexuality?
My teenage years were very hard. I
struggled with accepting my sexuality,
and the main percentage of that
came from being bullied in high
school. My peers imposed on me a
self-hatred of who I was. My sport was
not considered ‘masculine’, and that
singled me out as the gay kid. I hadn’t
even accepted my sexuality or even
understood or knew I was gay when
I was being called ‘homo’, ‘faggot’
et cetera on a daily basis. This led me
to fight against who I really was, and
led me to believe I could not be in
sport. It led me into a depression over
many years, and the one thing I held
onto was the dream of competing
in an Olympic Games. The Olympics
helped me through the toughest time
in my life, many times over, by being
a beacon of hope, and giving me the
strength to know that my peers were
wrong. Yes I was gay, but it was not
their place to impose or bully me
because I was different. I was a good
athlete, and they felt threatened by
that. They used my differences against
me for their own personal bravado.
Who are your own role models?
Growing up I always idolized New
Zealand rugby players. Richie McCaw
led New Zealand to a successful World
Cup win in 2011. With the weight of a
nation he pulled together 15 men to
achieve something that had eluded
New Zealand for many years.
British actor Stephen Fry has
compared the Sochi games to
the Berlin Olympics of 1936,
suggesting that president Putin
is not unlike Hitler. Would you
agree with that?
I wouldn’t agree with that. What
Hitler did is incomparable to the
anti-gay propaganda laws of Vladimir
Putin’s Russia. Vladimir Putin is
neither a murderer nor a fascist, Hitler
was. Putin is dictating his own set of
oppressive laws to define the society
of his ‘ideal’ Russia. It is not illegal
to be gay in Russia, it is however
illegal to be expressive of one’s nontraditional
sexuality, that isn’t fascism,
that’s dictatorship and oppression.
Many have suggested a boycott
of the entire games to show
Putin that his recent anti gay
laws are very much frowned
upon by the rest of the world.
Would you say a boycott is a
valid solution?
I definitely would not say that a
boycott would be a valid solution. Not
showing up in Sochi gives validation
to Putin that we feel threatened. We
are not threatened, nor will we allow
him to impose his archaic laws on an
organization and event that embodies
all of the exact opposite of his antigay
propaganda laws. The Olympics
are about peace, friendship, diversity
and education, and by taking place in
a country that is clearly uneducated
offers the opportunity to educate
those said values.
If you don’t get to compete
at the Winter Olympics in
February, do you still intend
to visit them and show your
support for Russian LGBT’s?
Most definitely. I will not shy away
from this issue. The Olympics are
important to me, and I as an Olympian
believe in championing the values of
Olympism. Not just for me, but for
my fellow Olympians, the youth of
the world, and for the community of
Russia.
With such a busy training
schedule, do you have any time
left for a personal life, or even a
love life?
My commitment to my training
is 100%. My sport does not offer
the ability to be distracted. As I go
at it alone with no support from my
country, I have to work that much
harder to remain competitive with
my competitors. In saying that,
of course I find time to relax, it’s
as important to relax as it is to be
focused, they each have a role to play,
and each are important at different
times in the day, week and year.
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