MShaking the waves at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics is a “House of Pride” on a boat on the River Seine, set to open on July 26 when the games begin. There, LGBTQ+ fans and Olympic athletes can eat, drink and watch LGBTQ+ athletes compete in the Olympics.
Pride House also provides a safe space for athletes who may come from countries with anti-homosexual laws. “No one needs to hide who they are,” says Jérémy Goupille, co-president of Fier Play, one of the organizers of Paris Pride House.
The Paris effort is the first time the International Olympic Committee has supported a Pride House. Official so-called “Houses of Pride” can only be found at large-scale global sporting events. They are modeled after the hospitality houses that countries host at the Olympic Games. Pride House International partners with organizations where there is a major global sporting event and helps them create their own Pride Houses. Twenty-five Pride Houses in 16 countries attracted more than 50,000 visitors.
The first Pride House at an Olympics took place at the Vancouver Winter Games in 2010. Organized by Dean Nelson, who specializes in LGBTQ+ tourism, its aim was to provide a welcoming place for gay and lesbian athletes, their coaches, friends and family. . Locals hosted game viewing parties and general talks on health and well-being.
As Nelson once explained in a 2020 CBC op-ed, the goal of the first Pride House was “to create a safe space in host cities where there is little tolerance or acceptance for being LGBTQ.” Olympic speed skater Blake Skjellerup once he said that visiting Pride House in Vancouver “was a huge influence on my audience coming out.”
Pride Houses have also become spaces for education on LGBTQ+ issues. At Pride House during the 2012 London Olympics, there was an art exhibition about lesbians and gays in sport and even a football tournament. Following the 2021 Tokyo Games – featuring the largest number of openly LGBTQ+ athletes to compete at an Olympics – Pride House transformed into a community center called “Pride House Tokyo Legacy,” which is still in operation today.
In 2014, the International Olympic Committee amended its charter to clarify that discrimination in terms of sexual orientation is not permitted. However, there are still obstacles to holding a Pride House in countries hosting the Olympic Games that have anti-LGBTQ+ laws. The most notable example was the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Although a Pride House could not be created at the official games, the Pride House International group worked with a gay and lesbian sports group to put together some counterprogramming and even organize some sports games. But the police showed up and ordered them to stop playing and shut down many of the events, often on the grounds that a bomb threat had been alleged. There was a social media campaign in which same-sex couples around the world posted photographs of themselves holding hands to show their support for LGBTQ+ Russians.
Pride House organizers hope athletes will perform better after going home. As Keph Senett, who sits on the board of Pride House International, says: “Do you want to see the best athletes? Let them be themselves. Make it safe for them to be themselves. Accept them.
He hopes Pride Houses inspire openness about queer identity in all areas of life, not just sports. “Queer people exist everywhere, including in sports, and our stories deserve to be shared openly,” says Sennett. “When people can safely be themselves, when they are welcomed, when they are accepted, they perform better. It doesn’t matter if it’s sport or business.”
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
