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Pride House opening up dialogue: organizer

Gold medal swimmer Mark Tewksbury among visitors to first-of-its-kind Olympic pavilion

It might be a comfortable lounge with bar service, merchandise for sale, and art on the walls, but people are referring to Pride House in Whistler as a “groundbreaking” undertaking that’s helping prompt conversations about homophobia in sport.

The GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender) pavilion, which has been open since Feb. 8 at the Pan Pacific Whistler Village Centre hotel, is the first of its kind at an Olympic Games. Pride House will remain open daily through the Paralympics, said Dean Nelson, executive producer.

At least two Canadian Olympic athletes have come through the Pride House doors so far — skeleton champion Jon Montgomery stopped by with his girlfriend and gold medal for a visit, and gold medal swimmer Mark Tewksbury participated in a press conference in support of the initiative.

Pride House is starting to show gay and lesbian athletes that they’re not alone, Tewksbury said last Wednesday (Feb. 24). The fact that Pride House in Whistler and Vancouver are so visible shows people that homophobia is something that needs to be addressed in the world of sport, he said.

“I’m really proud of the work that Pride House is doing,” he said.

Tewksbury, who announced that he was gay in 1998, said there’s still much work to be done on homosexuality in sport, considering he’s still the “go-to guy” because so few athletes are willing to talk openly about sexuality.

He told his coach a year before winning gold in 1992 that he was gay. Revealing the secret meant he could put more energy into his performance, tapping into what it took to be the best in the world, Tewksbury said.

Some progress has been made in the world of sport since then, but with the recent homophobic comments made about American figure skater Johnny Weir by RDS broadcasters in Quebec, it’s “one step forward and two steps back,” Tewksbury said.

“I was actually quite shocked that this is still happening in 2010,” he said. “I hope that more progress (comes) in the next decade.”

Nelson said people from all over the world have visited Whistler Pride House. Though the pavilion was designed to be a “celebratory” place for gay and lesbian people and their “allies” to hang out, it’s also making and capturing history with a speakers’ chalet where people can record videos with their thoughts, messages and experiences with homophobia, he said. (Visit the outatthegames channel on YouTube for the first few installations.)

“It opens up a dialogue on homophobia,” he said.

In Vancouver, Pride House is located at Qmunity: B.C.’s Queer Resource Centre and was designed as more of a resource for international visitors, athletes and others, Nelson said. The Vancouver location has had a couple of immigration inquiries from members of the public, he said.

It’s currently illegal to be gay in 70 countries and it’s punishable by death in seven, he said.

Caryl Dolinko of InterPride, an organization that helps produce pride events around the world, said Pride House is “essentially a manifestation of our beliefs.”

“We do need to stand up at every single event and be seen,” she said. “This is a groundbreaking initiative.”

The Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport (CAUSE) is working to better understand homophobia in sport, said Jennifer Birch-Jones, the organization’s homophobia lead. There were so few openly gay athletes at the 2010 Games because sport organizations have not yet created environments that support sexual diversity, she said.

Just because there’s a legal framework to protect gay and lesbian rights in Canada doesn’t mean GLBT people are free from discrimination and homophobic comments, she said.

“We know we still have a long way to go,” Birch-Jones said. “We need to raise awareness about the huge amount of work still to do in the Canadian sport (world).”

Pride House will be open in Whistler through March 21. Nelson said Pride House organizers are already talking with contacts in London about helping establish a Pride House at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

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