John Amaechi Tells Gay Olympians To Be Loud And Be Proud

In the face of the 2014 Winter Games being held in illegal-to-be-gay Russia, openly-gay basketballer John Amaechi blogged that not only does he think there shouldn't be a boycott, but that gay Olympians should be as vocally open as possible.

Make no mistake that when powerful people chose not to challenge injustice, we become tainted for life by that decision.  Perhaps that idea in the face of supposed distraction from gold, possible sanction by your Olympic committee or rebuke from fans for speaking out seems a small risk, but just as history is littered with the powerful men I described earlier, it is equally strewn with other figures who could have made a stand and taken action to highlight and embolden the oppressed but instead chose not to... and to my mind, no amount of gold hung around a neck can outshine the shame of such a stain.

I understand the logical, principled stand behind a call for a boycott, but I see it as impractical, politically untenable and if attempted, at best, piecemeal.  I have also spoken to several key Russian activists who want the games to go ahead so that the athletes can compete, win and most importantly when they take those podiums - stand for something more than their personal and national glory.

Like Tommie Smith and John Carlos before you, you do not change the world by winning alone, but by using that podium as a soap box and in the 21st century the ways you can do that are wonderfully creative and varied, but don’t fool yourself into thinking, as one athlete I spoke to today, that winning in silence will show your support, that act is an abdication of the most important role any athlete can aspire to have - that of multidimensional exemplar to the world of sport and beyond.

Amaechi also asked athletes to speak out against the Sochi games that will be held "on the backs of the abuse of migrant workers, the threatening of environmental activists and journalists, the ‘disappearance’ of €25 billion and indeed, in the context of a country that is facilitating and then ignoring the torture of young gay boys and girls."
Read Amaechi's "Sport's Abdication of Responsibility and Principle: An open letter to competitors and officials heading to Sochi" at his blog.
Image courtesy Manchester Pride.