Gus Kenworthy, an openly gay freeskier representing the U.S. in the Winter Olympics, says that Vice President Mike Pence is a “bad fit” to lead the U.S. delegation to South Korea later this month.
“(Pence) seems like such a strange choice,” he told Ellen DeGeneres on her show.
“To have somebody leading the delegation that’s directly attacked the LGBTQ community, and a Cabinet in general that just sorts of stands against us and has tried to do things to set us back, it just seems like a bad fit,” he added.
The Trump administration has been criticized for what the LGBTQ community calls “anti-LGBTQ policies.” Trump has tried to block transgender people from enlisting in the military, and the Justice Department reversed a policy that protected transgender employees.
Pence, the former governor of Indiana, signed a religious freedom law while in the governor’s office that the LGBTQ community criticized. As a congressman, he supported a constitutional amendment that defined marriage has between a man and a woman.
“I feel like the Olympics is all about inclusion and people coming together, and it seems like it’s not really doing that,” Kenworthy said.
Kenworthy is the second U.S. Olympian to criticize Pence. Earlier this year, openly gay figure skater Adam Rippon said he would not go to the White House if he were invited.
He said Pence “doesn’t stand for anything that I really believe in.”
Adam Rippon, the other openly gay U.S. athlete who will be competing in the Pyeongchang Olympics, has also criticized Pence and turned down an opportunity to meet with him.
Photo courtesy: Flickr.com
Publication date: February 7, 2018
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