British diving champion Tom Daley has called on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to ban countries who retain the death penalty against gay people from participating in the Olympics.

“I think it’s really important to try and create change, rather than just highlighting or shining a light on those things,” Daley said while accepting the Sports Award at the 2021 Attitude Awards in London.

His comments last week came ahead of International Day Against the Death Penalty. Daley said many people would be shocked to hear that the death penalty still existed in many nations.

“I want to make it my mission over the next, well, hopefully before the Paris Olympics in 2024, to make it so that the countries [where it’s] punishable by death for LGBT people are not allowed to compete at the Olympic Games.”

There are currently 11 countries in the world where homosexuality is punishable by death. The list includes Mauritania, Nigeria, Somalia, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Daley also criticised the Organisers of the FIFA World Cup for selecting Qatar as the host city for their 2022 competition, noting that while the death penalty is not applied for homosexuality, it does remain on their law books.

OIP Staff

You can support our work by subscribing to our Patreon
or contributing to our GoFundMe campaign.