London 2012 launch pin badges for gay community

01 July 2010

By Duncan Mackay
British Sports Internet Writer of the Year

July 1 - London 2012 have become the first Olympics and Paralympics to launch a special pin badge aimed at the gay community.

The first "Pride Pin Badge" was presented to former Welsh rugby captain Gareth Thomas, who recently announced that he was gay, at a special ceremony at the London 2012 headquarters in Canary Wharf attended by Stephen Frost, the head of diversity and inclusion for LOCOG.

There are two badges - one for the Olympics and one for the Paralympics - which combines the London 2012 logos with a rainbow flag, which is used to represent gay pride.

The pins will cost £5 each.

It is claimed that 35-year-old Thomas, who played 103 matches for Wales and the British Lions and now plays with Crusaders in the Super League, as the world's only current professional athlete in a team sport who is openly gay. 

Thomas (pictured centred) said: "I will wear this badge with pride.

"I am honoured to be standing here today and I look forward to an amazing Games in 2012."

Frost claimed that ending homophobia in sport was among the aims of London staging the Olympics.

He said: "Given that we are the biggest events in the world, and we are saying LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) people are absolutely welcome as part of that, that is a step-change in how LGBT athletes, sportsmen and women, can feel comfortable in taking part in their sport.

"If we can reach a young gay guy in Doncaster who is in the closet or a young gay woman in Wales who is in the closet and they can see the biggest event in the world with LGBT people at the heart of that, then the whole thing is about inclusion."

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Related stories
December 2009: Craig Beaumont - London 2012 will help make it easier for gay sportsmen like Gareth Thomas

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Stuart Morris  - Why a gay badge? |02-07-2010 19:37 This is silly. What has being gay got to do with the Olympics? If gays want to celebrate their orientation let them, but this in-your-face promotion will jar with most people, and most people are not prejudiced. How can it possibly help anyone to show off their sexuality so blatantly? It could cause further polarisation. For equality maybe there should be a badge for heterosexuals.

Daisy  - Careful - they'll all want one! |02-07-2010 19:49 It is totally ridiculous! Who thought this up...? I think there may be too many staff with too little to do in the ivory towers of London 2012. Where will it end? Hermaphrodite pin badge? People with one leg pin badge? Ethnic minority pin badge? Assylum seekers pin badge? Oh I know - ginger haired people pin badge! In reality there are so many gay Olympians - most of whom protect their sexuality for fear they may lose their lucrative sponsorship - that they must all be laughing... all the way to the bank!

Nick Lewis |02-07-2010 20:12 This is political correctness gone mad! What exactly does the "head of diversity and inclusion for LOCOG" do all day? Is he the only gay in the office? Or is there a department full of them? I agree with Stuart Morris - where does this stop? A special pin badge next for short little fat blokes with bad breath?

Pabolo |02-07-2010 20:14 Daisy, please don't give LOCOG ideas! If there's money in it they'll do it. They are only after the pink pound. Mind you, I like the idea of one for asylum seekers - make it easier for the Government to round them up and send them home!

Mike Maddock  - Gay Badge |02-07-2010 20:19 Why the discrimination? Or the need to emphasis a gay orientation? One badge for all and stop driving a wedge between PEOPLE! The games are about pure equality not emphasising differences.

Tim |02-07-2010 20:24 I'm fairly indifferent to this, but I am pretty shocked by the underlying prejudice of the above comments, it even manages to go beyond homophobia.

Angry Pink Pounder |02-07-2010 20:25 What a load of exploitative CRAP! They are going to have to sell a hell of a lot of badges to claw back the £12bn they are spending on this farce.

Leila |02-07-2010 20:27 Why are they always determined to highlight the differences between people, in an event that has NOTHING TO DO with the struggles of minorities? I thought the Olympics was about bringing people together, instead, all this will do is reinforce that we're different. Thanks, London 2012.

Dean |02-07-2010 20:32 gareth just came out and now he's a spokesman? he was giving advice on tv he should just calm down his story isn't a great one.

John Morris |02-07-2010 20:32 Mike - you state that the Olympics are about equality and not emphasizing differences as a reason for why LOCOG should not have created a Pride Badge, but the main values of the Olympic movement are the act of simply taking part and including everybody. Including everybody means including gays and lesbians. For too much of the past century gays and lesbians have been stereotyped as un-athletic rendered invisible by a repressive majority. It is important that LOCOG issue this badge as a way of showing to the world that gays and lesbians do exist and they can compete as accomplished athletes. I'd also like to add that just about every single culture in the world has always made room for gays and lesbians in their society. A good example of this are the Two-Spirit individuals in Native American culture from the United States. It wasn't until the British and Spanish Empires brought their religion and values to the rest of the world that homophobia began to take hold. I find it symbolic that the first Organizing Committee to issue a pride badge comes from the center of the British Empire, it shows just how far we have come in terms of true equality and acceptance for all.

Dave  - Huh? |02-07-2010 20:35 If gays want to be treated equally as in the marches they do for gay pride etc.. then fine, each to their own. Then why have a badge that singles them out??

Yusuf  - You couldn't make it up |02-07-2010 20:37 Daisy you were right! From AP - "London 2012 organisers, who want to bill the event as "everyone's Games", plan to market further pin badges over the next year based around the issues of belief, age, disability, gender and ethnicity..."

Stuart Morris  - Happy badges |02-07-2010 20:41 John Morris (no relation) says: "It is important that LOCOG issue this badge as a way of showing to the world that gays and lesbians do exist and they can compete as accomplished athletes." Who on earth has ever denied that people of that orientation exist or can be equally good athletes? This is a civilised country and we do not need badges or anything else to show off, or to set groups apart.

John Morris  - Gay Athletes |02-07-2010 20:44 Recently Daniel Kowalski of Australia has come out of the closet. He stated that if he had been open about being gay during his career he would have been much happier, stronger, and much more likely to have swum faster times. Yes, he was allowed to compete, but he was not allowed to be open about who he really was and that proved detrimental to his performance. This IS about inclusion. If it were about setting people apart then gays and lesbians would be banned from competing and from attending as spectators. But instead what LOCOG is doing by creating this badge is that yes, we are a civilised nation, and we include everybody. And as for this nonsense about short, fat blokes with bad breath getting special pins I will point out that they are not a category of individuals who have been criminalized by the law. There is a good reason why there are women's rights groups and gay rights groups.

Valerie Given |02-07-2010 20:46 Where do I apply for my own special pin badge? I'm blonde - do we get one? We are, after all, a victimised minority...

Curious Olympic fan |02-07-2010 21:40 are transgender people straight ie a mtf is a straight woman in a mans body? forgive my ignorance

Chuck Chou |03-07-2010 00:35 So, they want our Gay Dollars but refused to let us use the word Olympic in the original name of the games, Gay Olympics. Kiss my Gay *ss, International Olympic Committee !

Nikki |03-07-2010 01:05 Abi: Good one and truly the dilema most straight people find it difficult to understand .. if a MtF who considers herself a straight woman and before her surgery is sexually active then she is probably in a gay relationship … I am a MtF in transition and I love women … I won't be gay until I have had my surgery ??? Then I'll be a lesbian ??? Now you see why it's so confusing … lol, gawd wouldn't it be easier if we just considered each other as people !!!!

Holly |03-07-2010 01:06 I think it is a good idea !!! yes it will help to reach the "budget" of £ 12 M – but it is still a great idea

Jonathan, Los Angeles  - Well done London |03-07-2010 01:19 Well done guys, this is a massive step forward. When will the sentiment spread to the arenas and lockerrooms of the U.S.? Soon I hope.

Angry Pink Pounder |03-07-2010 01:22 Holly: I think it is a good idea !!! yes it will help to reach the "budget" of £ 12 M – but it is still a great idea" I didn't say £12 million, I said TWELVE BILLION POUNDS. All this for two weeks of amateurs playing stupid little games. The amount of money is beyond comprehension, right in the middle of the worst recession since the war. That money would buy a couple of hospitals, and have a few more schools thrown in. On top of that, as a Londoner, I have to pay for the damn thing out of my council tax.

RobN |04-07-2010 14:27 Nice sentiment, bad idea. We need proper recognition, not some money-making excuse opportunity to coincide with that money haemorrhaging pile of crap called the Olympics. I certainly wouldn't want to be associated with a group that blows £12 BILLION pounds on two weeks of people playing silly bloody games.

Kae |04-07-2010 22:17 God I am just loving Alfie more and more – what an absolutely diamond geezer he is. He is on his way to being hugely influential to gay and straight.

Judith  - the money wouldn't have gone to other causes |04-07-2010 22:29 I'd just like to point out to the people who have posted, particularly the ill-informed Angry Pink Pounder, who thinks the money could have, and they think, would have, gone to other causes, like hospitals and schools, that the money comes from the sponsors, not from the council tax. The money wouldn't have been there without the Olympics to make it happen. Also, the vast majority of Olympians aren't amateurs - most are highly paid - again from sponsorship - professionals. If, Angry Pink Pounder, you live in London, which the toneof your posts suggest, why don't you do some research in the next 24 months as to what London hosting the Olympics can actually mean for Londoners and, dare I say it, England - sorry - Great Britain as a whole? Then by the time the Games is here, you might be better placed to comment on it.

Lansing |05-07-2010 10:11 Wouldn't it be nice if Americans were just as open minded!!!!!!!!!

Nigel |05-07-2010 10:12 Stick to your own socialist moronic policies and cater to every left-wing nutjob group.

Paul Mc  - Are the mascots gay? |05-07-2010 18:36 London already has the gayest mascots ever … with added rainbow 'community diversity'. Hurrah. Expect gays and drag queens at opening ceremony.

Donkey Boy |05-07-2010 18:41 Those mascots are simply too bizzare for words…………Who approved this? Were they high?

Thor |05-07-2010 19:25 Olympics are notorious for Pins. Collector pins, knock-off pins, official pins, national pins, sports pins… Pins, pins, pins. There are always 18 million pins to collect at the Olympics. They’re not singling us out in a consumeristic fashion, we’re just one more group of people who need to buy Pins. For the Olympics. Because that’s what they’re about. I guess I just don’t see the sinister side.

Nate |05-07-2010 19:28 I think Thor is right. Now, what I have issues with, is the fact that the pin looks like a penis. Is this really the best representation of the glbt community? A penis pin? I’m sure tons of gay people who loves innuendo will giggle and buy some, but this is just more ammunition to the conservatives that keep screaming that gay people are all aobut sex and sex and more sex, and they need to be stop before they come after our kids at the olympics! Hide from anyone wearing the penis pin! I wouldn’t want to support any organization that claims to embrace me, but all they see, is this walking-talking sex-hungry humanoid.

Daisy  - Are some people a little confused here?? |05-07-2010 21:51 Hmmmm. I think there is a little bit of confusion between pins and mascots. So, a photograph of the gay pin badge appears at the top of this article and is a rainbow type flag with the London 2012 logo. The London 2012 mascots - Wenlock and Mandeville - however, are the one-eyed, could possibly resemble a penis in some people's minds, computer generated visions. Much as, I'm sure, Wenlock and Mandeville, whilst trying to experience all aspects of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, would like to appear pinned to people's lapels and talk about it on their facebook pages, I'm not sure that this is the particular pin that is being referred to in this article. Very amusing, though.

Andrew |05-07-2010 21:54 @Nate//// That’s not the pin…You are talking about the mascots.

ProMOTION Plus |05-07-2010 21:57 Perhaps LOCOG saw what we started in Vancouver/Whistler with PRIDE House & took diversity inclusion to the next level.

Dave Dash |06-07-2010 11:44 The Mascots look awesome!!!! I like how the names have great historic importance to the Olympic and Paralympic movement. Kids don't respond to characters of an obvious sex, so that's why they aren't gender specific. I think it goes the image of the two mascots works well with an unusually non-nationalistic olympic logo. The London games will be different, can't wait, I will be there!

rudeboy |06-07-2010 11:47 they said that they got the idea from children...were the children high on crayons?

Tall dark handsome stranger  - I want some!!!! |06-07-2010 11:56 I think they're adorable! I want them and the pin badge! And gay isn't synonymous with stupid. It means 'light-hearted and carefree'

Driley |06-07-2010 12:23 They kind of remind me of the dancing clocks on the movie, "Beauty and the Beast". Only a little more disturbing.

Little Missy |06-07-2010 12:35 See what i mean..we get a chance to finally bring something to this country and what do we do... wtf are they meant to be anyway

Gay Olympic fan |29-07-2010 10:39 Rebecca Adlington pings for me.

Nikki |29-07-2010 10:43 How exactly does Rebecca Adlington ping? Just because she's a minger doesn't automatically make her a dyke.

Gay Olympic fan |29-07-2010 14:33 Who do you think are the sexiest lesbian Olympic athletes? Apart from Rebecca, Kelly Holmes is definitely hot.

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