Since coming out to the world as gay, Vancouver city councillor Tim Stevenson has made it his mission his calling in life to rid the world of the discrimination he faced for so many years.
It goes back a long way with me, he tells me just days before leaving. I came out at the age of 30 and I had been in a marriage. I had been suppressing my sexuality my whole life and it was extraordinarily painful I was in a deep depression. When I finally came out, it was like bursting from the ocean up into the fresh air, I was just gulping for air and thats when the passion started. I then immediately became involved in the gay liberation movement and I was determined that young people like myself would never go through that again, having to suppress who they really were.
Stevenson has continued to chase that passion at the Sochi Olympics in Russia, where he hopes to convince the International Olympic Committee to contain a non-discrimination clause in regards to sexual orientation in its charter. (The International Paralympic Committee has such a clause).
Basically, I want to move this whole issue of discrimination within the Olympic family forward a bit, he says. As you probably know, homophobia, within sport, is kind of the last bastion of the issue, whether it be Olympic sports and others.
In the months leading up to his departure, Stevenson sent more than 75 letters to the IOC as well as various Olympics-related and influential groups (including the Russian Orthodox Church) requesting to discuss the issue while he is in Russia.
One of those who helped Stevenson prepare the letters and help get the ears of the right people was Darren Stolz, an athletic coordinator at Kwantlen University who has worked with the Canadian Paralympic Committee at the Vancouver and Beijing games.
If you go to the top, to the IOC, I hope it might influence some of these other organizations in sport to start being a little more inclusive, Stolz says. Its so important we start breaking down those barriers and allow for safe participation for all those individuals. Whether its Olympics or at an amateur level, its important to important to start shining a light on it.
I want to meet with as many of those committee members, government officials and church members as I can and talk to them about why this is so necessary, says Stevenson, who was the first openly gay person to be ordained by the United Church and was BCs first openly gay MLA. I want to tell them why athletes feel discriminated against and why its important to end that discrimination by putting this wording in the charter.
The Vancouver 2010 Olympics was the first to have a safe house or Pride House for gay and lesbian athletes, and their families and supporters. Since then, aside from Sochi (the Russian government wouldnt allow it), other games have followed suit, creating a sort of inclusive legacy for the city.
The Olympics is about human rights, its not just about sports, says Stevenson. It is about people and we pushed that even further here. I think what we did will bring about profound changes in the future.
Is he worried about any discrimination he might face when hes there?
Not really, he says. Im going as a representative of Vancouver I wont be just some gay tourist floating into town and I think they will forward me all of the protocol they would for anyone else. I really dont expect anything.
As someone who has broken a lot of tough ground in gay rights, Stevenson says hes happy to have seen a lot of change as a result of the hard work.
I have seen huge changes phenomenal changes in my lifetime, he says. So this, for me, just an extension of the same thing I have done for many years and the passion has never, never waned.
I have such hope for this.I mean, people say Look at the Russian laws, look at the Russian Orthodox Church theres so much homophobia there. And I say, Yeah, but 75 years ago here in Canada, we were just as homophobic. All of the churches you couldnt get a minister to stand up and say, Gay is good for the life of you. And when I was going to UBC, it wasnt even on my radar that we could get married, it wasnt even possible, it wasnt even thought of and look at where we are now.
So with the Russians, Im just laying seedsI m just throwing seeds, I guess. I have hope.
