Countries criminalising homosexuality unlikely to host Commonwealth Games, official says
Katie Sadleir, CEO of The Commonwealth Games Federation has announced that countries which criminalise homosexuality are less likely to host the Games in the future.
Speaking ahead of the 2022 Games taking place in Birmingham from 28 July, Sadlier said considering human rights records was important to the organisation.
Currently, 35 of the 54 countries in the Commonwealth criminalise same-sex activity with many of these laws in place being hangovers from the British colonial era. “I think one of the things that is really important about the Commonwealth Games is its values – humanity, destiny, and equity are embedded in most of the things that we do,” she told the BBC.
This means some countries in Africa and the Caribbean are less likely to host the games going forward. Team GB and Olympic gold medallist Tom Daley has previously called for countries criminalising same-sex relations to not be able to host big sporting events.
