Tom Daley Protests Anti-LGBTQ+ Laws at Commonwealth Games
Tom Daley wore rainbow colors to protest the anti-LGBTQ+ views and laws found in some throughout the British Commonwealth at the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony in Birmingham on Thursday.
Daley, 28, entered the stadium with a group of LGBTQ+ rights activists from several Commonwealth countries carrying Pride flags.Starting in 1930, the Commonwealth Games is a worldwide multi-sport competition with athletes that come from 56 countries that were primarily former British colonies.
However, the games have been widely criticized for the criminalization of the LGBTQ+ community that occurs in 35 of the countries competing.
Many of the laws targeting LGBTQ+ people can trace their histories to colonial rule. "In over half of the Commonwealth countries, homosexuality is still a crime and in 3 of those countries the maximum penalty is the death sentence," Daley wrote on Instagram. "These laws are a legacy of colonialism.
