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Canadian Olympic Committee partnership with You Can Play, Egale should help LGBTQ athletes in Canada; could it help elsewhere, too?
The Canadian Olympic Committee's announcement Tuesday that they've formed a #OneTeam partnership with You Can Play and Egale to help promote inclusivity in sport and make things better for LGBTQ athletes is positive on a lot of fronts. It's good to see the organization doing this, especially after they less-than-fervently opposed Russia's anti-gay measures during the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Moreover, there are a lot of strong initiatives here, ones that should help both current elite athletes and young kids, and this could make a substantial difference in Canada. It may make a difference elsewhere, too; if all goes well, this could potentially serve as a blueprint for other Olympic organizations to follow.
What's remarkable about this partnership is how comprehensive it is. It's not just the COC putting out a press release or a video in support of inclusivity, or making a one-time stand. Rather, this will be a long-term and multi-layered approach, involving resources and support for current LGBTQ Olympic athletes and those looking to come out of the closet, plus teaching and encouraging Olympians to spread the message of inclusivity for all in schools. As Bruce Arthur of The Toronto Star writes, it's unprecedented to see a national Olympic committee do something this broad:
Nine months later, the Canadian Olympic Committee is poised to become a leader rather than one of the silent crowd. On Tuesday it will announce a far-reaching agreement with You Can Play and Egale, two of North America’s most respected anti-homophobia groups. There will be training for Olympians and support if Olympians want to come out. As well, some Olympians will carry the message of tolerance and equality to schools across Canada. It is the most wide-reaching such agreement by a national Olympic committee, and not by a little.
“What started as maybe a video, or a little help with LGBT issues, became something that’s never really been seen before or done before in sport in general, let alone in Olympic sports,” says Patrick Burke, co-founder of You Can Play.
“There is no other program like this. There is nothing like this when it comes to athletes taking on LGBT issues. You talk about the idea that we are going to train dozens of Olympic athletes to become experts on LGBT issues — even if they’re LGBT themselves, they still need training on how to express it — and then sending them into schools. There is nothing like that being done in the sports world. We’ve never had an organization put this type of commitment forward.”
The schools element of this program may be the most unique, and potentially the most important. While homophobia and bullying can be prevalent even at the highest levels of sports (former Canadian gymnast Kris Burley's stories in the COC release are notable), and while doing more to help those athletes is undoubtedly worthwhile, it's at the younger levels of sports where bullying can often be the worst, and where there are less structures and resources in place to help those who are struggling. Existing efforts to encourage those athletes and promote inclusivity via videos and the like are positive, and well worth it, but it could be even more meaningful to send top Canadian athletes into schools to speak about how important this is and offer face-to-face encouragement to those who need it. That's about not just developing future athletes who could compete for Canada some day, but also helping the average kids who aren't going to come near the Olympics. The chance to take this message into schools is something current and former Canadian Olympians are excited about, as some of them told Arthur:
Olympic kayaker Adam van Koeverden, who has been pushing this issue as vice-chair the COC’s athletes council, says: “The greatest part of this is the Egale arm of it, sending athletes into schools and giving them a chance to be mentors for young kids. When you do school visits — and I’ve done hundreds — you need something to talk about other than yourself.”
Olympic swimmer Mark Tewksbury, who came out in 1998 and served as Canada’s chef de mission for the 2012 Olympics in London, says he’s delighted by the initiative.
“The older I’ve gotten the more I realize that it isn’t up to the gay athletes to come out. It’s up to the organizations to create the environment where people feel safe to be themselves,” Tewksbury says. “And that’s something worth thinking about. Before something’s a non-issue, it’s an issue. Before you’re the same, you have to be different for a while.
“I think that Sochi pushed this issue. And Canada responded.”
Before we get too laudatory of the COC here, though, Tewksbury's comments about Sochi pushing the issue are notable. Canada didn't cover itself in glory on the inclusivity front in Sochi, particularly with the warm welcome for Russian president Vladimir Putin. Granted, taking a stand against another country's laws is difficult while you're there to compete, but it's notable that the U.S. (for example) made a point of showing their opposition with the selection of openly-gay athletes for key roles on the Olympic delegation. The COC could have done more, both publicly to take a stand against Russia's laws and internally to encourage the LGBTQ athletes who were on the team. Doing this now is a good step, but there's no significant opposition at the moment. It remains to be seen how firm the COC's backbone will be the next time the Olympics are held in a country with strong anti-gay laws.
Even if this program is showing up later than perhaps would have been ideal, it's still early by the standards of Olympic comittees. An initiative this broad and wide-ranging hasn't been done before at this level, and if it goes well, the COC could become a leader in this field, perhaps creating a path for other Olympic organizations to follow. It's highly unlikely the International Olympic Committee's going to do anything to promote inclusivity any time soon, especially given their lack of action on the issues around Sochi, but other national organizations could well follow Canada here. If enough come on board, then perhaps things will change at the IOC level someday, and that could be extremely positive. For now, though, this looks like a great step for Canada, both for encouraging already-elite athletes and for promoting inclusivity at the ages where that message most needs to be heard. It's a much-needed step, and it's terrific to see the COC get on board with this.
