This programme contains scenes which some viewers may find upsetting,
very strong language and discriminatory language and content from the start.
I'm Tom Daley. I'm an athlete, and I'm gay.
It hasn't always been easy for me to say that.
TOM: Thank you very much.
VO: In London 2012, out of nearly 11,000 athletes,
only 23 were openly LGBT.
There were more athletes called James at those Olympics
than people that were out.
There clearly were more athletes that were closeted.
I mean, I was one of them.
CHEERING
London 2012 was the pinnacle of what I'd been dreaming of
my whole diving career,
but back then was probably when I was most scared of being outed.
It was terrifying, and this was my way of being able to feel free,
even though I was far from feeling free in real life.
JOURNALISTS SHOUT
Since then, my life's changed, and I'm a husband...
TOM: Hello, Robbie! ..and a father to Robbie.
TOM ON VIDEO: I met someone, and, well, that someone...
VO: Getting here wasn't easy.
..is a guy.
What I remember about it was you literally shaking, like this.
"Tom Daley is gay. I am now ashamed of my country. Eww.
"We can't have a bloody fag representing us."
But many gay athletes have it so much worse.
My stepdad found out where I was living
and he beat me and he threw acid at me.
In over half the countries competing in this year's Commonwealth Games,
being gay is illegal, and can lead to horrific attacks.
Sad doesn't even cover it.
It's like something out of, like, a horror film.
Real dark horror film.
I want to find out where all this hatred came from.
It honestly makes me feel sick to be British.
I get that. That's level one.
Level two is, "Now what?"
And now I'm launching a campaign
to get the sporting world to try and change things.
I want sporting events to take note, because we're not going anywhere.
This is my trophy cabinet.
At the top we've got World Championships,
then we've got Olympic. And then down here we've got
European and Commonwealth.
On the Sydney Cricket Ground,
it's the opening day of the Empire Games,
the Olympics of the British Commonwealth of Nations.
STARTER PISTOL FIRES
The Games are on!
The Commonwealth Games started life as the British Empire Games,
aiming to unite the countries that were under British rule
through sport.
Here's some real high diving.
By the time I competed, the Empire was over
and the Games had been rebranded.
The Commonwealth Games now takes place every four years
and has a global audience of 1.5 billion.
This is the dive that Tom Daley fans have been waiting for.
So I got two golds in Delhi 2010.
I mean, it's 12 years ago now. It makes me feel a bit old.
Then from Glasgow, gold in the men's 10m individual
and silver in the synchro.
And then the last one...
So here's the case for it.
And there was a Commonwealth gold medal in there.
But now...
..I've lost a Gold Coast medal.
Robbie goes in here all the time and just gets medals
and puts them on and runs around and calls them his necklaces.
CLANKING
Any of these gold?
Oh, yes.
That is my most recent Commonwealth Games gold medal,
which is from Gold Coast 2018.
This year, the Games is in Birmingham,
with over 4,000 athletes competing in more than 280 events.
But there's an issue that no-one's talking about.
The Commonwealth is home to a third of the world's population
and is made up of 56 member states.
In over half of them, it's illegal to be gay.
In many, you can get life imprisonment - and in three,
you could even be sentenced to death.
You start to question, should I feel a little bit like, "Ooh,"
about these medals, or should I be proud of them?
Because what kind of message is that sending?
I would be illegal to exist
in 35 of the 56 sovereign states of the Commonwealth.
I mean, that's just outrageous.
These days, most international sporting bodies
claim that they're inclusive of LGBT people.
But just this year, the Football World Cup and Formula 1
are both being hosted in countries
which have the death penalty for being gay.
As a former medal-winner, the Commonwealth Games
is close to my heart, and I want to convince it
to become the first sporting event to really take a stand.
I've been told that sport and politics shouldn't collide,
but at the same time, you have to acknowledge
what's going on around you.
My wish right now is to try and get the Commonwealth Games to say
that they will not allow any country that has anti-LGBT laws
to be able to host the Commonwealth Games.
And I know that is a bold wish,
but it has to start somewhere, to try and create some change.
It's easy to think I have the answer, but I don't know
what it's really like to be a gay athlete around the Commonwealth.
I've decided to go to Pakistan -
one of the world's most dangerous places to be gay.
I'm slightly nervous because I'm going to a country where,
you know, being gay can get you the death penalty.
It's a pretty intense thought.
I still have so much to learn.
I just want to be able to meet some queer athletes, hear their stories,
and also ask them what they think is the right thing.
What is it that you think
that these organising committees should be doing?
Going to go to Heathrow Terminal 3, please.
VO: I am very aware that I come from a place of privilege
and I don't know what the right solution is,
but that's what I'm hoping to find out.
Pakistan has different shades of opinion
when it comes to homosexuality.
But the country's laws emerged from the British Empire
and have changed to reflect its conservative and religious culture.
Today, the maximum punishment for being gay is death by stoning.
It's never been officially carried out, but it's created an environment
where vigilante groups take the law into their own hands,
and gay people live under the threat of humiliation,
blackmail and violence.
I am concerned that people will find out, like, why we're here,
what we're filming, what we're doing and, you know,
we're going to extreme lengths
to make sure that we are keeping ourselves safe,
but most importantly, the people that we're talking to safe.
We have a security guard following us,
although we have to keep them out of earshot
about what we're actually talking about.
Although they still face persecution,
transgender people have had legal rights in Pakistan since 2018.
But the laws against homosexuality
mean that finding someone prepared to talk has been really difficult.
Good morning. How are you? I'm good. I'm good. Good.
Thank you for having me. Sure.
I'm meeting a cricketer who spent years
playing for Pakistan's national women's team.
We were going to meet at the local cricket ground,
but her fear of being overheard
means we're now meeting at a safe house,
and she doesn't want her name to be used.
There you go. Thank you so much.
Given the risks, why did you choose to speak to me?
I thought that this is the right time.
Somebody needs to speak out.
I built up that courage and I said, "OK, let's do it."
Maybe it can make an impact.
Maybe things will be changed a bit.
People here, even the psychologists here,
they think being queer is a disease.
Wow. Yes.
So either will take you to the witch doctor
and try to get it fixed,
or the best solution, if you're a queer man or a queer woman,
to get you married, make you sleep with that person,
have a baby, and after the baby, everything will be fine.
That is the concept we have in Pakistan. Wow.
Yeah.
What was your experience in the sporting world?
How would other players treat you?
They needed me because I was a good player.
But while we are travelling,
I used to sit alone.
While we used to have rooms, they don't want to share with me
because they don't feel safe.
They find me as a mutant.
They were... As a mutant? Yeah.
Like a disease spreads. Like a disease, yeah.
Must've been really hard.
Did you have to completely suppress who you were and just...?
Of course. Very fortunately, I never fell for drugs.
But I see people around me who are gays or lesbians
that they have drowned themselves into antidepressants or drugs
or alcohol or any other substance abuse which keeps them numb.
I've seen them hurting themselves.
I've seen them trying to kill themselves.
So what could the Commonwealth Games Federation do in order to help?
Because I always thought banning countries that have anti-LGBT laws
from hosting the event might do something.
It won't make a difference, because we are a country in denial.
They'll be like, "OK, ban us."
No matter how hard, what pressure you put in.
This is against the religion. They won't do it.
Talking to her about the idea that I had
with the Commonwealth Games, I mean,
it feels like it's just going to be so insignificant.
She doesn't think that there's any hope of Pakistan
changing its laws or changing its ideas.
Like, "Fine, don't bring a sporting event here, we don't care.
"Not having gay and lesbian people in our country
"is more important than hosting a sporting event."
Some of Pakistan's most prominent athletes have been forced
to hide their sexuality.
But I've managed to find someone who is prepared to talk to me.
I'm about to go meet a very high-profile
and very recognisable Pakistani athlete,
and she's asked us to conceal her identity
and also meet her at a safe house.
I think that just really hammers home the harsh realities
of being a queer athlete in Pakistan.
How does it make you feel to represent Pakistan
when, if they knew the real you, they might not accept you?
I try not to think about it, and put all my energy into competing.
What would happen if you did come out publicly here in Pakistan?
It would be big news.
Everyone would criticise me,
embarrass me, shame me, maybe get violent.
Do you think you'll ever be able to fall in love
and have a relationship here?
I was in a relationship, but she got married and she went away.
She got married to a man?
Yes.
So she was forced into marriage?
Yes.
I went to the wedding venue,
but her brothers found out and beat me bad.
It affected me for years.
I was in trauma and depression.
I stopped eating and I wanted to end my life.
But I couldn't, because my parents were dependent on me.
I'm sorry. It's just... It just seems so unfair.
And no... No-one should be...
No-one should be put through that.
This is how Pakistan is.
Do you think there's any hope
for any queer kids growing up here?
Many times, I imagine a life where I could breathe freely.
But it's not possible here in Pakistan.
So...no hope?
I don't think so.
Honestly, I've never felt more helpless in my life.
Like, just hearing her story, her struggles, her fight...
Honestly, I just want to go home to my husband and my son and just...
..hug them and, like, just that level of appreciation and gratitude
of just being able to be safe every day.
Finding a gay male athlete willing to talk to me has been difficult.
But since coming to Pakistan, I've been in touch with someone
who's hoping to compete in this year's Commonwealth Games.
He's too scared to appear on camera, even if we conceal his identity.
But he sent me a letter.
It starts with, "I cannot come in front of the camera
"because of my family and surroundings.
"They have no clue about my orientation.
"But at the same time, I face a lot of jokes calling me
"such as cake, gay, and mostly called as arsehole.
"And name-calling kills me from inside
"but I keep quiet as this is my reality.
"My family wants me to get married and start a family.
"Sometimes I feel like I should die
"and set my life free from this trauma."
He sounds to me like he's lost all hope.
He goes on to say, "Sir, I live in Pakistan, the Islamic Republic.
"One of my friends knows about my identity.
"He blackmailed me that he will tell the Federation about my orientation,
"that I am gay. I fear that I'll be killed."
"It won't make any difference to Pakistan
"if banned from hosting or competing in the Games."
The more I'm learning about athletes here in Pakistan
is there's even more layers of homophobia,
because it's not just family, it's not just friends.
It's also team-mates and federations.
It just feels like they're just fighting an impossible fight.
Like everybody feels like no matter what is done within sport,
that it will not make a difference to Pakistan,
that nothing will make a difference, and that there is no...
..no hope.
The laws in Pakistan are a result
of the country's complex political and religious history.
And I'm struggling to see what a sporting event
like the Commonwealth Games could do to make a difference to the lives
of lesbian and gay athletes here.
I've been told to talk to a controversial pop star
called Zulfi.
Zulfi is one of very few Pakistanis
who's tried to live an openly gay life.
HORN BEEPS
But recently he's been forced into hiding.
Hi, Zulfi. Hi, Thomas. How are you?
Thank you so much for talking to me today. Of course, it's an honour.
Can you tell me a little bit about what happened?
So I was part of an art-pop punk band, and we did a photoshoot.
And that photoshoot was, like, gay as shit.
We were in these purple, pink sequins.
I had nipple pasties. Wow. A big nod to Lady Gaga.
But that photoshoot just became this super politicised moment
where, like, Pakistan and Islam is being threatened
by these two baddies in purple sequins.
And it was scary.
Like, there were death threats. There were rape threats.
But people stopped me on the street, saluted me,
shook my hand and told me, "Thank you for doing what you did.
"We live in a better Pakistan
"because of people like you. Keep it up."
So what I've been thinking is to try and ban any countries
that have anti-LGBT laws from hosting the Commonwealth Games.
Unfortunately, I think that sort of a punitive measure
might only make things worse.
Like, "Oh, it's because of you gay people
"that we can't host the Games any more."
You cannot generate something positive
from a negative sort of strategy.
And I hope that there are protections
for queer people of any sorts that empower them
instead of putting them at risk again.
From what I'm just hearing from you, it sounds like there is hope,
when I've been told that
there is no hope for queer people in this country.
No, in Pakistan, queer people have the hope of in fact
heralding a new Pakistan
that is free, that is respectful,
not out of fear, but out of love.
For me, this trip has been so illuminating.
A lot of the things that I've heard have been so awful.
But I've gone from feeling like there's no hope
to speaking to Zulfi, and it has given me a glimmer of hope.
So it's just made me rethink a lot of my ideas of what I thought
was the right thing to do around the Commonwealth Games
and actually leading with a sense of love
rather than taking things away from people.
It's easy to point the finger around the Commonwealth,
but homosexuality only became fully legal across the whole of the UK
in the 1980s.
And for me, growing up gay certainly wasn't straightforward.
I'm Tom Daley. I'm 12 years old
and I'm from Plymouth,
and I want to win an Olympic gold medal in...
..diving.
I used to hate everything about myself -
the way I talked, the way I walked -
and I tried to overachieve in everything,
whether that's school, whether that was diving.
NEWS: Diver Tom Daley will be the youngest British male competitor
in our Olympic history.
I was always trying to overachieve
to distract from the fact that I knew that I was gay
and I knew that I was going to be seen as, like,
something that was bad and something that was wrong.
And growing up, I fought my own sexuality.
And I hated myself for that.
Hello! Hello!
Sophie's been my best friend since I was a teenager,
back when I was trying to cope with the pressures
of competing in the Olympics...
CHEERING
..and being at school.
I found some really funny photos of when we were younger.
Oh, my God.
I feel like you haven't really changed. No, I have!
You've just grown.
This, I think, was when I got back from the Olympics in 2008.
All of a sudden, it was like TV cameras and photographers
and it's like...look at that.
I mean, I'm smiling, walking around like,
"Yep, can't wait to be at school."
And, you know, when the camera's around, people were always like...
"Hiya!", and then as soon as they went away, it was like... Yeah.
It almost felt some days that people were, like, hunting me down
to try and, like, be horrible. Yeah, so true.
It was just, "You're gay," or "You're queer,"
and there's so only so much a 14-year-old can take.
It pushes you to breaking point.
And I broke and I was like, "I... I can't keep doing this."
Everyone else probably thought you were living
this incredible life. But I think actually
what was happening at school was something that was having
a massive effect on your mental health.
Yeah, I look back on it now and I feel sorry for young Tom
because at the time I was just like,
"Maybe I'm going just to be unhappy all my life."
NEWS: This is Tom Daley, the schoolboy
still too young to take his GCSEs,
even if he is old enough to compete for his country.
Hello.
Hello, my lovely.
Oh...
Right.
When I won bronze at the London Olympics,
I was still struggling with who I was.
I was so scared of what would happen to my career
if I admitted I was gay
that in my autobiography, I didn't even mention it.
By the time I was ready to come out to my family,
my dad had passed away.
My mum accepted me, but not everyone else did.
This is literally exactly where I stood
eight and a half years ago when I told Grandma and Grandad.
So this is my mum and dad you're talking about. Yeah.
Yeah. Your mum and dad were stood here.
I was like... What I remember about it
was you literally shaking like this. Yeah.
Your whole body was shaking cos you were that worried. Yeah.
I mean, I was terrified because I'd just told
the other set of grandparents and it didn't go so well.
It felt like I'd disappointed them
to the highest extreme level that I could have. Mm.
It switched like that, from being all love and hugs to...
Yeah. Like, "You disgust me." Yeah.
I mean, they asked me if it was natural and, you know,
"What would your dad say?" It was absolutely awful.
And it's taken them a lot of time to come to terms with me being gay.
But I'd like to think, as well,
that Dad would be proud of who I am today
and, you know, married with a kid.
I mean, Robbie is named after Dad. Yeah.
He would probably have made a joke and taken the mick out of you,
but he would do that whether you married Lance
or whether it was, like, Joanna from down the street, say.
Yeah. It would have been the same reaction. That was Dad, though.
But the whole worry was like, "Oh, my gosh, what if...
"..everyone else in the world reacts like some of my family did?" Mm.
NEWS: The Olympic diver Tom Daley has posted a video online
revealing that he's in a relationship with another man.
In an ideal world, I wouldn't be doing this video,
because it shouldn't matter.
But I met someone,
and that someone...
..is a guy.
It was like a really scary moment for me
because I'd been told that I'd lose sponsors,
lose, like, my female fanbase,
and it was all going to go to rubbish.
I'd lost my dad, and then I felt like I had to support my family.
And what happens if that all got taken away?
The thought about what abuse I might get in the streets -
would I get beaten up? Would I get things thrown at me?
I had no idea what was going to happen.
This afternoon it was back to training at the Plymouth pool
where he spends hours every week.
So I'm just looking at some of the tweets
that I received when I came out.
"Tom Daley's came out that he's a battyman, lol, fucking queer."
"Tom Daley is gay. I am now ashamed of my country. Eww.
"We can't have a bloody fag representing us."
Oh, my gosh.
It does hurt. It is horrible to receive those comments,
like, you are saying these horrible things about me.
And it's upsetting to think that there are people out there
that have that strong of an opinion that they felt like they had to
publicly say something that was really attacking
a 19-year-old kid about their sexuality.
It's...
Yeah, it's...
It makes me feel sad for humanity, to be honest.
Like many gay athletes, it took me years to finally feel accepted,
and I think the sporting world should be doing more to help.
The international federation that runs the Commonwealth Games
has just appointed a new CEO, who claims she wants to do more.
The new Commonwealth Games Federation chief executive
Katie Sadler, she's expressed her determination
"that the 2022 Commonwealth Games
"will be the most inclusive in history".
"Extending as far to allow athletes to make podium protests
"and support their community. Pride House in Birmingham,
"which aims to be a safe space
"for gay spectators, athletes and officials,
"has already been announced.
"Sadler also wants to meet Daley" - me.
Katie's just launched something
called the Commonwealth Sport Pride Network,
which aims to support and connect gay athletes during the Games.
On the website there's loads of, you know, rainbow flags
and it's made to look very inclusive.
But I do worry that it's slightly rainbow-washing things,
and it all seems a little bit airy-fairy to me.
Like, I want to be able to see something where, you know,
they can say, "We did this, and because we've done this,
"it's going to make this change."
Because right now it's just, "We're going to create a Pride House
"and make the Commonwealth Games inclusive."
Hello. Hi, Tom. Hi, Katie. How are you? I'm very good.
Good to see you here. Thank you so much for
taking the time to meet with me. Oh, my pleasure.
Having looked on the website and seeing the branding
and rainbows on stuff, do you think that is enough to reach countries
that have anti-LGBT laws?
I think in the end, you have to start somewhere.
What I can't do is change the laws in those countries -
you know, I work for a sport federation.
But, you know, from our perspective, the Commonwealth Pride Network
is a start of starting to, you know, even be more active
in terms of getting people to understand how much we embrace it
and that it is acceptable.
But then what happens if, say, Islamabad in Pakistan
wanted to host the Commonwealth Games?
All members can bid for hosting Commonwealth Games.
But when I look at what our contract says for the host,
it's what you need to do in terms of valuing the same values as we do
in terms of humanity, equity and destiny.
That would be a kind of a baseline in terms of making a decision.
Letting those countries know that, "You don't align with our values."
I wonder if there is something that can be done to explicitly state that
that is the inclusion of LGBT people.
Is that something that the federation would...?
So those are things, you know, just listening to,
that I will take on board and go back and have a look to make sure,
how overt are those kind of statements in those documents?
But I know as a board that there is
a real commitment to the values that we have stated.
And so, from that perspective, it's really important to us.
I do worry that the Commonwealth Games
might not implement any changes.
I mean, don't get me wrong, they're doing way more now
than they ever were 20 years ago,
and things are constantly moving forward,
but they have the opportunity to be the blueprint
for other sporting events
that can create a huge difference across the world.
It's four months until the Commonwealth Games,
and I've decided to put together a manifesto of changes
that should be made.
You know, I want to speak to as many people as possible.
Get thoughts, ideas, opinions to help me shape this manifesto.
What might make you feel safe going to the Commonwealth Games?
If I see a rainbow pin on a fellow athlete's jacket,
I think would make me feel like I am not alone.
And it will definitely be a shock
to some of the homophobic athletes, you know, and officials.
I've competed in the UAE.
I've competed in countries that are extremely anti-gay.
Right. And it's bizarre.
Yeah. I want to believe, like, it doesn't affect my performance,
but I've never competed well in a homophobic country.
Like, I want to go to a country where I can compete and be myself.
That's fair.
My idea is shifting.
It's about the culture within sport, the fans, the organising committees.
It's so much more complex than what I initially thought
was going to be, like, a fix.
But I do feel extremely passionate about being able
to bring their voices into this manifesto,
because those are the people
that are going to be affected most by this.
Africa is the continent with the most Commonwealth countries.
Out of 21, 14 have anti-gay laws.
In four, the maximum punishment is life imprisonment.
And in the northern states of Nigeria, it's the death penalty -
where just this year, three men have been sentenced
to death by stoning.
I really wanted to go to Nigeria and actually meet some athletes
and meet some people there,
but we were advised that the risks were really high.
But we do have one athlete that I'm going to speak to.
We're going to change his voice
so that he's completely unidentifiable
because, you know, at the end of the day,
the risks are just too high for him.
What do you worry might happen if you...
if people found out that you were gay?
Yeah. It's not going to be good for my image.
As someone who is very popular in sport in Nigeria,
the minute they find out, the news go round, you become very unsafe,
like, you don't know what happens next.
You know, my friend died recently.
He was killed, rather. Your friend was killed? Yeah.
For being gay.
I'm, like, speechless.
Like, what happened?
He met somebody, and he invited the person over,
and he stabbed my friend multiple times,
and he was in a pool of his own blood in his house. Oh, my gosh.
It's terrifying.
Now they are hunting people. Hunting people? Yeah.
So they create fake accounts online and then they set you up.
Sometimes you get beaten so much, then they post it online.
They report you to family, they extort money from you,
and people lose it.
Some people commit suicide in the process.
Honestly, it makes me angry.
It makes me really angry.
You know, my friends quite often might meet someone online
and meet up with them, and just doing that could end their life.
Sad doesn't even cover it.
It's like something out of, like, a horror film.
A real dark horror film.
The videos posted online of attacks on gay men in Nigeria
are truly horrific.
INDISTINCT
I not be gay. I not be gay.
I not be gay.
CRACKING
Say hello to homo. Homo bye-bye.
I'm meeting Bisi Alimi,
a Nigerian exile who lectures on African gay history.
He's been studying the cause of all this hatred.
Hi. Hi, Tom.
In the Lincoln's Inn library, they keep an extensive collection
of historic laws from across the Commonwealth.
This is a 1923 penal code from Nigeria.
And this Section 217 gave birth
to what we now know in Nigeria as the buggery law,
or as many people would say, the gay law.
"Any male person who, whether in public or private,
"commits any act of gross indecency with another male person,
"is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment
"with or without whipping or flogging."
The moment this law came into existence
became the moment in history
when homosexuality became a criminal offence in Nigeria.
And imposed by Britain. Exactly.
Why has Nigeria not gotten rid of the law yet?
You have to understand that it wasn't just
a piece of legislation in a book.
It became part of school curriculum.
It became part of religious principles
that the colonialists used
in educating the natives. And then, post-colonial,
you have the emergence of the evangelicals,
who still believe homosexuality is immoral.
Today, it's a major case
of an arrest of suspected gay men...
Arrests are common in Nigeria, and human rights groups
report that the police regularly subject gays and lesbians
to harassment, beatings and extortion.
It's not surprising that it's extremely rare for Nigerians
to voluntarily come out.
How did you come out?
I was going to get outed by the media,
so I chose to do the outing myself.
So I went on the most-watched TV show
in Nigeria in 2004,
making me the first gay man to ever come out on TV.
I have a home with the man I love.
You know, where I am not condemned.
I'm not regarded as a non-entity.
They couldn't stop the live show, but people were already outside
demanding for our heads.
I had to be escorted to my house,
and my house was broken into and I was almost killed.
For three hours, I was tied up,
I was beaten mercilessly, for loving.
Just for loving.
So that was your reason for moving to the UK?
That was the reason why I had to move to the UK.
If this law had not been in existence in my country,
I wouldn't be here.
BAND PLAYS
If we're talking about the Commonwealth Games,
do you think they could make a difference?
We have to start somewhere, and sport brings people together.
Imagine at the beginning of the Commonwealth Games
there is someone carrying a flag that says, "We are the Commonwealth.
"Everybody is welcome irrespective of your sexual orientation."
That's powerful. And if I'm a young gay man in Nigeria,
and I'm sitting in front of my TV and I see that,
I will forever remember that.
I mean, that gave me goosebumps,
even just thinking about an LGBT flag.
It would give hope,
hope to a lot of people who will either
be at the Commonwealth Games or who will be watching from home
and saying, "If this is possible, then my life is possible."
The colonial laws that still affect Nigeria
were imposed across the Commonwealth.
And even though some countries have repealed them,
every year, gay and lesbian athletes
come to Britain to escape persecution and seek asylum.
Over the last few months, we've been trying to find
an asylum seeker that would be willing to talk.
We've actually had four athletes drop out
just out of pure fear of what might happen to them,
how it might affect their refugee status,
how it might affect their families at home.
But in the last 24 hours, we have found an athlete
from Barbados who is currently seeking asylum here in the UK.
You're an athlete in Barbados? Yes.
What was sport for you growing up?
Sports was everything, everything to me.
At what moment did that change for you?
It all changed when people realised that I was gay.
The coaches didn't want to train me any more.
The rest of team-mates didn't want to be around me any more.
So it was very depressing for me.
How did you get exposed?
Well, I was 16 years old, my first-ever relationship.
We did, like, have photos together, not like nudes,
but like just pictures of us together
and kissing and stuff like that.
And the photos got leaked on social media.
Wow. Yeah.
And did you have any support from anyone? Any friends
that you could trust, anyone that you were able to talk to?
All of the people that I thought was my friends, they abandoned me.
And what about your family?
They all rejected me. Every single one of them.
I was actually kicked out of my home.
But the reason that I really made the journey over to the UK
is because I was suffering from second-degree burns.
How did you get second-degree burns?
My stepdad found out where I was living and he beat me
and he threw acid at me. Acid?
So I was hospitalised.
I was also stabbed in my arm.
Who stabbed you in your arm?
It was my workmate, because he told the manager
that he don't feel comfortable working around a batty boy any more.
So he literally got a knife and he stabbed me.
Like, right there. Oh, my gosh. Yeah.
As an athlete yourself, what do you think a sporting event
like the Commonwealth Games could do
in order to help people across the Commonwealth?
Well, my point of view, have the Pride flag there.
Like, that would make a major difference.
If you were still in Barbados
and you saw that at the Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony...
I would be jumping for joy, actually, because it would then show
that we are getting there. It's going to happen.
It's not fully there, but it's happening.
A sign of hope, I guess. Yes.
His story is so horrendous.
What has... What has he actually done to deserve that treatment?
He hasn't done anything.
Imagine being punished by your family,
thrown out by your family, stabbed by colleagues,
acid thrown at you for just being you.
Being punished for existing, like, it's so...
It's just so inherently wrong.
Barbados is one of 18 Caribbean countries and overseas territories
able to compete in the Commonwealth Games.
They've all had homophobic laws, but change is happening.
In 1991, the Bahamas abolished their anti-gay laws.
Since then, nine others have followed.
But in Jamaica, being gay remains a crime.
The penalty - ten years' imprisonment, with hard labour.
I've been sent some videos
from people on the ground in Jamaica.
Just some examples of what happens to queer people.
SHOUTING It's live, it's live, it's live.
They've caught the perpetrator and they're going to kill him now.
I'm live on the scene for 14. I'm live on the scene...
They're recording this as if it's some kind of joke.
Like they're hunting after...
..an animal.
There's another one.
I can't even watch that.
Someone is just being beaten with a...pole.
You'd think that this was, like, 20 years ago,
but this was just last year.
It's flipped on its head everything I thought about Jamaica,
quite frankly.
Everything I hear about Jamaica is people in the UK
going there on holiday.
I mean, I'm sure the resorts are lovely, but it doesn't
really give you the real sense of Jamaica and what LGBT people face
if they were born here.
At the last Commonwealth Games, Jamaica was the top-performing
Caribbean country with 27 medals.
I'm about to meet Michael Gunning, who is currently the only out LGBT
athlete that represents Jamaica.
He was born in the UK, grew up there, but does
have dual citizenship
and this is the first time he's been back to Jamaica
since coming out.
You asked to meet here, which is an isolated beach away
from as many people as possible.
What made you think that that was so important to do?
I think just scared of our safety.
Like, I have this fear of us walking in the street in Kingston
and us not looking as macho as everyone else and us just sticking
out like a sore thumb.
So, what was it that actually made you decide to compete for Jamaica
instead of Great Britain? Obviously, my dad is Jamaican,
my mum's British and all of my family kind of said that,
why don't I represent Jamaica? You know, that I should be
flying the Jamaican flag, but a year after competing,
that's when I decided to come out
and I think it was just because if I didn't, it was honestly
going to eat me alive.
But there were so many messages from people out in Jamaica sending
abuse and death threats and just some
horrible, horrible messages.
I have got some saved.
So, one of the messages was, "Shame on you.
"People like you should be killed.
"Why couldn't you have stuck with Great Britain
"rather than bringing shame to our country?
"Go back to where you came from.
"I wish you dead."
Oh, my God. Yeah, it's just... Yeah.
I can imagine it was like a really dark period. Yeah.
My dad told me not to talk about it, just to do my job
and to swim, you know?
But I think, you know, I do have Jamaican roots.
You know, I am dual nationality,
and I just felt so much shame, which was just really hard to deal with.
Deep down, if you honestly ask me if I could change back and almost
be straight, I would love to be straight.
Pains me to say, but honestly, I can't 100% say that I am happy
to be who I am.
Within the Jamaican team, there has to be other gay people.
Have you had any gay athletes reach out to you?
I've had some Jamaican athletes that have been very open
about their sexuality with me, but they're really scared
of it getting out and I can only do so much to support and to tell them
that it's going to be OK. But will it be OK?
You know, there is still that massive question mark
on the unknown of, you know, will they be safe?
Gay athletes actually living in Jamaica are forced
to hide their sexuality, and many have been too scared to talk.
In the last 24 hours, an athlete has agreed to speak to me
and, understandably, they have asked to be completely anonymous and meet
in a very secluded location in order to be fully protected.
I know you've asked to meet anonymously.
Could you tell me a little bit about why that is?
Because you're basically taking a chance to even entertain
the thought of talking about your sexuality or your experiences
while living here in Jamaica as an athlete.
Because, point blank, there is no tolerance here.
What was your experience of growing up and being queer in Jamaica?
Did you experience any forms of homophobia?
You're more susceptible to being ridiculed, stoned,
being verbally assaulted. Stoned? Like, what, just...
just in the streets? Stoned by kids, stoned by...
Just as you're walking down the street, people are...
They will hurl insults at you. What kind of things do they say?
Like...? They'll say butch, dyke, sodomite.
Like a biblical reference from Sodom and Gomorrah. Yeah.
And then sometimes it might lead into physical assault.
And, as an athlete, do you worry about coming out in terms
of sponsorship, being kicked off the team?
It plays on my mind all the time, actually.
Imagine coming out and saying, "OK, I'm a gay athlete."
I think a lot of companies here, the first thing they will say is,
"This wouldn't be a good example for our children.
"I don't want to be associated with that."
What do you think can be done in order to make queer people feel
safer within the realm of sport? Even as small as it may be,
show the Pride flag.
It will make a big difference.
Once you can fly the flag in a sporting event and no-one
is being abusive towards it, that says safety.
That's what I believe, personally.
I believe the Commonwealth Games can do more to help,
but one of the problems with changing things here
is that you have to deal with a lot of toxic history.
Hundreds of years ago, people were captured from Africa and shipped
to Jamaica to work on the island's British-owned slave plantations.
I'm meeting Carla Moore, a university lecturer specialising
in race and sexuality.
Hi, Carla. Hi, Tom.
How are you? I'm pretty good. How are you?
I'm doing well, thank you.
She's been researching the link between homophobia today
and the slave trade.
On the plantation,
gay sex wasn't allowed and it wasn't allowed specifically
because it doesn't make a baby.
So it was beneficial to the plantation owner for people
to be having heterosexual sex because they could get
a "free slave" out of the union.
So we have whippings, lynchings on the plantation for people
who are engaging in same-sex sex.
And then you have something that's called buck breaking.
Buck breaking? Buck breaking, yes.
Buck breaking is anal rape of enslaved men
as a form of punishment.
The slave owner would carry him out in front of his family, in front
of the friends, and he would rape him as a way to break his spirit.
Oh, my gosh. Yeah.
And so what we have is this very complicated history of sexual trauma
that went on for, like, 300 years.
And if the representation you have of queerness is plantation
owners sexually assaulting men, you get the idea that it's a white
people thing, it's a thing that white people do to black people
to harm them. The end result of that is a homophobia we see today
and, actually, that the level of the country, it's also about,
I have to make it clear that you're not in charge here any more.
You're not the master of this country any more.
We get to determine how we're going to proceed.
And, unfortunately, that plays out on the bodies of LGBT people.
Everything you've just told me, it's... It makes everything make
complete sense, you know?
It honestly makes me feel sick to be British
when you just hear these things.
I get that.
That's level one.
Level two is, "Now what?"
You know I'm saying? Like, stop coming down here to make us feel
like we're the worst people in the world. We've had enough of that.
Is there another approach that we can take?
Because even though there is still homophobia, LGBT Jamaicans,
advocates for LGBT Jamaicans have been working for years,
but some people still have us
stuck at the most homophobic place on Earth,
and it's very disrespectful to the work that the advocates are doing.
It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that they've got
a problem with homophobia and we're all queer-inclusive,
but that's just not the case, and it's not helpful for the people
around the Commonwealth to be constantly pointing a finger at
that "they haven't removed the laws". It's not as simple as that.
I've just learned so much today that it's really like...quite...
I don't know. It's overwhelming.
I'm taking Carla's advice and going to meet a prominent
campaigner to see what he thinks the Commonwealth Games
can do to help.
I'm about to go and meet Glenroy Murray, who is the executive
director of J-Flag, which is a LGBT rights organisation here in Jamaica.
Unfortunately, in Jamaica, LGBT people face a myriad of challenges.
He's doing some kind of promotional video for J-Flag in the middle
of the town in Kingston.
From everything I've heard, that just shouldn't
happen in Jamaica.
And we're done.
What are you doing here?
So what we're doing is we're shooting a campaign video
and we've shot at this mural before, because it's one
of our installations.
The Pride-like colours are deliberate in this.
Yes, it's just our way of showing people
that we're just like the rest of them.
Do you not feel, like, worried about filming, you know,
an LGBT-rights campaign in the middle of Kingston?
We're aware that violence and discrimination is a thing
that LGBT people continue to face, but this kind of activism is needed,
so we're always going to try to push the envelope.
How can events like the Commonwealth Games help to create some kind
of change here in Jamaica?
Big sporting events capture the attention of the public,
and it sounds simple, but the world is watching.
If we see LGBT rights being acknowledged within those spaces,
we'll get people to a space where they feel like, "You know what?
"Why do we continue to treat queer people in this way, especially
"when they are the ones that are making us proud about our country?"
Sport in Jamaica might have a long way to go, but people like Glenroy
are starting to change things.
There have actually been Pride marches here since 2015,
and gay Jamaicans are becoming more visible.
Glenroy has invited me to meet some of his friends,
but I have no idea what to expect.
He said it's a queer-friendly space and I am excited by the prospect
of being able to hang out with queer Jamaicans in a public place.
Hello. Hi. Good to see you.
Hi! Good to see you, too. How you doing? Nice to meet you.
Oh, you can just join us. Yeah, I'd love that. Absolutely.
Scoot over, scoot over.
The thought of this - being, like, with queer people in public,
you know, having drinks, like, to me, like,
I just didn't know that that existed in Jamaica.
I remember Carnival, I was on halfway through
and they started stoning the gays.
But now we are able to integrate into spaces with, like, the regular
community. Just as Jamaica now is probably very unrecognisable
to somebody who lived here in the early 2000s,
it would be very unrecognisable to me by 2030.
So I'm very excited for what the future holds.
Coming here today and spending time with a group of queer Jamaicans,
seeing how happy they are, and happy they are to be visible,
it does fill me with hope.
I don't know, I feel more motivated than ever
to really try and fight for change.
It's two months until the athletes arrive in Birmingham
and now I'm taking the thoughts of the people that I've met
and putting them into a manifesto to send to
the Commonwealth Games Federation.
The bulk of the things that I'm asking for are easily put
into action quickly.
Things like putting a pro-LGBT stance at the forefront
of the Commonwealth Games ethos. Educational programmes
around the British Empire. Sensitivity training
for all of the Commonwealth Games staff and volunteers.
Refugee resources that allow you to be able to start seeking asylum
in the country that is hosting.
Now, this is the big ask - to have the Pride flag play
an official part at the Opening Ceremony, something that a sporting
event of this size has never done before.
I think it would just send a bold message to everyone
across the Commonwealth that the Commonwealth Games accepts
and embraces queer people.
And I think that would be a hugely powerful statement to send
to everyone watching around the Commonwealth.
"I hope we can move forward and use sport as a power for change."
If they want to make it happen, they will, but...
Yeah, I just...
Yeah, I'm kind of nervous.
I've been negotiating, doing phone calls, back-and-forth emails
for months now, trying to figure out what exactly can happen
at the Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony.
LINE RINGING
Commonwealth Games Federation.
Hello, it's Tom Daley here.
LINE RINGING
Just wanted to give you a quick call to talk about plans
for the Opening Ceremony.
There are a lot of doors that were slammed in our faces,
there was a lot of things that were suggested
and then shut down and suggested and shut down,
but after months, we've finally come up with something.
They finally agreed to allow the Pride flag to be included.
And not just one -
there's going to be six. In a really official part, too -
the Queen's Baton Relay - and it's going to be carried
by people from all over the Commonwealth.
Hi, Tom. Athletes and advocates that I've met along the way.
Hey, Tom. Hi, Glenroy, how are you?
We've got people representing asylum seekers and refugees.
Honestly, I've already cried a lot about this, because you just don't
imagine in your wildest dreams that something
like this could happen.
I am so excited and just so grateful
that you are getting involved in this.
If I had seen this moment as a young lesbian growing up in Zimbabwe,
it would have meant everything for me.
It would have meant I am not alone.
People who have fought to change the law in their country.
People that have had to flee their country.
This is quite an historic moment,
the first time that the Pride flag is being flown proudly
at a major sporting event, so that's huge.
This is really going to be ground-breaking now.
For generations, people will be talking about it.
It's the first major sporting event to do this.
Like, they are going to change history in the way that sport
and the LGBT community come together.
I'm kind of nervous, super excited and almost just... I just still
just can't quite believe that over a billion people
are going to see the Pride flags walk out at the Opening Ceremony.
Hello, everyone. Nice to see you.
Hello. Good to see you. Hello, hello, hello. Oh!
This moment means so much to the six advocates.
I can't believe it's all finally happening.
It's the fact that it's happening at the Commonwealth Games.
Yes. We are occupying spaces where it matters and we don't
have to apologise for it,
we don't have to beg for it, because we belong here.
Three, two, one!
CHEERING
And now it is my honour to say welcome to Birmingham.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
ANDREW COTTER: The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall.
Hello, Birmingham. You all right?
We are ready. Let's go.
This is what we've been working towards. This huge moment
of visibility for LGBT people across the Commonwealth to feel seen
and to feel acknowledged.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
CHEERING
For the last 300 days,
over 7,000 baton bearers have carried the Queen's baton
across the Commonwealth in the name of their chosen cause.
And now, completing this epic journey,
please welcome our final baton bearers.
Starting with five-times
Commonwealth medal-winner for diving, Tom Daley!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Tom is running in support of LGBT+ rights, and tonight
has been joined by flag-bearers
representing some of the 35 Commonwealth countries
where homosexuality is still a crime.
He runs in solidarity with all LGBT+ athletes and communities.
CHEERING
This was an incredibly emotional moment, but this wasn't about me.
This is about every single LGBT person around the Commonwealth,
around the world, that they might have seen that tonight
and been given a little bit of hope.
Even if it can make the smallest difference to someone out there,
it was all worth it because someone today might have seen that and felt
a little less alone in the world.
Big things come from small beginnings,
and today the Commonwealth Games made history.
But the Olympics, the football World Cup and Formula 1
still have a long way to go.
I just see this as the start.
I want other sporting events to take note
because we're not going anywhere.
CHEERING