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You won’t be seeing the rainbow flag in the parade of nations at the Winter Olympics opening ceremony, but the 2002 edition of the games will go down as one of the most-gay inclusive Olympics to date. Two members of Salt Lake City’s gay community have served on the Salt Lake Organizing Committee (SLOC) in preparation for the games, and there have been a number of events targeted at getting the gay community involved in the Olympics as well. “This past year, SLOC reached out to the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender community,” said Paula Wolfe, executive director of the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Utah in a press release from the Human Rights Campaign. “Not only did they appoint two representatives to the volunteer committee, they asked GLBT community members to participate in a minority/cultural committee.” The SLOC has been active in getting the gay and lesbian community in Salt Lake City involved in every aspect of the games. Last year they had booths at Pride Day in June and the annual Utah Gay Rodeo in the spring to promote the games and recruit volunteers. There have also been a series of events at Salt Lake’s Gay and Lesbian Community Center, including a job fair for the Olympics and outreach to the community to make sure they were a visible part of the upcoming games. Laura Milliken Gray, a Salt Lake City attorney who has worked on cases involving adoption rights and gay straight alliances in schools, and Michael Marriott, the executive director of the Bastian Foundation — a major contributor to the Gay and Lesbian Community Center, are the gay community’s representatives on the SLOC volunteer work group, a committee dedicated to promoting volunteerism at the Olympic Games. “Mike’s and my appointment to the Volunteer Work Group shows a new level of inclusiveness for the gay and lesbian community in Utah, as well as nationally and internationally,” Gray said in a news release. “Utah’s growing gay and lesbian community is energetic, well-organized, and is participating positively in the Olympic games and in Utah at large.” Hundreds of community members have already volunteered to work at the games, and many members of the community have also volunteered to open their homes to host the families and partners of gay or lesbian athletes. “We wanted to dispel rumors that Salt Lake was a very close-minded community,” Marriott told the Gay and Lesbian Times. “We wanted to make sure that visitors to Salt Lake City knew that there is an active and thriving gay and lesbian community here and we are putting our best foot forward.” Gray pointed out that gays and lesbians have been involved in the Olympics since their beginnings, but this is the first time the community has been out and visible at the games, participating at all levels. The involvement of GLBT volunteers ranges from those working as translators in the Olympic Village, to those parking cars and working security details to ensure the safety of everyone at the games. “The gay community is really involved in all aspects of the games,” Gray told the Times. “This is the first time that we have really been acknowledged as being a part of the effort.” While there is no official word on how many gay and lesbian athletes are competing in this year’s games, Gray did point out that there have been inquiries from gay athletes about the possibility of their partners being able to stay with hosts from the gay community while they are in Utah, and members of the community have already begun to see Olympic participants out and about at restaurants and bars in the community. ___________________________________________________ Brought to you through Outsports by:
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