The Opening Ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics takes place Friday, Feb. 9, in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
If you’re dying to watch them live, you’ll have to head over to NBC’s Olympics site at 6 a.m. ET to stream the Opening Ceremony. Or you can wait to watch on NBC Friday night at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT (it will be re-aired at 8 p.m. PT as well).
A couple quick LGBT items of note:
- There are 14 publicly out LGBT athletes that we know of competing in South Korea. Some of them, like figure skaters Eric Radford and Adam Rippon, may not be marching due to the figure skating team event schedule.
- None of the publicly out LGBT athletes have been selected as their nation’s flag bearer for the parade of nations.
- Great Britain’s flag bearer, Lizzy Yarnold, will be wearing Rainbow Laces. Some of her teammates are expected to as well.
- The selection of Vice President Mike Pence to lead the U.S. delegation has come under fire by some athletes for his past support of anti-LGBT policies and issues. So watch to see how NBC covers that.
- LGBT rights in South Korea are a mixed bag. Homosexuality is decriminalized, but there is no same-sex relationship recognition, and trans people must have gender-reassignment surgery before legal recognition of their gender.
Here’s hoping the Opening Ceremony is more like Rio and less like London’s.
You can find complete Winter Olympics 2018 coverage on SB Nation, and Outsports will have the LGBT angle.
